風の扉

by Shizuko Natsuki, 夏樹 静子

染織工芸界の巨匠が破門中の弟子の恨みを買い、メッタ突きされて殺された。しかし、事件はいっこうに報じられない。なぜなら、殺されたはずの男が生きていたからだ―。その謎の陰で、ある二つの遺体の不審点が明らかになる。医学の発展がもたらした恐怖と、人間の生命とは何かを世に問うた、医学ミステリーの名作。

Genres: Japan, Mystery, Fiction

286 pages

First published March 1, 1980

About the author

Shizuko Natsuki (夏樹 静子) was born in Tokyo in 1938. She graduated from Keio University with a degree in English literature. She married in 1963 and moved to Fukuoka, where she has lived since that time with the exception of nine years spent in Nagoya. Natsuki is not only one of Japan’s best-selling mystery writers but also one of the most prolific. She has written more than eighty novels and short-story collections, and more than forty of her novels and stories have been made into films.

Natsuki published her first mystery novel, Tenshi ga kiete iku (the angel has gone), in 1970. The first of her novels to be translated into English was W no higeki (1982; Murder at Mount Fuji, 1984). Several of her short stories have been published in translation in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Natsuki’s writing, like that of many other Japanese mystery writers of her generation, often shows the strong influence of well-known mystery writer Seich Matsumoto.

Reviews

[Josiah Fruge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book with the intention of breaking up my current genres a little bit. I truly did not expect what I read.

I'm not sure why this book has such a low rating to be honest. With a mixture of murder, betrayal, medical conspiracy, and scientific breakthrough, this book had me entertained the entire way through. I could see how this book might be strange if taken in small chunks, but, if read in a single sitting, this thing just might leave you feeling blown away.

I don't want to over hype this too much but I would highly recommend giving this book a shot if you get the chance. Your opinion may differ wildly, but, at just over 200 pages, what have you got to lose?

[JoeG · Rating 3 out of 5]

They is the third of her books I've read and though her excellent style was here, the plot was surprising and somewhat ineffectual. Rather than a 'standard' crime mystery novel, it became a medical 'who dun it' with originally four separate plots and then suddenly, two uneven stories. It finally concentrated on one of the two and dropped the second with little concern. The eventual ending was explanatory, rather than action oriented.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written some 38 years ago so a little latitude might be expected, but switching heads and bodies is still for me just too weird, especially with people

[Sae-chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read once that Natsuki-san declined to be called Japan's Agatha Christie, because she didn't really write mystery, but social criticism instead. I didn't really see it in her other novels, but I felt it so strongly here. The dilemma was intense and real.

On the other hand I feel that her writing in this novel was not as good as the others. I felt bored and nodded off every so often. There was no drama, just a flow of sentences.

[Elizabeth Bennet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is not really about murder mysteries (although there is a small one in it). It is more about two medical operation and questioning their consequences - mostly ethical-.

I went in blind (enjoying the other two Shizuko Natsuki novels I have read) and even though I enjoyed the novel on some level, it is not the one I recommend.

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to get through this one, but it just wasn't worth it in the end. It just didn't seem to be going anywhere.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

More moral screed than mystery. May have to try one more Natsuki that's more of a mystery.