奇想、天慟

吉敷竹史 #11

by Sōji Shimada, 島田莊司, 珂辰 (Translator)

片片隨風飄散的櫻花瓣，陣陣撼動人心的口琴聲，隨著血色染紅了淺草街頭，也揭開了蟄伏數十年之久的驚天謎團......

暴風雪之夜，一班夜行列車正往北海道深山疾駛而去。就在眾人沉沉睡去的時刻，一名臉上塗滿白粉、身著鮮紅衣服的矮瘦小丑，跳著詭異的舞蹈，橫越了昏黃黝暗的車廂。

當劃破寂靜的槍聲響起，小丑被發現陳屍在列車上的廁所裡，搖曳的蠟燭火光，照出了他慘白發腫的紫色臉龐。可是，就在三十秒之後，當廁所的門再度開啟時，小丑的屍首竟已在瞬間消失無蹤了！......
──行川郁夫《小丑之謎》

在消費稅政策執行的首日，一個身分不明的流浪老人，居然為了區區十二日圓的消費稅，殺害了淺草商店街的雜貨店女老闆櫻井佳子！這起事件雖然看似簡單，然而在偵訊過程中，老人卻始終保持緘默，讓負責偵辦這個案子的吉敷竹史深覺背後必有隱情，於是展開調查。

原來，老人名叫行川郁夫，在二十多年前曾因綁架殺人而入獄。吉敷取得了行川在獄中所撰寫的小說，但故事內容卻充滿了匪夷所思的幻想。在進一步追查之下，吉敷意外地發現，行川與死者櫻井佳子的關係並不單純；而且，在三十多年前的北海道，竟然真的曾經發生過與小說情節相同的詭異事件......

Genres: Mystery, Japan

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

About the author

Japan language profile here 島田 荘司
Russian language profile here Содзи Симада

Reviews

[Bunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really tells you the feeling of the history between Japan and Korea in a good way for people to realise. Also, above all, the mystery is like sooooo interesting that when I finished it, I went right to the start and started to reread the whole thing and read my favourite bits over and over. It is also very confusing to stay on track so make sure you keep on eye on every single bit of the information. I did not expect to see the moral of the history of Japan occupation in Korea and only thought this was a mystery thriller because really, I went to a cafe in Korea and for some reason, I did not have a book with me. So I grabbed one from the shelf in the cafe and it was this book. After I read about 100 pages, I had to buy that book. So I ran to the bookstore and bought the copy. Then I devoured the whole thing.

[Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

艺妓文化、铁道诡计、反战历史等元素竟然浑圆贯通，尤其是浅草寺和雷门，感觉值得再去一次！

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never been much of a mystery reader. If they tend to be like this, I understand why. Everything is just too clean, too smooth. It all fits together so nicely, it's almost unbearable. They're investigating a crime from decades earlier and just happen to find all the people they need to find, all the evidence they need, and even a body that just happened to be found right after the detective arrived in Hokkaido decades after being buried under the 樱树. In the end, everything pieces together just so and the mystery is solved.

That isn't to say it's a bad novel. I don't have much experience in this genre, but what I do know tells me that there's nothing unusual about this. So I won't judge it harshly for adhering to convention. It was an exciting tale with some unexpected political commentary regarding the Japanese maltreatment of Koreans and it certainly felt fairly fresh with its unusual crime and engaging series of fortuitous discoveries and the odd twist. It's a decent four, but no higher.

[Shea Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

期望越高，失望越大。毕竟不仅Goodreads还是豆瓣评分都很高，两者对此书的评分甚至可以排进岛田作品前三。此书推理很弱，百分之八十的诡计全都猜到了，所有也没有太多的惊喜。可能对于日本罪性的批判和最后吉敷对主任的暴怒加分很多，但仅限于此。个人认为此书的诡计还不如此系列的北方夕鹤，真的很喜欢北方夕鹤。关于白色巨人的解读竟然和我临时起念想的一模一样......本以为有什么惊天诡计来着......如果说这部作品是吉敷系列最高作，那么此系列真的不如御手洗系列了......

[Hailong Hao · Rating 4 out of 5]

有时候就是想看本小说放松一下，可是岛田庄司这家伙总是要放一些沉重的话题在里面。

[Custar · Rating 3 out of 5]

诡谲的环境描述。

[Pink Sun · Rating 5 out of 5]

本格推理外壳下深刻的社会派推理的内核，深切的人文关怀

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

這是我看"刑警吉敷竹史"系列的第一本書，這本書跟我之前看的"占星師御手洗潔"系列感覺有些不同，占星師系列，是不把所有拼圖拼完，你不知道到底你是在拼什麼，而這本書卻是一邊拼的時候大概就可以知道是怎麼回事!!但是仍然很好看，除了很詭異的謎題及精彩的推理外，我想莊島大師更是透過這個故事反省日本戰時所做的那些事........