Seesaw Monster - by Kotaro Isaka (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Author Kotaro Isaka employs his hallmarks of kinetic pacing, high-stakes action, and great characters to explore the nature of conflict, the power of close relationships, and the idea of progress. Poor Naoto. A pharmaceutical salesman in Japan in the booming 1980s, his job has him working long hours, answering to his demanding boss and entertaining entitled customers. And at home, his wife, Miyako, and his mother are always feuding, making each other miserable. Why can't the two just get along? Then one day a mysterious visitor shows up at their door with a possible answer. Their conflict is larger -- and far more ancient -- than it might appear. When Naoto uncovers something wrong at work and his life is suddenly in danger, can the two women set aside their differences to save him? Decades later, in our near-future, surveillance, facial-recognition software, and AI dominate Japan. The most sensitive information lives only on paper, and Mito makes his living delivering it. When a chance meeting with a stranger on a train draws Mito into a possible conspiracy, he finds himself face-to-face with his own enemy, a tragic double whose life has been intertwined with his own. Is this another instance of the ancient feud? And what role will Miyako, now in her nineties, play in this deadly game?"--

Book Synopsis

From the international bestselling author of Bullet Train, two inventive espionage tales in one

"Isaka's style is tense, laden with dark humor expressed with a flat affect--just the right tone for a book that walks the fine line between comedy and violence." --New York Times Book Review on Hotel Lucky Seven

Miyako suspects her mother-in-law is a murderer. It's not just a case of them rubbing each other the wrong way--there is definitely something suspicious going on. But Miyako isn't exactly what she seems either. Her husband has no idea about her past life as a secret agent. When she decides to use her professional skills to investigate her mother-in-law, the delicate equilibrium of their lives is thrown wildly out of balance.

Many decades after the events of Seesaw Monster, in a future world dominated by surveillance, facial-recognition software, and AI, the most sensitive information lives only on paper, and confidential messages must be delivered by trusted couriers like Mito. But one delivery pulls Mito into a conspiracy beyond his wildest imagination and forces him into a race against time to defeat a world-changing technological threat.

Mixing mythology, family drama, corruption, and espionage, these gripping novellas from the international bestselling author of Bullet Train explore the idea of progress, the power of close relationships, and the nature of conflict with deadly stakes.

Review Quotes

"Isaka's exceptional latest combines the author's flair for violent comic farce with an unsettling look at the near future. ... Isaka's talent for kinetic, hilarious carnage ... is on full display, and it's fortified with philosophical depth and surprisingly potent ruminations on the nature of fate. This ranks among the author's best."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About the Author

Kotaro Isaka is a bestselling and multi-award-winning writer whose books have sold millions of copies around the world. He has won the Shincho Mystery Club Award, Mystery Writers of Japan Award, Japan Booksellers' Award, and the Yamamoto Shugoro Prize. His novel Bullet Train was made into a major film from Sony starring Brad Pitt.