Afterdark

"Afterdark" - named after a jazz piece - is the latest novel by Haruki Murakami. "Afterdark" is a gripping book set over the course of a single night, narrated as if through the lens of a camera. It sweeps across the panorama of the nighttime metropolis: neon signs and giant digital screens, hip-hop blaring from speakers, streams of experience-hungry employees, and blonde teenagers in mini skirts. Like with a zoom lens, we observe the locations of nighttime activities that dramatically connect and unfold. We encounter the young girl Mari with a musician in a branch of a restaurant chain, as well as the manager of a love hotel where a Chinese prostitute has just been assaulted by a client. We see a corporate employee in the 24-hour supermarket placing the Chinese woman's phone from the love hotel into a refrigerated shelf. And we notice the video surveillance.