Out by Natsuo Kirino trans. by Stephen Snyder

I was very excited about this book based on its blurb. A fed-up wife murders her husband in a fit of rage and her colleagues at her depressing night-shift factory job decide to help her dismember the body and do away with it. Alas, its execution didn’t quite live up to its promising start. I think it was partly my own fault. For some reason I expected this novel to be a bit more ‘literary’ I suppose (perhaps it was the heavy reference to the feminist themes on the cover), but although there were movements in that direction, it turned mostly into a fairly straightforward crime novel. And quite a long, drawn-out one at that. With possibly the worst ending in the world tacked on the end. Feminist themes straight out the window. I think it had a lot of potential and stuff to work with but didn’t quite follow through for me. It was still an okay read and I did finish it so I did want to see what would happen next, but I didn’t find myself reaching for it as one should with a good crime.