‘The North Light’ by Hideo Yokoyama

Published by Riverrun,
12 October 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-52943-443-9 (HB)
Translated by Louise Heal Kawai

Minoru Aose is an architect, and the building he’s most proud of is the Y-House, which makes full use of the steadier north light... so he’s perplexed and worried when he finds out by chance that the Yoshino family he built it for only four months ago aren’t there. In fact, there’s no sign of them anywhere, and when he returns to the house it’s been broken into – maybe by the sinister red-faced man with the cast on three fingers who also seemed to be pursuing the family. All that’s left in the house is an antique chair. Aose is determined to solve this mystery ...

Each of Yokoyama’s books is different, and this turned out to be a gentle mystery with a feel-good ending, although I’m not sure it could quite be classed as a cosy. It’s told in the third person, following Aose throughout. The set-up is intriguing; as Aose keeps remembering, the family seemed ordinary, warm towards each other, and delighted by the house he’d designed. It hits his fragile self-confidence that they’ve apparently decided they can’t live there. He’s also worried about his daughter, almost a teenager, and how he and his divorced wife can explain their separation without blaming each other. When his boss comes up with a competition for a memorial which he’s determined their firm will win, life becomes even more complicated. Aose is a likeable protagonist, and Yokoyama took us into his past: the constant moves of his childhood, his father’s death, his drinking when his life collapsed in the slump, his regrets over his divorce. His search for the Yoshino family also helps him understand himself, and the ending was unexpected and completely satisfying.

I know very little about architecture but I found this novel’s background fascinating. The antique chair turns out to derive from Bruno Taut, a modernist architect who escaped Nazi Gernamy, and fell in love with Japan. During the novel Aose visits his former house and the only house he built in Japan, and the description made me want to go there. The preparation for the competition entry made me realise how many different people contribute to a finished building, and I loved their design so much I Googled the artist it was designed for, hoping she was real (no). As always, I loved the insider’s depiction of Japanese culture.

A gentle, moving mystery novel with an engaging protagonist, clever plotting and an interesting background.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Hideo Yokoyama was born in 1957. He worked for twelve years as an investigative reporter with a regional newspaper north of Tokyo, before becoming one of Japan's most acclaimed fiction writers. His first novel to be translated into the English language, Six Four, was a Sunday Times bestseller in hardback and paperback, became the first Japanese novel to be shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger, was named in the Crime and Thrillers of 2016 roundups in each of the Guardian, Telegraph, Financial Times and Glasgow Herald, and has since been translated into thirteen languages worldwide.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book Death in a Shetlend Lane

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk