{"product_id":"the-rope-artist-9781641295697","title":"The Rope Artist","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe aftermath of the murder of a bondage teacher reveals the darkest corners of the human mind in this chilling new mystery from the master of Japanese literary noir.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTwo detectives. Two identical women. One dead body-- then two, then three, then four. All knotted up in Japan's underground BDSM scene and kinbaku, a form of rope bondage which bears a complex cultural history of spirituality, torture, cleansing, and sacrifice. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Togashi, a junior member of the police force, investigates the murder of a kinbaku instructor, he finds himself unable to resist his own private transgressive desires. In contrast, Togashi's Sherlock Holmesian colleague Hayama is morally upright to a fault, with a stalwart commitment to the truth and nearly superhuman powers of deduction. When Hayama notices a dangerous measure of darkness within Togashi, he embarks on a parallel investigation, which soon spirals out of control. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUnflinching in its flayed-raw treatment of identity, violence, sexuality, power, the occult, and the divine, The Rope Artist is both viscerally painful and unexpectedly hopeful--a genre homage that shines a light on the most dangerous elements of the human psyche.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFuminori Nakamura\u003c\/b\u003e was born in 1977 and graduated from Fukushima University in 2000. He has won numerous prizes for his writing, including Japan's prestigious Ōe Prize; the David L. Goodis Award for Noir Fiction; and the Akutagawa Prize. \u003ci\u003eThe Thief, \u003c\/i\u003e his first novel to be translated into English, was a finalist for the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book Prize. His other novels include \u003ci\u003eCult X\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Gun\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The Kingdom\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Evil and the Mask\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The Boy in the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e My Annihilation\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e and Last Winter, We Parted.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eSam Bett \u003c\/b\u003eis a fiction writer and Japanese translator. His translation work has won the Japan-US Friendship Commission Prize and been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Soho Crime","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50619550662930,"sku":"9781641295697","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fc5dad4d-1b95-40de-be3a-e11a2632cfbf.jpg?v=1744221488","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-rope-artist-9781641295697","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}