My review of People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry
Blurb from the back cover
In the summer of 2000, Jane Steare received the phone call every mother dreads. Her daughter Lucie Blackman - tall, blonde and twenty-one years old - had stepped into the vastness of a Tokyo summer and disappeared forever. That winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a desolate seaside cave.
Her disappearance was mystifying. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult? Who was the mysterious man she had gone to meet? What did her work as a "hostess" in the notorious Roppongi district of Tokyo really involve? And could Lucie's fate be linked to the disappearance of another girl some ten years earlier?
Over the course of a decade, Richard Lloyd Parry has travelled to four continents to interview those caught up in the story and been given unprecedented access to Lucie's bitterly divided family to reveal the astonishing truth about Lucie and her fate.
My thoughts on the book
This book gives a fantastic insight to the life of a foreigner in Tokyo. The lifestyle, the work etc all form an integral part of Lucie's story and I think the author documents the lifestyle very well.
From the point of Lucie's disappearance to the point of the trial (and a little beyond) the information is well presented, clear and easy to follow. The author has obviously done a lot of research and it shows. He comes across as someone who knows what they are talking about, and makes a clear distinction between fact and opinion.
Conclusion and rating
Very well written and researched, this is an informative, but interesting read. It is a little frustrating that some questions remain unanswered, but that isn't the author's fault, the questions remained unanswered by the police or any other authority. 4/5
Have you read this book? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
