People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman
Richard Lloyd Parry
People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman
Lucie Blackman — tall, blonde, and 21 years-old — stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000, and disappeared forever. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave. The seven months in between had seen a massive search for the missing girl, involving Japanese policemen, British private detectives, Australian dowsers and Lucie's desperate, but bitterly divided, parents. As the case unfolded, it drew the attention of prime ministers and sado-masochists, ambassadors and con-men, and reporters from across the world. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult, or snatched by human traffickers? Who was the mysterious man she had gone to meet? And what did her work, as a 'hostess' in the notorious Roppongi disrtic of Tokyo, really involve? Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, has followed the case since Lucie's disappearance. Here he tells the full story for the first time.
4.1 out of 5 based on 7 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
True Crime |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
384 |
| RRP |
£17.99 |
| Date of Publication |
February 2011 |
| ISBN |
978-0224079174 |
| Publisher |
Jonathan Cape |
| |
Lucie Blackman — tall, blonde, and 21 years-old — stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000, and disappeared forever. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave. The seven months in between had seen a massive search for the missing girl, involving Japanese policemen, British private detectives, Australian dowsers and Lucie's desperate, but bitterly divided, parents. As the case unfolded, it drew the attention of prime ministers and sado-masochists, ambassadors and con-men, and reporters from across the world. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult, or snatched by human traffickers? Who was the mysterious man she had gone to meet? And what did her work, as a 'hostess' in the notorious Roppongi disrtic of Tokyo, really involve? Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, has followed the case since Lucie's disappearance. Here he tells the full story for the first time.
Reviews
The Economist
The Economist
“...more than just the work of a journalist with a wealth of unused notes. It is a page-turning if horrifying read and a triumph of thorough, fair-minded reporting and of empathy. He does justice to the sadness of the story and all its leading characters.”
24/02/2011
Read Full Review
The Financial Times
David Pilling
“It is grotesque material from which to fashion a narrative. Yet Richard Lloyd Parry has produced a work not only of page-turning intensity but also of touching sensitivity and deep insight. That he could have created something almost noble from such base material is a minor miracle of literary alchemy.”
28/02/2011
Read Full Review
The Daily Mail
Bel Mooney
“This is an extraordinary book which stands as far above the ‘true crime’ label as Paradise Lost does above the category ‘verse’.”
25/02/2011
Read Full Review
The Guardian
Blake Morrison
“This isn't just the tale of a murder case but a book that sheds light on Japan, on families, on the media, and (in ways that bring back memories of the Yorkshire Ripper case) on the insidious effects of misogyny. Open-minded and sympathetic despite being driven half mad, Parry is the best kind of narrator. It may be that the story won't ever let him go, but he tells it with such clarity and compassion that catharsis is the least he deserves.”
19/02/2011
Read Full Review
The Times
Brenda Maddox
“A horrible tale, meticulously told … Lloyd Parry illuminates the differences between courts in Japan and those in Britain and America. In Japan, not only the facts but the reasoning and impulses that led to a crime must be proved in court.”
19/02/2011
Read Full Review
The Sunday Times
Brian Schofield
“I imagine that this distinguished journalist and obviously decent man asked himself, numerous times, why he was writing such a miserable, ghoulish tale. He should have walked away. For while this is an excellent work of journalism, I don’t know a single person to whom I’d recommend it.”
13/02/2011
Read Full Review
The Observer
Geoff Dyer
“As the focus shifts from Lucie's disappearance to the world of the suspect, readers may well start to regret having embarked on the book. Partly this is due to the grisly details of murder and disposal of a body; less palpably, in a way that will be familiar to anyone who saw the documentary Capturing the Friedmans, it has to do with the creep of moral corrosion and emotional collapse.”
27/02/2011
Read Full Review