Cult X

March 26, 2018
A man’s search for his missing girlfriend drives this gripping novel from Nakamura (The Boy in the Earth). After Ryoko Tachibina disappears from Toru Narazaki’s life after hinting that she is going to kill herself, he gets a lead on her potential whereabouts from a PI friend, who reports that she was a member of a mysterious religious organization in Tokyo—the kind “people didn’t hear many good things about.” When Toru goes to its headquarters, he’s told that, while Ryoko had been there, she was actually a member of a rival group—a “nameless cult,” labelled simply “X” by Japan’s Public Security Bureau. As Toru continues his quest for the truth about Ryoko’s loyalties, he learns more about X, which proves to pose a threat to the entire country. Though lengthy digressions in the form of transcribed lectures about faith and science demand some patience, and some readers may be uncomfortable with the explicit sex scenes, this noirish thriller will resonate with Ryu Murakami fans.

May 1, 2018

Akutagawa Prize winner Nakamura (The Boy in the Earth; The Kingdom) brings to life the complex inner workings of fringe religions and cults. Toru Narazaki is searching for his missing girlfriend Ryoko, but his only lead is a quiet compound belonging to an eccentric Buddhist guru. Narazaki joins the group and delves into its leader's vision and dogma only to find that the members have splintered into a darker, secretive sect known as Cult X. Probing further, Toru uncovers a violent and extreme core. Nakamura's layered plot creates a sense of entering an underworld that is both fascinating and terrifying. At times, the narrative is slowed by the guru's philosophical meanderings on astrophysics, neuroscience, and religion, but Narazaki's heroic path will keep readers invested. Some extended salacious scenes feel extraneous. VERDICT Inspired by the 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway, this best-selling novel from one of Japan's most talented crime writers offers a provocative look into the world of extremist beliefs in modern culture. [See Prepub Alert, 11/21/17.]--Ron Samul, New London, CT

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2018
A quest for a woman turns into an exploration of some of life's most penetrating questions. Toru Narazaki finds Ryoko Tachibana, whom he meets in a library, to have literary interests similar to his own, but she resists a physical relationship, and, weeks later, she disappears. Toru's search for her takes him first to a guru, Shotaro Matsuo, and then to the headquarters of Cult X, where the mysterious leader, Sawatari, reigns on the twenty-first floor of a high-rise building that hides his organization in plain sight. Once followers of the same religious teacher, Matsuo and Sawatari have gone their separate ways, Matsuo to speak about the world's origins and the human need for stories, and Sawatari to find pleasure in raping and killing, encouraging orgies among his followers as a means of brainwashing, with the ultimate goal of a terrorist act with international implications. Toru finds himself becoming more deeply involved in the cult world as he's sent by Sawatari to infiltrate Matsuo's group. Taking as his inspiration the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, award-winning author Nakamura weaves together politics, religion, and science?including biology, cosmology, and quantum physics?into a fascinating noir brimming with insightful commentary on totalitarianism that is especially apt for our times.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)