Patient X

October 15, 2018

In one of the most inexcusable examples of careless casting or lazy producing or both, Peace (Red or Dead) gets utterly short-changed by Ric Jerrom's exasperating performance, from grievous mispronunciations of the majority of the Japanese names and words--including Peace's protagonist Ryu¯nosuke Akutagawa--to unnecessarily heightened, frenzied interpretations of too many passages. With dozens of audiobook credits, British actor Jerrom--who seems to be the voice of choice for Ruth Rendell and Patrick O'Brian--is no newbie, but his unfamiliarity with the Japanese language or literature is painfully obvious. That Peace's final volume in his "Tokyo Trilogy" should be so mistreated is a shame. Moving from post-war Tokyo murders in Tokyo Year Zero, to a 12-part Rasho¯mon-esque dissection of mass murder in 1948 Tokyo in Occupied City, Peace concludes his three-parter with the too-short, disquieting tragic life of Rasho¯mon creator Akutagawa, presented as 13 tales told by "Patient X in one of our iron castles." Equal parts biography, myth-making, homage, and fabulous storytelling, this work by Peace--who lived in Japan for 17 years--is a memorable multiperspective montage of a literary legend as a troubled young man. VERDICT By all means, choose the page.--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

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