Margins
Seesaw Monster book cover
Seesaw Monster
2019
First Published
3.60
Average Rating
352
Number of Pages

A gripping novel mixing mythology, family drama, espionage, and high technology from the international bestselling author of Bullet Train, already in development for a major film starring Anne Hathaway and Salma Hayek. In Seesaw Monster, international bestselling author Kotaro Isaka employs his hallmarks of kinetic pacing, high-stakes action, and great characters to explore the nature of conflict, the power of close relationships, and the idea of progress. Poor Naoto. A pharmaceutical salesman in Japan in the booming 1980s, his job has him working long hours, answering to his demanding boss and entertaining entitled customers. And at home, his wife, Miyako, and his mother are always feuding, making each other miserable. Why can’t the two just get along? Then one day a mysterious visitor shows up at their door with a possible answer. Their conflict is larger—and far more ancient—than it might appear. When Naoto uncovers something wrong at work and his life is suddenly in danger, can the two women set aside their differences to save him? Decades later, in our near-future, surveillance, facial-recognition software, and AI dominate Japan. The most sensitive information lives only on paper, and Mito makes his living delivering it. When a chance meeting with a stranger on a train draws Mito into a possible conspiracy, he finds himself face-to-face with his own enemy, a tragic double whose life has been intertwined with his own. Is this another instance of the ancient feud? And what role will Miyako, now in her nineties, play in this deadly game?

Avg Rating
3.60
Number of Ratings
219
5 STARS
18%
4 STARS
37%
3 STARS
32%
2 STARS
13%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

Kotaro Isaka
Kotaro Isaka
Author · 40 books

Kōtarō Isaka (伊坂幸太郎, Isaka Koutarou) is a Japanese author of mystery fiction. Isaka was born in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from the law faculty of Tohoku University, he worked as a system engineer. Isaka quit his company job and focused on writing after hearing Kazuyoshi Saito's 1997 song "Kōfuku na Chōshoku Taikutsu na Yūshoku", and the two have collaborated several times. In 2000, Isaka won the Shincho Mystery Club Prize for his debut novel Ōdyubon no Inori, after which he became a full-time writer. In 2002, Isaka's novel Lush Life gained much critical acclaim, but it was his Naoki Prize-nominated work Jūryoku Piero (2003) that brought him popular success. His following work Ahiru to Kamo no Koin Rokkā won the 25th Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers. Jūryoku Piero (2003), Children (2004), Grasshopper (2004), Shinigami no Seido (2005) and Sabaku (2006) were all nominated for the Naoki Prize. Isaka was the only author in Japan to be nominated for the Hon'ya Taishō in each of the award's first four years, finally winning in 2008 with Golden Slumber. The same work also won the 21st Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize.

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