The Silent Dead is my first foray into Japanese crime fiction, and I want to be critical without sounding like I'm a silly Westerner that just doesn't get other culture.

The overall technical parts of the novel were done well. The writing, even in translation, was well written and effective, never confusing or obviously translated. The crime was interesting, different, and, while maybe a tad unreal in how it was solved (I guess when police have no more leads, paying hackers is the only plot device left,) it was plotted evenly and it felt honest.

But, the characters! Like I said, this was my first foray into Japanese fiction, but like are characters always this over-the-top?

The reactions, and interactions, every single characters had, whether secondary or a bit player, were so overwhelming and irrational that it completely ruined this book for me.

Everyone was so quick to anger, so quick to insult each other and threaten violence, especially the lead character, Reiko.

And the sexism! I mean, maybe Japanese culture is truly that fucking sexist, but it felt like I was drowning in period jokes and "get back into the kitchen"-isms. And not only that, women are viewed as stupid. Just straight up morons that can't do anything and you are told this a number of times.

Even trying to be understanding of another cultures norms, one I have no experience with, this aspect of the story was so, so much that it got my back up immediately and I never could relax.

This is a fairly standard international police procedural (serial killers love candles and collage walls, wherever they are), set in contemporary Tokyo, with a young woman detective at the center. The interest here is the role of hard-boiled police in a society without a lot of guns or crime, and the hierarchy and inner politics of the Japanese national police force.