I desperately wanted this book to be weirder than it was. It started out so strongly, with the relationship between Rika and Kajii getting more and more complex and twisted as they delved deeper into each other’s psyches and motivations — and then just as suddenly, it UNtwisted. And I was just barely halfway through the novel when that happened. The rest of the book, although interesting in its own right, wasn’t anything like what I thought it would be, based on the blurb and everything I’d read so far. The book is also far too long. I was longing for it to be over 150 pages from the end, and only my own stubbornness kept me going. 

The strengths of the book are it’s food writing — I can’t overstate how detailed and lush all of the food Rika eats is, even the plain takeout bento boxes — and the enduring friendship between Rika and Reiko, both ups and downs. Theirs is the central relationship, far more than Rika and Kajii’s. Rika’s development by the end of the novel is well-earned, but it felt like it came out of a more wholesome, coming-of-age narrative than the dark and deliciously twisted crime drama I was expecting.