This is an omnibus edition of a serial that was published as five books. The description from the book's Amazon page is below.
Tokyo Noir is a new type of serial patterned after the best contemporary TV dramas. Its gritty atmosphere, complex characters, visual style, and fast-paced action make it just as addictive and binge-worthy as some of today’s most engrossing TV series! It offers a fresh take on a classic genre by blending the moral ambiguity and menace of noir with the high-stakes tension and suspense of a thriller.
A killer stalks the streets of a near-future Tokyo on the brink. The cascade of events unleashed by the slayings threatens to drag under three people on opposite sides of the law.
There’s Vasili, the ruthless yakuza boss desperately trying to conceal a secret so explosive it could tear the underworld apart. Will he succeed, or will the vast criminal machine he has built finally spin out of his control?
Satoshi, the street soldier forced by Vasili to bring in his former best friend for a fate worse than death. He’ll have to decide whether his loyalty lies with his friend or his unyielding boss, before time runs out for both of them.
And Mei, the honest cop tasked with catching the killer, only to find herself pulled under Vasili’s influence. Caught between a corrupt police force and a gangster determined to lead her astray at every turn, she’ll have to outwit both sides if she’s to stop the killer before he strikes again.
Three desperate people who will have to break all their own rules just to stay alive. And even that may not be enough.
Season I consists of:
Episode I. The Drowning City
Episode II. Masters and Servants
Episode III. Human Sacrifices
Episode IV. Served Cold
Episode V. The Heart of the Machine
This omnibus edition hasn't been released yet. The individual books in the series sell a few copies a week, though this is without much promotion since I'm waiting for the omnibus to come out to begin advertising it heavily. They are ranked around 200,000 as of now, while the permafree first book is around 700 in the free store.
Goddamn this eternal fog.
If I’m to die today, so be it.
I belong dead.
But at least let me see the sun one last time.
With these thoughts swirling through his head, Masa looked up at the thick gray fog wreathing the skyscrapers of downtown Tokyo like a mist-shrouded jungle. How many days had it been now since the sun last shone on this city? Since it penetrated that dense veil of dust, grit, and particulate choking the air? He couldn’t even remember. All he knew was that people weren’t supposed to live like this, in perpetual semidarkness. It did strange things to them. Made them do strange things in turn …
He looked across the backseat at Satoshi. He couldn’t read what Satoshi was thinking, not through his respirator and face guard. Masa wasn’t wearing his own respirator. What would be the point now? he thought. Might as well take one last look at this city through my own eyes. Such as they are. Such as it is.
This city had been slowly consuming him for the past twenty-seven years, and today it just might swallow him whole. But Masa mused that if he were to get caught in its gaping maw, it wouldn’t be because he fell into it. It would be because he had been pushed. By Satoshi, the only true friend he had ever had.
All those years together. All those years spent growing up on the streets, getting into fights, walking the Path together, rising through the ranks. Throughout it all, the one constant in his life had been Satoshi. Watching out for Masa, standing up for him, supporting him through everything. Looking after him with the fierce determination of an elder brother. And while they weren’t blood brothers, they had been brothers-in-arms since as far back as he could remember.
Which is why Masa found it strange that Satoshi was the one delivering him to his death.
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Spanish
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Translation in progress.
Translated by Hector Jorquera
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