A Cop's Eyes

The horror, of seemingly ordinary people doing horrifying things, can take the eyes of just as seemingly ordinary people to see.

Tall, soft-spoken Natsume used to work with troubled kids at a reformatory but resigned mid-career to become a police detective. Those who've known him wonder why the gentlest of men, whose vocation had been to have faith in humans, now doubts them professionally. The truths of his path unfold over seven carefully crafted chapters, each of which stands on its own as a short story with the power to move and delight the most seasoned reader.

Determination, not vengeance, animates A Cop's Eyes, its focus neither well-placed punches, nor even stunning feats of forensics, but the stubbornly interpersonal dimension of detective work. An anti-hero in a wholly different vein from noir protagonists, the yin to Dirty Harry's yang, Natsume will endear himself to fans of understated Robert Parker goodness and the late Peter Falk's Lt. Columbo.

Born in 1969 and raised in the Kobe suburb of Akashi, Gaku Yakumaru grew up on film. He was obsessed with the medium since he was a small child and has long considered himself a Steve McQueen fan. So before he made it big as a writer, Yakumaru had ambitions to become an actor and as a youth he left for Tokyo to pursue his dreams.

In the capital, his focus would eventually change from acting to writing. Under the guidance of experienced authors and screenwriters, Yakumaru would develop a voice that would quickly be accepted throughout the country. In 2004 his first novel Tenshi no Knife (Angel's Knife) was awarded the Rampo Edogawa Award by the Mystery Writers of Japan for best crime fiction work by a new author. He would then come to be recognized by many other outlets including Kodansha's Eiji Yoshikawa Award for best young author and the Haruhiko Ohyabu Award for best hardboiled fiction. As of late, many of his 13 books have received film and TV adaptations further expanding his reach and cementing his place as one of Japan's best known crime fiction authors today.