"Lady Joker" by Kaoru Takamura was published in Japanese in 1997, but its English-language debut in 2021 still feels timely. On the surface, this classic of contemporary Japanese fiction — twice adapted for the screen — is a crime thriller, but underneath it's a state-of-the-nation novel that is perhaps even more apposite today than 24 years ago.
The book centers on the kidnapping of the head of a fictional beer company, Hinode, by a mismatched gang of amateur corporate extortionists. The kidnapping, however, is almost beside the point. The first half of this 600-page tome — the first volume of a two-part opus — is given over to introducing the criminals and watching them mastermind their plan. The second half pivots to the kidnapping and shows readers its aftermath from the perspective of the police and reporters. In other words, there is both crime and punishment.