People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo--and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up

Richard Lloyd Parry's true crime book, "People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman" has many elements that peaked my interest.First, I love true crime stories. I had never heard of the Blackman case, which made it an even more interesting read. It's actually surprising, since the case seemed to have been big international news and it's quite a horrific story.Second, I love stories set in foreign countries, especially ones that deal with cultural differences. This story, centers around English Born Lucie Blackman, who in her early twenties moved to Japan to work as a hostess in the nightclubs of Roppongi. She disappeared and many months later, her dismembered body was found in a cave on a beach. A man named Joji Obara was arrested and it led to a rather unusual trial by Japanese standards.Third, I purchased a Kindle edition of this book to take with me on my first trip to England. It was a bit of themed travel reading. One of our unplanned/last minute excursions on the trip was to the Isle of Wight. The Isle of Wight happens to have been where Lucie Blackman's father lived during the trial and was featured fairly prominently in the book. I love that I was able to visit the Isle and have it in my frame of reference.The events of Lucie Blackman's death are horrific, creepy and bizarre. I found it to be completely fascinating and the book a compelling read. Although, I would not recommend this book for the easily squeamish or those that cannot handle graphic details, both regarding the murder and the sex industry. The book goes deep into the dark side of Japan in exploring the various sex clubs and the world of hostessing. It comprises approximately a third of the book.Equally fascinating is the last portion of the book, which explores the Japanese justice system, both through the police investigation and the subsequent trial. It's very different than the Western judicial system and is heavily influenced by the Japanese culture's ideas of honor and shame.The accused, Joji Obara is a very bizarre and mysterious man. Parry spent a lot of time researching Obara as he attempted to piece together Obara's life and motives. Beyond being strange, Obara was very intelligent and wily when perpetrating his crimes. However, he also stood out in a culture that values the ability to blend in. His strange behavior and defiant attitude made him appear cocky and aggressive towards journalist, families of the victims and even his own defense team. The book could have just been a character study on Ibara, as it contained a wealth of interesting information.My only complaint about Parry's book, was it needed tighter editing. In parts, the information felt repetitive. It dragged and occasionally seemed unfocused. I felt this especially to be true towards the end of the book, when Parry wrote about his own bizarre communication with Obara, including threats towards the author. This would have best been stated in an afterward or maybe kept to a paragraph. I felt like it was not so pertinent to the story. I also felt like Lucie's family dynamic was talked about to death. It was important to state the impact of her death on her relatives, but it could have been done more succinctly or kept to a particular chapter. The information felt receptive, rather than fresh.Despite the repetition, Parry's book is a compelling read and Lucie's story is one that needs to be told.Please visit my blog for more book reviews and a trip reports from my England vacation!

My husband says he sometimes gets concerned by the fact that one of my not-so-hidden guilty pleasures is watching true crime TV and reading various true crime nonfiction. "Are you planning something?" is something he's asked me more than once. Anyway, because I've read a lot of the more well-known true crime books, I feel confident saying that this is one of the best--and also one of the scariest--that I've read in a long time.I had just finished Gone Girl and was looking for something nonfiction (I like to alternate--fiction, nonfiction and so on) and this one looked promising.One of the potential pitfalls of true crime nonfiction is in making the "other" content in the book--a description of the victim's life before they died, an account of the sometimes mundane police work, a short bio of the killer's life growing up--as interesting as the crime itself. Some writers go too far, providing over-dramatized background in an unorganized way in order to boost the number of pages in the book. Others don't go far enough and you don't establish any sort of context of who the people are (or were), which doesn't feel at all fair to the victims. (They were, after all, much more than the crime that ended their life.) One of my most hated ploys is the writer who alternates chapters as a device to keep readers engaged: one bio chapter, one crime chapter and so on and so forth. It feels cheap, like how TV shows end cliffhangers right before a commercial, and it reduces important details about someone's life to nothing but filler.In this case, Parry did everything right. The biographical portions of the book, of which there are many, are honest, forthright and meaningful. Instead of over-dramatizing events to boost suspense, he simply relays facts in a professional, intelligent way that made me confident of his research. I attribute this mostly to his training in journalism that he didn't rely on the cheap ploys that true crime nonfiction so often does.Another aspect of the book that I find really well-done was Parry's ability to keep the enormous cast of characters easily recognizable by the reader. There's nothing more frustrating than to have to look back in a book to determine who is being talked about, and Parry did a great job of eliminating this type of confusion.One of the best things about this book is how well Parry translates Lucie to the reader. You feel like you know her well by the end--her desires, her personality, the things she wanted in her life. Unfortunately, that makes it all the more heart-breaking when you read the details of what happened to her at the hand of a truly demented individual.The scariest thing about this book is how vulnerable women can be in the presence of a unnaturally manipulative and twisted mind. Joji Obara, Lucie's alleged murderer, drugged and raped literally hundreds of women before doing the same--and then killing--Lucie. It's an unimaginable legacy of crime, and one that maybe could have been thwarted much sooner had it not been for the overly cautious and bureaucratic Japanese police force. The details of the Japanese justice system near the end of the book are fascinating and eye-opening. I always assumed Japan had severe punishments for criminals, and although that is usually the case, their general incompetence in actually compiling the evidence necessary to charge and convict a criminal is pointed out time and time again in this book.The book was suspenseful and frightening without resorting to any cheap tricks, and the huge amount of research and material surrounding the case was impeccably laid out. If you've never read true crime nonfiction before, this is a great place to start.

While dealing with an area most of us are not familiar with Lloyd parry has done. A brilliant job of making not only the horror of the story but also the strangeness of Japan the book brings it alive .makes the people very human and sympathetic.Looking out for his next book

The author fleshes out the entire landscape so your understand how she wound up in Japan. The adventure she wanted and the tragedy that unfolded. Well done book! You also learn about Japanese culture - including the underbelly.

Book arrived covered in a sticky chemical residue that smelled funky.

i could hardly leave it unread, a page turner, the author will skilfully lead the reader through the life of Lucie Blackman, and the investigation of her murderer, she being a beautiful young girl somehow a bit naive, easily accepting the image of a very safe society while it might not be so. with many details of the Japanese way of life, its most drab and shady aspects and how Justice/Investigation works (or not) in Japan, we closely participate in the drama of her family and friends. sometimes we feel like we belong to her family. the book beats many thrillers on the same topic. a must read.

I love this book, not a second did I feel bored reading it. One of the best books I've ever read! I definitely recommand!! 5 stars!