Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Rika Onda (translated by Alison Watts)
I would like to thank Anne from Random Things Tours and Bitter Lemon Press for an advance copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Bitter Lemon Press
Published – Out Now
Price – £8.99 paperback £5.79 Kindle eBook
Set in Tokyo over the course of one night, Aki and Hiro have decided to be together one last time in their shared flat before parting. Their relationship has broken down after a mountain trek during which their guide died inexplicably. Now each believes the other to be a murderer and is determined to extract a confession before the night is over. Who is the murderer and what really happened on the mountain? In the battle of wills between them, the chain of events leading up to this night are gradually revealed in a gripping psychological thriller that keeps the reader in suspense to the very end.
Duality is a big part of a crime thriller. The concepts of innocent and guilty, detective and suspect, good and evil are very much at the core of the tale. Humanity is capable of being either and the choices made lead to that chase taking the tale to its conclusion. I was very intrigued though how Riku Onda’s novel Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight translated by Alison Watts delivers a tense mystery where over the course of one night our two tortured main characters each tries to expose the other as a killer.
Aki and Hiro are about to leave their apartment for the last time and finally go their separate ways. Each knows their relationship has reached an ending; but each also suspects the other of being a killer a few months ago. Each must deal with their memories of past events that will also shape how their relationship itself has been shaped and how their lives have panned out. One last night to finally expose the truth about the other.
It is great to go in cold into this rather unusual duet of two main characters each telling us their interpretations of events and why they now fear who the other person is. Onda’s story is a corridor of a story that every now and then drops the floor underneath you to reveal the next level to navigate. What makes this work is how the story accurately creates the feel of a relationship ending badly. How these two who got to know each other in university and fall in love now really have darkened their feelings over them. Habits they once accepted are hated; you look for those tells that sign they are lying and you’re no longer sure why exactly they are still with each other and yet that toxic feeling of being around each is steadily growing and starting to seep out.
Onda has our two characters take turns narrating and we get to see the start and end of the relationship from their eyes and keeps it ambiguous as to who is the guilty party. Our narrators both hint they have their secrets – other lovers; the lies they know they are telling each other and sloly twe turn to the day one man lost his life. It’s a pretty impressive approach and as more revelations come to light, we learn we have to be very careful about who we are believing. Often with set-ups like these it’s the landing that can be key and while there are I think are several excellent reveals to hook us into the story I felt one key plot strand seemed to fizzle out into conjecture rather than any proof which does feel a little forced. But the story also serves as a good metaphor for a relationship ending – the need to escape; accept and move on to better things ad its unusual to feel positive about life after a thriller.
Fish Swimming In Dappled sunlight is a tale of mysteries wrapped into its enigmatic title. Far more a psychological character piece than an adrenaline fuelled thriller but as the story unfurls you realllly need to know how this story will end. Very satisfying and a fascinating short read.
