[review] 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 by Richard Lloyd Parry (2012)

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adult, book, book review, horror, japan, suspense, Tokyo, true crme

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 (2012)
by Richard Lloyd Parry
Publication Date: May 22nd, 2012 (first published December 28th, 2010)
Publisher: FSG Originals
Edition Read: Paperback

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Lucie Blackman—tall, blond, twenty-one years old—stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000, and disappeared forever. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave.Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, covered Lucie’s disappearance and followed the massive search for her, the long investigation, and the even longer trial. Over ten years, he earned the trust of her family and friends, won unique access to the Japanese detectives and Japan’s convoluted legal system, and delved deep into the mind of the man accused of the crime, Joji Obara, described by the judge as “unprecedented and extremely evil.”The People Who Eat Darkness is one of Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 Best Books of 2012Drawing on two real-life experiences from his own past, Gross has crafted a richly personal, yet utterly terrifying tale of two brothers, one successful, one wayward, trying to bridge the gap of what tore them apart.

My Thoughts:
After I finished the prologue, I already had chills going down my spine. It was not a good idea to start this in bed/before going to sleep, since there was this “a ghost is sitting on my bed smoking a cigar” scene. I’ve been reading a number of dark books lately, I didn’t know if I could get through another and still have a good night’s sleep (being the scaredy cat that I am.) I debated immediately returning the book to the library, but ultimately decided to stick it out. I had a plan where I would read at least fifty pages a day of People Who Eat Darkness, while I also read other happier books to “neutralize” the horror. So much for that plan, because I ate (pun intended) this book up in two days.