All She Was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe (Kodansha)
Miyuki Miyabe is one of Japan’s best known writers. She has won many awards including the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature, the Yamoto Shugoro Prize sponsored by Shinchosha Publishing Company and the Naoki Prize. Many of her novels have been adapted into movies as well including titles such as “Brave Story”, “Solomon’s Perjury” and “Crossfire”. A South Korean production company adapted All She Was Worth and released the film with the title of `Helpless”.
Miyabe is best known for her mysteries and this book rates as one of her best All She Was Worth, originally published in 1992 in Japanese as “Kasha” won the Best Mystery and Best Novel in the year of its publication. It follows the story of a police detective named Shunsuke Honma who is on an extended leave since the death of his wife Chizuko three years ago and is also recovering from being shot in the leg on duty. As a favor to his nephew, he takes on a missing persons case.
Jun Kurisaka, the son of Honma’s wife’s cousin has come to ask for help. Honma hasn’t seen Jun in seven years who also didn’t show up for Chizuko’s funeral. Honma was wondering why Jun was coming to see him. After Jun arrives and exchanges pleasantries, Jun finally tells Honma the reason for his visit. He tells Honma that he’s gotten engaged but his fiancee has disappeared and wants his help to find her.
This sets in motion the search for a woman named Shoko Sekine. A 28 year old woman with no parents. The trouble all started with a routine application for a credit card. Jun was informed by his friend who works in the banking and credit industry that Shoko Sekine was blacklisted, that she had also filed for personal bankruptcy. Jun thinks the bank made a mistake and gets into an argument with his friend who suggests that Jun should ask Shoko himself. He tells Honma that when he confronted Shoko about it, she went white as a ghost. Jun tells Honma, she didn’t deny it and said, “...there were all kinds of complicated circumstances behind it.” She told Jun, she needed a little time and the next day, she disappeared.
Reluctantly, Honma decides to help Jun and takes on the case of searching for Shoko Sekine. Jun had told Honma where Shoko worked and that is where he starts his unofficial investigation. First he goes to Shoko’s last place of employment and asks to see her resume. He decides to work backwards to see what kind of information he can garner. When he checks with Shoko’s former employers, he discovers that none of them existed. They were all fictitious companies. He also discovers that Shoko Sekine owes a lot of money to loan sharks.
As Honma delves deeper into Jun’s vanished fiancee, he discovers a truth that surprises him and thinks it will be an even bigger shock to Jun. It appears that Shoko Sekine is not who she says she is, that her identity has been stolen by a complete stranger! Honma believes the real Shoko Sekine might be dead. What will he tell Jun? Will Honma continue to investigate to find out the truth of the matter? ~Ernie Hoyt