In the era of box sets, binge-watching and on-demand entertainment, many assume that patience for the dramatic cliffhanger has dissipated into nostalgia. However, publisher Soho Crime took a gamble with Kaoru Takamura¡¯s sprawling crime thriller ¡°Lady Joker¡± by splitting the 1,200-page novel into two parts published more than a year apart. It was an unconventional choice to keep readers dangling without completion for so long.
¡°Lady Joker: Volume One¡± was released July 2021, and the 15-month wait for ¡°Volume Two,¡± which will be out Oct. 18, means salient details about the complex, interlocking plot narrated through multiple characters¡¯ perspectives may have faded into the background. Yet, Takamura¡¯s expositional storytelling and the compelling translation by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell means readers can pick up the threads easily enough without a refresher course.
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