The Earthquake Bird

I know - if you don't blog regularly, people forget about you. That is one of the rules of blogging. And no - that's not one of the rules you can actually break and expect to get away with it. It won't work. I need to remind myself that. But, in my defence, I have not been well. The upside of not being well is being able to lie in bed and read without feeling guilty.

I have read The Earthquake Bird by Susanna Jones. What a brilliant book!

Early this morning, several hours before my arrest, I was woken by an earth tremor. I mention the incident not to suggest that there was a connection - that somehow the fault lines in my life came crashing together in the form of a couple of policemen - for in Tokyo we have a quake like this every month. I am simply relating the sequence of events as it happened. It has been an unusual day and I would hate to forget anything.

Lucy Fly left an unhappy life behind in England 10 years previously and is living in Japan as a translator of technical manuals. She meets Lily Bridges and reluctantly helps her get settled in Tokyo. Lily has also left an unhappy life behind in England and at first Lucy resents the constant reminders that Lily, herself having escaped an unhappy situation,  brings of a life she had left behind. When Lily's dismembered body is found in Tokyo Bay, Lucy is the chief suspect. As she tries to prove her innocence, the details of her life, her reason for leaving England, her obsession with her lover Teiji and her friendship with Lily is revealed.

The Earthquake Bird is a powerful psychological drama with a superb ending.

This is the first Susanna Jones book I have read, but it certainly won't be the last. A fantastic read!