After Dark

First UK edition. 8vo. Pp. [iv], 201. Black cloth, lettered in silver to spine; black endpapers. Jacket photographs of 'woman' by Nobuyoshi Araki, and 'love hotel' by Peter Marlow (priced £14.99 to front flap).

Translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin. Originally published in 2004 as Afutā dāku, by Kōdansha Ltd., Tokyo.

Author's twelfth novel, composed under the ear worming strains of Curtis Fuller's 'Five Spot After Dark' (1959). From drama to metaphysical speculation, three loosely interrelated stories of strange encounters by Tokyo denizens in the witching hours between midnight and dawn. A post-modern exemplar, the book is noted for having a 'real-time' timeline, with a 3 a.m. reading start-time recommended.

"After Dark is hypnotically eerie, sometimes even funny, but most of all, it's a book that keeps ratcheting up the suspense." –Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World