After all, she still felt a tingle of excitement when she recalled the sight of his lifeless body slumped in the doorway. “She wondered a bit uneasily whether she’d be convincing in the role of the worried wife. Are they drawn together because of circumstance or something darker? The relationships in the group of women are intriguing. She takes no prisoners in describing the motives of each of the characters and highlighting their flaws. Having read Grotesque, I had an idea of what I was in for with Out. When parts of the body are discovered, the police get involved however the women face far more dangerous enemies in the form of a ruthless nightclub owner and a loan shark. She confesses her crime to one of the friends Masako, who decides to help her get rid of the body by enlisting the help of her other co-workers. She murders her husband after he comes back from a night of gambling and chasing women. One night, one of the women, a young and beautiful mother is finally at the end of her tether. The story revolves around four women who work the gruelling night-shift at a boxed-lunch factory.

I thought it was about time to get into a good thriller, but I didn’t realise quite how gritty Out would be.

Having read Grotesque by the same author a few years ago and after hearing that Out was supposed to be one of Kirino’s best novels I had it in the back of my mind to pick up a copy and although having kept an eye out for some while for one in a charity shop, I finally gave in and bought it new on sale from Amazon. If I had to put it into a category I would say it was a sort of psychological thriller, but it is not your average page-turner. Out, by Japanese author Natsuo Kirino is a difficult novel to categorise.

Out de natsuo kirino