Tsujimura Mizuki
Doubleday
13 February 2025 (2010)
320
eBook - PDF
Fantasy/Literary Fiction
ARC via NetGalley
When Hirase, a young woman from Tokyo, arranges an appointment with the Go-Between, she doesn't expect a teenager to show up. Dressed preppily in a duffel coat and carrying a scuffed notebook, he arranges for the dead to meet the living. At least, this is what Hirase has been told.
He ushers his clients into a chilly hospital courtyard where he lays down the rules: the reunion is at full moon; the deceased can be summoned only once; they can refuse; the service is entirely free.
- Hirase asks to see the TV star who once helped her;
- A stubborn family man asks his deceased mother where the deeds are to some land;
- A young woman gets a horrible shock when she receives a message from the best friend whose death she caused;
- A weary salary man explores why his girlfriend went missing days after he proposed.
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon was a captivating read. I liked the premise of being able to meet with the dead once while alive and with the living once when deceased. The stories had a lot of emotion behind them, and since each chapter was an individual story, you could comfortably complete one or two stories per night. This is a book that will certainly appeal to fans of works along the lines of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. I saw at the end of this book there was a snippet from the follow-up volume. For me, that's the only negative with these types of stories coming out of Japan lately: the first book is wonderful and new, but it becomes boring when the same premise repeats in book two, then book three and on. Therefore I am not sure yet if I will read on to a second volume, but this first book was definitely an enjoyable read with a plot idea that was fun but which still packed an emotional punch. The translation flowed well and the pacing within each story was good, making it easy bedtime reading. I am giving it 4.5 stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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