Six Four

Hideo Yokoyama's 'Six Four' plunges readers into the chilling aftermath of a cold case that has haunted Japan for fourteen years. In January 1989, a seven-year-old girl was kidnapped, and despite the parents' anguish and the police's efforts, the abductor vanished, the child was never found, and the investigation—dubbed 'Six Four'—became synonymous with failure and public outrage. Fast forward to 2002, where Yoshinobu Mikami, a former detective now serving as the press officer for the prefectural police, finds himself caught in a bureaucratic nightmare. As the politically sensitive anniversary of the unsolved 'Six Four' case looms, Mikami battles a hostile press, internal police politics, and a looming visit from the National Police Agency. His meticulous attention to detail uncovers a critical anomaly within the original case files—a small, seemingly insignificant discrepancy. This discovery sets Mikami on a relentless and perilous journey, unraveling a labyrinth of buried secrets, systemic corruption, and personal betrayals that threaten to expose the darkest truths hidden within the very institution he serves. The novel is a gripping exploration of justice, memory, and the moral compromises made in the pursuit of truth.