People Who Eat Darkness

The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo - and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up

By: Richard Lloyd Parry

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Lucie Blackman - tall, blond, 21 years old - stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000 and disappeared. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave. The seven months in between had seen a massive search for the missing girl involving Japanese policemen, British private detectives, and Lucie’s desperate but bitterly divided parents. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult or snatched by human traffickers? Who was the mysterious man she had gone to meet? And what did her work as a hostess in the notorious Roppongi district of Tokyo really involve?

Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, followed the case from the beginning. Over the course of a decade, as the rest of the world forgot but the trial dragged on, he traveled to four continents to interview those connected with the story, assiduously followed the court proceedings, and won unique access to the Japanese detectives who investigated the case. Ultimately he earned the respect of the victim’s family and delved deep into the mind and background of the man accused of the crime - Joji Obara, described by the judge as “unprecedented and extremely evil.” The result is a book at once thrilling and revelatory.

Richard Lloyd Parry is the Asia editor and Tokyo bureau chief of the London Times and the author of In the Time of Madness.

©2011, 2012 Richard Lloyd Parry (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A masterpiece of writing this surely is, but it is more than that - it is a committed, compassionate, courageous act of journalism that changes the way we think. Everyone who has ever loved someone and held that life dear should read this stunning book, and shiver.” (Chris Cleave, number one New York Times best-selling author of Little Bee)

“I opened this book as a skeptic. I am not a lover of true crime…. But Richard Lloyd Parry's remarkable examination of [this] crime, what it revealed about Japanese society and how it unsettled conventional notions of bereavement, elevates his book above the genre. People Who Eat Darkness is a searing exploration of evil and trauma and how both ultimately elude understanding or resolution.… Just as the grief of Blackman’s parents is unassaugeable, Obara and his motives are unknowable. That is the darkness at the heart of this book, one Lloyd Parry conveys with extraordinary effect and emotion.… People Who Eat Darkness is a fascinating mediation that does not pretend to offer pat answers to obscene mysteries.” ( New York Times Book Review)

“[A] masterful literary true crime story, which earns its comparisons to Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer's The Executioner’s Song.… Like the case of Etan Patz, the Lucie Blackman disappearance captured the public imagination. By writing about it in such culturally informed detail, Parry subtly encourages an understanding that goes past the headlines. It is a dark, unforgettable ride.” ( Los Angeles Times)

creepy non ficition

If you could sum up People Who Eat Darkness in three words, what would they be?

Dark. Disturbing. Compelling.

What was one of the most memorable moments of People Who Eat Darkness?

The entire book is memorable.

If you could give People Who Eat Darkness a new subtitle, what would it be?

The title is horrible. It's a true crime novel of hostess girls in Japan. I'm not great at titles but it could use a better one than this.

Any additional comments?

Best true crime novel I've "read" in ages. The narration is spot-on.

Sad

Very sad tale of a missing and murdered girl and the apathy and ignorance of the Tokyo police. Interesting look into a seedier side of Japan that most Westerners are unaware of.

Dark, Disturbing...true.

I sat on this review for the book "People Who Eat Darkness" for a few months. I processed whether or not I actually wanted to write a review.

We join the parents of Lucie Blackwood in a hopeless search for their missing girl in the huge city of Tokyo.

This was a compelling read, but not a very nice one. It left me with the desire to wash my hands after having read it, and try to unread portions of this book that left me feeling unclean. For, after all, this book enters the underbelly of Japan in search of a missing girl.

Parry has written a true story, in a way that makes it read like a crime story - one that enters demented minds of people who operate in darkness.

Difficult, compelling read

This book was compelling and I couldn’t stop listening. But soooo sad. There are fascinating perspectives on evil, Japanese culture, criminality, grief, money, family relationships, social alienation, racial stereotyping, sexual deviance and society. Recommended, but only if you’re feeling strong and up to a dark, dark story that’s all the more disturbing because it is true.

Dark but good

This was a compelling listen. The bondage and perverse sexual fetishism that permeates Japanese culture should give one pause. worth a listen

Needs abridged

Way too much detail. I really struggled to finish this book. It took me about a week listening to it every day. I just kept getting lost in all of the detail. I never did understand the title.

Ok, but just barely

the story was ok, not great but it kept my interest. I felt like the author's opinions were very apologetic to a misogynistic part of a culture to the detriment of the book. the worst part was the reader. The book takes place in Japan and the reader didn't know how to pronounce many of the Japanese words which was very distracting.

compelling

Where does People Who Eat Darkness rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is a narrative that tackles complexities of culture, psychology, and family dynamics. I found the story enlightening and moving. The narrator is also great.

True Crime, But Engaging

A classic true crime novel. However, probably better than most. The story unravels slowly and does a great job of conveying the cultural context of the crime-- in Tokyo.

Horrifying, and true.

This is a well written account of the death of a young, all too naive woman living and working in Japan. I can’t comment further because spoilers are inevitable. It’s well written, matter of fact and worth a listen. I especially recommend this book to any young women considering living and working alone in foreign countries—not to discourage such adventures, simply to emphasize the need for caution.