Japanese Literary Awards

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Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! Grand Award このミステリーがすごい! たいしょう

Edition 1 (2002)

Mystery novelsBroadly defined mystery

Winners

4 people
Takuya Asakura あさくら たくや gold prize

A girl with a brain injury and a young man whose path as a pianist was cut short meet at a mountain clinic and experience a mysterious four-day event. It is a moving fantasy about healing and renewal.

At a mountain clinic, a miracle begins quietly over four days.

421 pages
renewalhealingmusicfamilymiracle
東山彰良 ひがしやま あきよし silver prize

Set in a near-future prison facility, this is an escape drama about running toward freedom from a world said to be impossible to escape. Violence and oppression force impossible choices on the characters.

If they flee, it will be freedom or blindness.

435 pages
prison breaknear futureviolencefreedomdystopia
式田ティエン しきだ てぃえん excellence award

To uncover the truth behind his father’s sudden death, the protagonist goes undercover at a seaside club. Diving, corporate scandal, and rumors of regenerative medicine intertwine in a suspense novel.

On the Shonan coast, the truth behind his father’s death gradually surfaces.

421 pages
suspensedivingcorporate intriguefamilytruth-seeking
Nobuyuki Jokou じょうこう のぶゆき dark horse

Two college women trapped in a mountain hot spring resort try to escape with nothing but their mobile phones. It is a horror-suspense story driven by confinement and momentum.

All they can rely on is a phone. Can they escape the mountain village alive?

550 pages
horrorsuspenselocked-room tensionmobile phonesescape