{"product_id":"beast-in-the-shadows-by-edogawa-rampo","title":"'Beast in the Shadows' by Edogawa Rampo","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"63\" data-end=\"563\"\u003eEdogawa Rampo helped invent modern Japanese detective and psychological mystery writing.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"63\" data-end=\"563\"\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"207\" data-end=\"229\"\u003eBeast in the Shadows\u003c\/em\u003e, first published in 1928, is a deliciously unsettling blend of literary satire, erotic obsession and locked-room suspense. A mystery writer finds himself drawn into the life of a married woman haunted by an anonymous stalker, only to discover that fiction, performance and reality are impossible to separate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"565\" data-end=\"1152\"\u003eWhat begins as a classic detective story gradually becomes stranger and more self-conscious. Rampo is less interested in solving a crime than exposing the pleasures of voyeurism, paranoia and storytelling itself. The novel anticipates later postmodern crime fiction while remaining deeply rooted in the grotesque imagination of Japan's \u003cem data-start=\"901\" data-end=\"911\"\u003eero guro\u003c\/em\u003e (\"erotic grotesque\") movement. Readers of Patricia Highsmith, Jorge Luis Borges, Kobo Abe or Paul Auster will find much to admire here, particularly its slippery games with authorship, identity and the unreliable nature of narrative itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1179\" data-end=\"1289\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2023 Penguin Classics paperback translated by Ian Hughes. Very light shelf wear with a clean, bright interior.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"1291\" data-end=\"1300\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45767101710419,"sku":null,"price":15.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/Untitleddesign-2026-07-03T191447.011.png?v=1783070257","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/beast-in-the-shadows-by-edogawa-rampo","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}