Fuminori Nakamura has been turning out mystery novels in the classic noir style for years. His detective series featuring the very Holmesian Hayama has been filled with complex storylines. The previous installment, MY ANNIHILATION, showed Hayama’s troubled side. This latest entry, once again translated by Sam Bett, goes to even darker and more controversial heights.

Warning: THE ROPE ARTIST features an enormous amount of graphic sex, sadomasochism and bondage that is definitely not for the squeamish. It is unlike anything I have ever read, and I appreciate the unique storytelling that is unabashedly comfortable in its own skin. If it ever became a film, it most likely would be rated NC-17.

"Those who dare to breach the world that Nakamura has built in THE ROPE ARTIST can be assured that they will come away with new perspectives and have an opportunity to peek behind an ancient Japanese curtain that few in the Western world have experienced."

At the heart of the detection piece inside this story is a dual-headed depiction of two detectives. The first is Togashi, a junior member of the police force whose own perversions will be tested by this latest case and threaten to eat him alive. The other is the aforementioned Hayama, who must step up to run a parallel investigation due to the dark proclivities he suspects live inside his colleague.

The victim this time is Kazunari Yoshikawa, a kinbaku instructor (or “rope artist”) who specialized in the bondage of women for the purpose of turning them into sex slaves. It’s possible that one of his clients simply got pushed too far in one of their sessions and prematurely ended his life. This seems too easy to Togashi, who is the first to take on this case. He is intrigued when he finds the business card of an old girlfriend in the victim’s planner. Togashi does the unethical thing and palms the card in an effort to shield his ex-lover from suspicion. He then takes it upon himself to visit Maiko Kirita, with whom he is still somewhat obsessed.

The ultra-kinky relationship between Togashi and Maiko is revisited in a way that goes beyond the sensual to a higher plateau. Reading these scenes is like passing by a car wreck; you just cannot help but sneak a peek at it.

Meanwhile, Hayama’s investigation looks at the gentler and even “fun” side of kinbaku as a way to understand the process without facing the darker elements of the obsession that fuel some participants. When it is found out that there is no such person as Kazunari Yoshikawa, at least nobody the police can identify with that name, things really get interesting.

Togashi eventually becomes a suspect in the murder. Hayama must firmly implant his special style of detection to find the truth and discover if Togashi had really succumbed to his own dark delicacies. The most interesting aspect of the book is the depiction of the kinbaku process as an almost spiritual experience: “What did it mean to tie a person up with something as sacred as hemp rope? I don’t think it was actually about offering a woman’s body to the gods, like I used to believe. No, it was a way of overcoming the mundaneness of the world and our insipid daily lives.”

Those who dare to breach the world that Nakamura has built in THE ROPE ARTIST can be assured that they will come away with new perspectives and have an opportunity to peek behind an ancient Japanese curtain that few in the Western world have experienced. Readers will not easily forget this novel for many reasons.