A Crime In The Land of 7,000 Islands

By Zephaniah Sole

Fiction/Crime

Paperback

AN IKIGAI JOHNSON THRILLER

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A Crime In the Land of 7,000 Islands is a powerhouse crime thriller fused with folk tales and the influence of anime. This psychological literary fiction tells the tale of Ikigai Johnson, a Special Agent working out of the FBI's Portland, Oregon field office, who pledges to bring justice to children abused by a monstrous American in the Philippines. Amidst an expertly accurate police procedural, Ikigai recounts her tale to her eleven-year-old daughter through fantastical allegory. Her story exposes the damage that arises from exploitation, inequality, and generational trauma. Exploring the nuances of criminal justice, it enacts the battle between our courage and our submission to fear. It is an important call to act against evil.

Trigger warning: contains themes of crimes against minors.

Zephaniah Sole is a Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Author Fellow as well as an alum of VONA and Tin House. His fiction has appeared in Epiphany, Gargoyle Magazine, Collateral Journal and Vestal Review, among other publications. A graduate of New York University, he's been a filmmaker, a public school teacher, and is an FBI agent. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now lives in the Pacific Northwest.

A Crime in the Land of 7000 Islands is an extraordinary feat of storytelling, blending the real and the fantastical, with a hard-edged crime procedural woven through the rich imagery of a child's imagination. This is a thriller like none you've ever read before. - Stuart Neville, Bestselling author and LA Book Prize Winner

Zephaniah Sole’s debut novel is hard-hitting, but 7000% worth the read. ... As many novels do, A Crime in the Land of 7,000 Islands dots around between locations and characters, but unlike most, it does a good job at keeping the flow intact. A blend of mythology, magical realism, and crime drama makes for an intriguing reading experience, amplified by its frame narrative. Whereas this narrative choice might make other books confusing or messy, this one manages to stay on track. There is a wonderful seamlessness between the different branches of the novel-Zanna Buckland, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Felix

Incredible! Beautifully absorbing, impossible to forget. - Luca Veste

Sole is a fresh, bold and exciting new voice in crime fiction - Beautifuland powerful. - Michael J Malone

Brought to you by a serving FBI agent! A Crime In The Land of 7,000 Islands is a powerhouse crime book like The Silence of the Lambs fused with anime and Grimm’s fairy tales. - By The Letter Book Reviews

I really loved this book. I've never read anything written like this before and it cast a spell over me. The folk tale approach works beautifully. - Alison Cross Reviews
 

Available in Hardback here

eBook available here

BBC INTERVIEW WITH AMANNY MO HERE(minute 2:13.35)