The second book in the Reiko Himekawa series begins similarly to the first, with some background narrated by one of the characters. Honda then moves onto the crime that forms the basis of this procedural, the discovery of a severed hand in an abandoned van. The Tokyo Homicide squad sets up a task force to investigate, including Reiko.

As with the first novel, Reiko has to compete with an implacable colleague who dislikes her methods, this time the process-bound Lieutenant Kusaka, who detests Reiko's intuitive approach. Reiko also detests him, although she has trouble identifying exactly why.

Reiko once again gets partnered with Ioka, who continues his slaveringly sexist disrespect of the first novel. One of the things that turns me off about this series is the extent to which this blatant sexual harassment of the main character goes uncriticised, is treated as humorous and bears little consequence for Reiko's harasser. I'm afraid that I cannot go along with that. Reiko's family and personal life are also sloppily treated by the author, with really quite ridiculous actions that seem totally out of character for his protagonist. It's not clear what he is trying to do with that side of his character, but it's pretty unconvincing so far.

That aside, Honda's plot is deceptively clever, with plenty of plot twists. I don't think it's quite as good as The Silent Dead, largely because Kusaka is not as strong an adversary as Katsumata in the first novel, and the other supporting characters have much less to do. ( )