Confessions by Kanae Minato ( translated by Stephen Snyder )

Moriguchi sensei was a teacher in a middle school. She had just suffered a loss; her young daughter died in the school pool while waiting for her. Moriguchi knew that the 2 boys in her class was responsible for her death. On the last day at school before her retirement, she gave a parting story to her class and insinuated that she knew who the culprits are. To avenge her daughter’s death, she injected HIV+ tainted milk into the free milk packs which the boys drank.

After her departure, the class meted out their own form of revenge on the teacher's behalf. One of the boys spiraled into fear and isolated himself, convinced that he had contracted Aids and would die soon. A new zealous teacher took over Moriguchi and unaware of what happened earlier and manipulated by Moriguchi, triggered a series of events that caused the boy’s mother to commit suicide.

The other culprit figured out that he had remained HIV – and continued to live his life. He continued to devise ways to get his mother’s attention, now estranged from her husband and leading a new life in Tokyo. His twisted intention to gain sympathy from his mother ended up with the death of his classmate. When he learnt that his mother had remarried and was in the family way again, he surmised that it was the end of the road for him. In the final part of the story, still not regretful of his actions with regards to the death of his teacher’s daughter, he rigged a bomb intending to blow himself up at his own prize giving ceremony in school.

His ploy was found out by the aggrieved teacher, Moriguchi, through his online blog. She had earlier disarmed the bomb and in an attempt to spite the boy and work out her revenge, planted the bomb in his mother’s office. Back at the school event, he triggered the phone that was connected to the bomb to end his life, unknowingly killing his mother in Tokyo.

The story is typical dark Japanese style, with lots of twists and turns told from different perspectives. Confessions is Minato’s seminal work and sets the tone for the next crime novel in Penance. The same events were narrated in different voices and illumines the circumstances that created the perfect storm. The translation isn’t as polished as Penance's but the heavy atmosphere was nonetheless well communicated to the reader.

The book can be easily read in 2 days as the plot is thick and rich in materials. It was almost like a crime drama but better.