Kerri Sakamoto — The Electrical Field

Pan Books 1999 Paperback, 308pp. Set during the 1970s in suburban Ontario, The Electrical Field focuses on a multiple murder in a Japanese family. The action is seen through the eyes of Asako Saito, a seemingly ordinary, very lonely spinster who turns out to be central to the crime. As the novel progresses, it slowly exposes all those implicated in the murder and reveals the truth behind stories that haunt the claustrophobic little community. The writing is cool, spare and at times almost unbearably moving. ' The Electrical Field hums with suppressed violence and delicate mysteries. ' LA Times 'It is a highly readable and accomplished novel, filled with insights about why emotions like fear and jealousy are so much more powerful in determining people's behaviour than compassion or generosity. ' Evening Standard 'This is a serious treatment of the tragedies of ordinary life, and in its telling it has that languid but charged atmosphere. ' The Independent on Sunday. Worn, tanned but otherwise good. (ISBN: 9780330390149). Fair.