People Who Eat Darkness

The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo - and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up

By: Richard Lloyd Parry

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Lucie Blackman - tall, blond, 21 years old - stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000 and disappeared. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave. The seven months in between had seen a massive search for the missing girl involving Japanese policemen, British private detectives, and Lucie’s desperate but bitterly divided parents. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult or snatched by human traffickers? Who was the mysterious man she had gone to meet? And what did her work as a hostess in the notorious Roppongi district of Tokyo really involve?

Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, followed the case from the beginning. Over the course of a decade, as the rest of the world forgot but the trial dragged on, he traveled to four continents to interview those connected with the story, assiduously followed the court proceedings, and won unique access to the Japanese detectives who investigated the case. Ultimately he earned the respect of the victim’s family and delved deep into the mind and background of the man accused of the crime - Joji Obara, described by the judge as “unprecedented and extremely evil.” The result is a book at once thrilling and revelatory.

Richard Lloyd Parry is the Asia editor and Tokyo bureau chief of the London Times and the author of In the Time of Madness.

©2011, 2012 Richard Lloyd Parry (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A masterpiece of writing this surely is, but it is more than that - it is a committed, compassionate, courageous act of journalism that changes the way we think. Everyone who has ever loved someone and held that life dear should read this stunning book, and shiver.” (Chris Cleave, number one New York Times best-selling author of Little Bee)

“I opened this book as a skeptic. I am not a lover of true crime…. But Richard Lloyd Parry's remarkable examination of [this] crime, what it revealed about Japanese society and how it unsettled conventional notions of bereavement, elevates his book above the genre. People Who Eat Darkness is a searing exploration of evil and trauma and how both ultimately elude understanding or resolution.… Just as the grief of Blackman’s parents is unassaugeable, Obara and his motives are unknowable. That is the darkness at the heart of this book, one Lloyd Parry conveys with extraordinary effect and emotion.… People Who Eat Darkness is a fascinating mediation that does not pretend to offer pat answers to obscene mysteries.” ( New York Times Book Review)

“[A] masterful literary true crime story, which earns its comparisons to Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer's The Executioner’s Song.… Like the case of Etan Patz, the Lucie Blackman disappearance captured the public imagination. By writing about it in such culturally informed detail, Parry subtly encourages an understanding that goes past the headlines. It is a dark, unforgettable ride.” ( Los Angeles Times)

Gripping Investigative Look at Human Darkness

It is no wonder that this crime haunted and intrigued Parry (Tokyo bureau chief for the London Times) for 10 yrs.; it's hard to wrap your head around such evil and remorseless crimes -- and a culture that treats both sexual deviance and prosecution of criminals so foreignly from Western societies. Kudos to Parry for keeping this tangled story so on track and objective. The author has layered the crime with insightful histories of the victim and the perp, the cultural morals, and the Japanese police and legal process, which is all fascinating. I was blown away by the behavior of the killer Obara while he was in custody, and by several other incidents that I won't go into lest I spoil some shocking twists.

The crime itself is told mercifully free of many details -- you don't need them as the crime itself speaks volumes. The focus here is on the overall layered events, which are presented in a precise timeline. Parry himself becomes involved in the case, adding another fascinating dimension to a story that is on par with Capote's In Cold Blood (a comparison I can't credit for reaching myself; I read the obsservation in a review and found it dead on). Parry's investigative journalism is a different style from Capote's, but a reading worthy of comparisons. Aside from an horrific crime, I found the insider look into the culture and process illuminating.

Great Start, But Too Much Middle

This book started well --- interesting story, excellent writing, compelling mystery -- and it made me really want to find out what happened. But after a few hours it seemed to get mired in so many details that it lost the larger thread of the story for me. Eventually I just gave up. I'm guessing there was more substance to all the narrative details than what I took with me, and all the details in the middle probably had a storytelling purpose. But the end result for me was a feeling of too much setup and not enough payoff.

Incredibly addictive story, read by a fantastic narrator.

I was utterly obsessed with this book for at least a month - I carried the book with me to supplement - and the audiobook version is equally amazing. Read incredibly well. A serious (and oft-overlooked) gem of the true crime genre.

Completrly fascinating

This is a completely fascinating case of investigative reporting into a series of murders of Western women in Japan, Japanes police & system of Justice

one of the best

thrilling, with so many twists and turns. listen to it now, if you know what's good!

Great book!

I really enjoyed this book. It is such a sad and unfortunate story but is written well.

a riveting tale of true crime

What did you love best about People Who Eat Darkness?

The pace of Parry's reporting is nearly perfect. He neither prolongs nor rushes the story.

This narrative is short on dialogue, but there are enough transcribed telephone conversations, interview excepts, and diary entries to break up the detailed descriptive content.

The author tried to dress up the victim's tawdry line of work. His careful phrasing respected Japanese and Korean cultures. He made the hostess clubs of the east seem more accessible and less foreign to even the most conservative, Judeo-Christian, western ears. That's difficult to do.

Any additional comments?

I didn't understand the book's initial reference to old men and sleeping girls early in the book.

I did not at all appreciate the irrelevant chapter about political oddballs who sent the author hate mail.

True Crime Writing at its Absolute Best

All the salacious details are there: a mysterious disappearance and grisly murder, the dark world of "hostess" and ex-pat culture in Tokyo, a sociopathic murderer with penchant for hardcore porn. But this is so much more: I wasn't expecting an intelligent sociological profile of race, culture, and the legal system in Japan. The telling is both personal and compassionate, and where most true crime stories would have long ended, the author's long coda adds complexity to the human emotions surrounding the victims' families around an unspeakably horrible crime. This should be the gold standard for true crime writing.

can't stop listening !

listen or read this book. you won't regret it. well written and well read. highly recommended

Loved it

great job on the voice work and the story was fascinating. thanks Paul Scheer for the recommendation!