Oil. Book club meeting

The fiction meeting will feature a discussion of Yuzuki Asako's novel Oil.

Journalist Rika is excited about the idea of writing a series of articles about Manako Kadzija, a woman suspected of extorting and murdering her own fans. She surrounded men with care and love, fed them homemade food, lived off their money... and then they died. But what surprises the public is not so much the crimes themselves as the killer's appearance: her plumpness does not fit the image of a femme fatale. The journalist wants to find out what Kady's secret is, why men loved her, where did she get such self-confidence?

To get close to the mysterious criminal, Rika asks her for a recipe for beef stew, which one of the victims ate right before his death. In response, the woman demands that Rika also start cooking. Trying to gain Manako's trust, the journalist does not notice how she herself becomes entangled in a web of manipulation and lies, gradually losing control of her own life. (c)

460 pages, 2017.