Butter is a trippy foodie real-crime novel by Asako Yuzuki. Released 16th April 2024 by HarperCollins on their Ecco imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out in Feb. 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
This is a surprisingly philosophical book full of wry observations about life, gender roles, body image, and food (and murder). It's loosely based on the real life, arrest, and convictions of Kanae Kijima who serially seduced, defrauded, and subsequently murdered lonely businessmen over a period of several years in Japan.
Originally published in Japanese in 2017 it gained a cult following. The English language translation work by Polly Barton is seamless and unobtrusive and the prose flows very well.
Classy, cool, and well written, there's nothing frenetic or outré about the book, and it winds up being a lot more psychological and philosophical than murder-y, with deep ruminations on systemic misogyny, fat-shaming-culture, human nature, and society.
Four stars. Weird but very well written.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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