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SPEED (2005)
My Rating **
"Speed" came out in July, undoubtedly to correspond with the release of"Fly, Daddy, Fly," the movie based on Kaneshiro's novel of the same name. If the popularity of the movie is any indication, "Speed" will probably sell well, but this is unfortunate, for I am sure that Kaneshiro is capable of much better. "Go" was one of my favorite novels, so much so that I have been faithfully reading everything that Kaneshiro has written since then. But I have mostly been disappointed. I suspect that many readers are beginning to lose hope that Kaneshiro can write another book as good as "Go." "Speed" is the third book in the aptly named "Zombies Series," which follows the adventures of a group of high school delinquints who unaccountably fight on behalf of various strangers that they befriend in a single meeting.
This time, they come to the rescue of Okamoto Kanako, the 16-year-old heroine of the novel. Kaneshiro's first novel to be narrated from a female point of view, "Speed" opens with the sudden and mysterious death of Kanako's tutor, Uehara Ayako, who apparently has committed suicide by jumping from a building. Kanako meets Nakagawa, Ayako's college classmate, and tells him that she can't believe that Ayako really committed suicide. After Nakagawa explains that he witnessed the suicide himself, Kanako tells him that she has "proof" that Ayako was having an affair. Later that day, Kanako is attacked by a group of goons, who try to steal her bag. That's when the "Zombies," led by Pak Sunshin, the Korean-Japanese superhero, make their appearance.
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