Description

The epic new novel from the internationally acclaimed and best-selling author of 1Q84.

In Killing Commendatore, a thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo is abandoned by his wife and finds himself holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist, Tomohiko Amada. When he discovers a strange painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist’s home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors.

A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art – as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby – Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.

Publisher Review

"[An] overwhelmingly rich novel... Killing Commendatore... will only burnish [Murakami's] reputation, barely rivalled since the days of Dickens, as the living novelist who best combines literary excellence and commercial popularity. *****" -- Leo Robson * Daily Telegraph * "With phenomenal energy and verve... What makes [Murakami's] voice so distinctive, and so captivating, is the mix of precise observation, clarity and deadpan humour... Murakami is a master storyteller and he knows how to keep us hooked" -- Christina Patterson * Sunday Times * "I found it totally gripping with scarcely a dull page, the loose ends enhancing its mystery. An absorbing work by a great writer" -- William Hartston * Daily Express * "It's safe to say that there's no one like Murakami" -- Anthony Cummins * Literary Review * "Written in a simple, readable style that leaves you free to concentrate on the weirdness of the content... There is no other writer able to give us the fix that his unique qualities provide" -- Jake Kerridge * Sunday Express *