Vertical has released the hardcover edition of A Caring Man. Part psychological thriller, part fantasy horror, the novel is film producer and author Akira Arai’s richly imagined exploration of violence and social ennui – tale filled with compellingly drawn characters that offers a unique glimpse into the dark heart of modern Japanese society.

Description: At a time when international terrorism is all over the media, the concept of a “homegrown enemy” is now being considered as the next source of fear on a nearly global scale. However, as the West, primarily the United States and the United Kingdom, are using their vast information networks to prevent such violent forces, peaceful nations such as Japan have not even fathomed such atrocities being committed within their borders.

In Akira Arai’s award-winning debut novel, “terror in the heartland” takes on new meaning as an abandoned child raised by the state grows up to become Japan’s most wanted. Yoshio Iizuka, the first child to be rescued by a rural town’s “Stork’s Mailbox”, was initially found at death’s door, covered in bloody lacerations. Cared for by a local hospital, the boy would develop into a healthy and strong-willed teen. But upon reaching Tokyo, still under the care of the state, Yoshio embarks on a chain of events that would catapult Japan into a state of nationwide red-alert. And what seemingly began with the frightening toppling of Tokyo’s iconic Tokyo Tower, would lead to a manhunt, as this defender of human rights attempts to bring the nation that abandoned him at birth to its figurative knees. With only a random photograph from a freelance journalist linking Yoshio to this case, Japan’s Public Safety Bureau blitzes to maintain the peace while working diligently to prevent Yoshio’s netizen copycats from turning this once peaceful nation into a war zone.

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