In Plain View

Written by Julie Shigekuni

Narrated by Natalie Naudus

Daidai and her husband Hiroshi have what many of their friends believe is a perfect life. Daidai has recently left her job as curator of the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo so that she and Hiroshi, a university professor, can try for a baby. Frustrated by their lack of success so far, and by their increasingly clinical love life, Daidai befriends Satsuki, one of Hiroshi's graduate students. Newly arrived from Japan, Satsuki clings to her friendship to Daidai and quickly becomes a mainstay in their household.

Spurred by a revelation concerning Satsuki's estranged mother and a disturbing trip to Japan where Daidai discovered Satsuki's father was engaged in illegal, and illicit, activities, Daidai begins to seriously question Satsuki's seemingly innocent connection to three possible murders.

Daidai's concerns about Satsuki are dismissed as jealousy by her husband until Daidai's investigation will lead to a harrowing confrontation between the two women, and Satsuki's true intentions will be revealed. At once a taut psychological thriller and examination of cultural divides, Shigekuni's In Plain View is never as it appears.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Mar 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094415178

Julie Shigekuni

Julie Shigekuni is the author of four novels: A Bridge Between Us (Anchor/Doubleday 1995), Invisible Gardens (St. Martin's Press 2003) and Unending Nora (Red Hen Press 2008). Her fiction has been translated into German, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian. Shigekuni was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award and the recipient of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. She has received a Henfield Award and an American Japanese Literary Award for her writing. Shigekuni received her B.A. from CUNY Hunter College and her M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College. She is currently at work on a novella and short story collection entitled Beep on Me, and a 60-minute video documentary, Manju Mammas & the An-Pan Brigade, for which she has received funding from the California Council for the Humanities and the Skirball Foundation and sponsorship from Visual Communications, an all Asian media network. She is director of the creative writing program and Development Director of an Asian American Studies program being launched at the University of New Mexico.

Reviews for In Plain View

[Mary · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The main character seemed to be “on the spectrum”, not evoking any sympathy or worse, trust from the reader.
The only passion (not the tired rote recitation of endless sex) was her obsessive observations of useless detail….the teeth of the perp, her driving habits, on and on ad nauseum.

The author writes very well, but the overall tone is robotic.

[Mina Sheikhha · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was a slow story hut worth the wait really

[Karen Adams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everand won’t let me finish the book. I am trying to cancel my membership but Everand makes it very difficult.

[Em Pratt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. It was full of nuance - how each of the characters felt and behaved was complex. It was cool to see so many different views from Japanese American perspectives. Kind of a slow-burning mystery where the main character had to navigate others’ cryptic communication styles and trust her instincts.

[kristie lange · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Sigh-hated the narrators forced gravel voice. I couldn’t listen to it. Like fingernails on a chalkboard. I wish I could’ve enjoyed the story.

[Tracy pye · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Sorry I had to stop listening. The story is in there somewhere but its as if I keep missing paragraphs, it's jumping all over the place.. Not my cup of tea. Narrator is good though.

[Cilica · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I understand the detail in developing the characters and their choices, though I found it slow going. I skipped to the end half way through. A glimpse into Japanese culture was interesting. Narrator is pleasant to listen to.

[Catherine Penrod · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was interesting. I wish the ending would have offered a glimpse into the outcome of the couple. Most of the characters were hard to like. Was the girl in paintings the young woman? Too much was not clear.

[Madeleine Maynard Hamonic · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I found it very boring and couldn’t remove from a

[Eedge Eeva · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was... Different... I can't say I didn't liked it but can't say I liked it. It took me a while to connect with the book, just couldn't feel that Click! I am happy that I didn't gave up as good story in general but will not stay in my memory after a little while.

[Dayle Paquette · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The reader is amazing, her voice I could listen to all day. What a great creative story kept me wanting to listen right to the end.

[sana.haroon710 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Intelligent, absorbing story, based in particularities of Japanese culture and peoples’s lives and experiences, and the fascinating in the ordinary everyday of a woman’s life in LA. And a damn good thriller on top of that.

[Angela Ayers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent, quizzical and fascinating! Absolutely worth your time to read!

[Sylvia Hodin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this is a very exciting ,interesting book that I can recommend.

[Kathi Scribner · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn’t like that it stopped abruptly and had no ending to it.