A Darkly Beating Heart

Gr 10 Up—After an unthinkable disaster occurs, Reiko's parents send her to live with her relatives in Japan to help launch her cousin's budding career in the Japanese entertainment scene. The change from Seattle to Tokyo fuels Reiko's resentment toward her family, and she spends her waking moments plotting her revenge against her parents, her brother, and now her cousin and coworkers. The young woman is filled to the brim with ideas of destruction and violence. Are these hateful feelings finally evidence that she has always been a true monster, or has something else taken hold of her? Smith weaves a unique tale of Japan and the paranormal in this work of vengeance and teen angst. She excels at transporting the protagonist and readers to a believable feudal Japan—Smith has done her research about Japan during the Edo time period, and it is impressive to see glimpses of the past so eloquently represented in a work of fiction. The author does not shy away from the darkness of a deeply depressed individual, frankly mentioning thoughts and attempts of suicide, self-harm, and assault, and uses these thoughts to successfully sustain a dark mood throughout. The portrayal of a non-Japanese-speaking Japanese American teen's sense of isolation in Japan seems authentic, though it takes a backseat to the paranormal parts of the novel.