Review: Taroko Gorge by Jacob Ritari

Title: Taroko Gorge

Author: Jacob Ritari

Pub­lisher: Unbri­dled Books

Date (to be) Pub­lished: July 2010

Syn­op­sis: (from pub­lisher)

A dis­il­lu­sioned and raggedy Amer­i­can reporter and his drunken pho­to­jour­nal­ist part­ner are the last to see three Japan­ese school­girls who dis­ap­pear into Taroko Gorge, Taiwan’s largest national park.  The jour­nal­ists who are them­selves sus­pects inves­ti­gate the dis­ap­pear­ance along with the girls’ home­room teacher, their bick­er­ing class­mates, and a sea­soned and wary Tai­wanese detec­tive.  The con­flicts between them com­pli­cated by the out­ra­geous­ness of the pho­tog­ra­pher and the rag­ing hor­mones of the young raise ques­tions of per­sonal respon­si­bil­ity, truth­ful­ness, and guarded self-​​interest.  The world and its dan­gers both nat­ural and inter­per­sonal are real, chang­ing, and vio­lently press­ing.  And the emo­tions that churn in dark rooms overnight as the play­ers gather in the park vis­i­tors cen­ter are as intense as in any closet drama.  There’s enough action and furor here to keep read­ers turn­ing the pages, and the cul­tural rev­e­la­tions of the story sug­gest the human need for mys­tery out­weighs the desire for answers.

Why Did It Come From?

The Unbri­dled Books booth at the BEA.

Why Did I Choose It?

I over­heard some peo­ple dis­cussing it and it sounded like a worth­while read.

My Review:

This book is rife with well por­trayed char­ac­ters and accu­rate cul­tural pre­dis­po­si­tions and the mis­con­cep­tions that occur when three very dif­fer­ent groups of peo­ple are thrown into a dire sit­u­a­tion.  Three Japan­ese school­girls dis­ap­pear and as the story unfolds, all of the char­ac­ters are sus­pect.  The search for the miss­ing girls and what hap­pened to them is exac­er­bated by the arrival of a hur­ri­cane that set­tles over Taroko Gorge.

Ritari’s done his research and that is very appar­ent in his descrip­tions of the gorge itself and the char­ac­ters.  The story while very sim­ple, becomes an exam­i­na­tion of social inter­ac­tions and the under­ly­ing sus­pi­cions that are brought forth when every­one is a suspect.

I thor­oughly enjoyed this read and sug­gest it to any­one who is look­ing for a good mys­tery as it is not read­ily appar­ent why the girls dis­ap­peared and who is ulti­mately at fault.