最果 タヒ

Two high school boys obsessed with an idol that has committed a terrible crime, hatch a destructive path to clear her name. Unlike the other Idol book I read this year, this one is purely on the dark side of fandom. One boy's self hatred transfers to what he thinks is a perfectly ordinary idol. He is full of misogynistic thoughts and loathing he has for everyone, it becomes hard to see why he loves this idol. The other boy is just a straight up psychopath. Neither can define why they are willing to go to such great lengths to protect their idol. The inner world of these characters is dark and depressing.

Told in a rapid almost fever dream pace, it is sometimes hard to tell how the story is progressing. The weakest part is the second half of the book where a secondary character tries to piece the previous events together through a conversation with a mutual friend and another stalker of the idol. It would have been stronger for her to just have an internal monologue, the other characters add nothing to the narrative.… (more)