"Startling... It is a fascinating story of how five people can co-exist, written in each character's own words... The unexpected, if almost inevitable conclusion brings things to a brilliant end" UK Press Syndication "A sharply observed slice of urban alienation" -- Laura Wilson Guardian "Imagine if Friends had ended with the revelation that Chandler was a psychopath - and that Joey, Monica, Ross, Phoebe and Rachel weren't bothered by it. Yoshida locates horror less in violence than in the kind of atomisation that would permit it" -- Yo Zushi New Statesman "A brilliant book" UK Press Syndication "An authentic exploration of everyday life in contemporary Japan" -- Alexandra Lawrie Times Literary Supplement

Shuichi Yoshida was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1968. He is the author of numerous books and has won many Japanese literary awards, including the Akutagawa Prize for Park Life, and the prestigious Osaragi Jiro Prize and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award, both of which he received for Villain. Several of his stories have been adapted for Japanese television and the film of Villain was released in 2010. Yoshida lives in Tokyo.