Score: 4/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Double Day Books for gifting me a review copy of What’s Left of Me is Yours by Stephanie Scott.

When Sumiko Sarashima was seven, her mother was murdered. Now, as an adult, she is trying to piece together the past, pouring over case files, photos, and evidence in a bid to learn the truth.

In Tokyo there is a whole industry surrounding the ‘wakaresaseya’, someone who is hired by one spouse to seduce the other so they can get the upper hand in a divorce. Satō hires a wakaresaseya agent, Kaitarō, to try and seduce his wife, Rina, assuming it will be fairly easy—but he doesn’t expect Kaitarō to fall in love with Rina and start a chain of violent events.

This story is told from alternating viewpoints, times, and locations and has amazing descriptions of Japan. I could really picture each scene in such a wonderful way. It’s definitely a slow-burn but the writing is pretty incredible. I really enjoyed seeing the pieces come together, and learning more about the characters. The concept of the wakaresaseya was really interesting, and I would have liked more detail on that, but if you’re in the mood for a quietly-told mystery I definitely recommend you pick this one up. Oh, and did I mention this book is inspired by a real-life crime?!

Synopsis:

A gripping debut set in modern-day Tokyo and inspired by a true crime, for readers of Everything I Never Told You and The Perfect Nanny, What's Left of Me Is Yours charts a young woman's search for the truth about her mother's life--and her murder.

In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the "wakaresaseya" (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings. When Satō hires Kaitarō, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Satō has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitarō's job is to do exactly that—until he does it too well. While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitarō fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter's life.

Told from alternating points of view and across the breathtaking landscapes of Japan, Stephanie Scott exquisitely renders the affair and its intricate repercussions. As Rina's daughter, Sumiko, fills in the gaps of her mother's story and her own memory, Scott probes the thorny psychological and moral grounds of the actions we take in the name of love, asking where we draw the line between passion and possession.