I think I would have appreciated these novellas more if I had read Six Four, which introduced this world and these characters. I will say I liked following these four different characters arrayed throughout the police department, investigating various circumstances. Though each case was "solved", you're left feeling unsettled and slightly unresolved at the end. Again, having not read Six Four, I'm unsure if the characters we meet or the situations we encounter here play a role in that larger story.

Yokoyama has a brilliant way of using very little time with these characters to make us really know how they fit in with people around them. I was particularly intrigued by the rearrangements of upper management whenever someone retires or gets promoted or needs to be disciplined and the role of women police officers (how they're almost entirely segregated from their male counterparts and resented for "taking the positions" from men).

I'm definitely curious to see how Six Four shapes out, if I can find a copy to read!

{Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}