The Sleeping Dragon

First published in Japan in 1991, Miyabe's taut suspense novel should win her new fans in the U.S. In the atmospheric opening, magazine investigative reporter Shogo Kosaka, who's driving at night through a typhoon that has struck near Tokyo, gives a lift to a high school boy marooned on the side of the road, Shinji Inamura. In the course of their rain-soaked journey, Shinji tells Shogo he has psychic abilities. After they happen on a father looking for his missing son, who's named Daisuke, Shinji has a vision of the two men responsible for Daisuke's disappearance (and murder). Despite initial skepticism, the journalist agrees to check the teenager's claims. Japan's #1 bestselling mystery author, Miyabe (The Devil's Whisper ) keeps the reader guessing whether Shinji really has special powers or is scamming Shogo, and maintains the tension throughout. (Apr.)