Who is Mr Satoshi?

Jonathan Lee

Rob decides to honour his mother's last wish and deliver a package (which, since his mother had dementia, might contain anything) to a Mr Satoshi whose last known address was Tokyo. To undertake the task he has to face down his own psychological demons of agoraphobia and drug dependency. Rob is an appealing character and his adventures with his Japanese ' helpers' are comically and realistically described. An unusual and enjoyable debut novel.

Extract

Just suppose I wrote a beautiful letter. A fine magnaminous letter of tribute and condolence. He would read it and weep. Of course he would - who wouldn't? But then he would open up the package, the sharpness of his blue eyes blurring to sea green, and find that it contained ... cat food. Yes cat food. It was entirely possible. Under the brown paper there could be two shallow foil pouches side by side, lightweight, expensive, the high-end stuff that comes in tiny portions. Michelin-starred feline fare. Mr Satoshi would assume, quite fairly, that I was some sick practical joker.

Parallels