I stopped by the Barnes & Noble in Burlington MA today (bad move, too much temptation!) and couldn't resist picking up the first volume in the manga series Monster. [See also the entertaining TV Tropes Monster page, but beware of spoilers.] The books have been translated to an anime series that's just started airing in the US, and I enjoyed the first two episodes, so I was curious to compare it to the book. It's a psychological-suspense story, with a hero who is apparently going to get run through the wringer through no fault of his own.

Later: I like the story very much; talented surgeon ruins his own career by choosing to operate on a seriously-injured young boy who arrived in the ER first, instead of on the town's mayor. Then the doctor's superiors are mysteriously poisoned, shortly before the young boy and his twin sister (uninjured but traumatized by the attack that wounded her brother and killed their parents) disappear. The doctor's career is back on track since the people who stood in his way are gone, but he's now got a police official suspecting him of having something to do with it. Still, things go on normally for a few years, and then a mysterious series of killings reminds him of the attack on the young twins - and leads him to a revelation that makes him question everything he's stood for...

I've peeked ahead to see how the series turns out, and all I can say is, suspense, much? {grin} [Not to mention angst - but I find that this first book stands alone quite well, and one could simply read it and let it end there if one wanted to.]

[Amusing note: the book has a glossary - not of words, but of special effects! Lots of the panels included some Japanese characters in the background, and I figured out that they indicated things like rain falling, doors slamming, etc., but when I got to the glossary and found an entire list of them - "thump thump", "grab", "dash", "creak", etc. - I was tickled!]

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Since two of the main characters in this series are a twin brother and sister, I decided to leave this book on the "Reading Children" statue in the Milford Oval - even though the boy and girl on the statue are considerably happier than the ones in the story! Hope the finder enjoys the book...

*** Released as part of the 2009 Movie Book release challenge, and also for the 2009 Chills and Spills challenge [October's theme is open to any of the other themes for the challenge; this book deals with a serial killer so it fits]. ***