Gentaro Igane (born 1978) is a Japanese novelist from Tokyo. A graduate of Sophia University’s Faculty of Law, he worked for a newspaper before becoming a novelist. His fiction explores conflicts between institutional interests and individual conscience in policing, prosecution, and journalism. His debut novel, “Miezaru Ami” (The Invisible Net), follows a man endangered after criticizing social media in a street interview. Someone nearly pushes him off a station platform, and further disturbing incidents reveal how online connections can become threats in the physical world. The novel won the Yokomizo Seishi Mystery Award in 2013. Focusing on officers who investigate misconduct within the police, “Mikkoku wa Utau: Keishicho Kansatsu File” follows Sara as he is ordered to investigate his former colleague Nako Minaguchi, accused by an anonymous informant of selling driver’s license data. Surveillance of a former colleague leads to connections with an unsolved case, creating tension between personal trust and his duty to expose wrongdoing. A prosecution novel about the misuse of disaster recovery funds, “Kyoaku” follows prosecutor Gengo Nakazawa and investigative officer Takeshi Jojima of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s Special Investigation Department. While struggling to establish a major transport company’s tax evasion, they uncover suspicious transactions connected to reconstruction subsidies following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Their investigation expands toward those exploiting money intended to rebuild the affected communities.
