The first book I'll be reviewing is After Dark by Haruki Murakami. I'm a huge fan of his work and this is the third book of his that I've read. I will say that if you haven't read a book by him before, I would recommend reading a shorter one first. The longer novels tend to leave my slightly annoyed in the beginning with all the mystery, but that could be just me.
After Dark tells the story of a night filled with random encounters and strange occurrences. We follow Mari, a bookish college student, for most of the story. The reader gets the sense that she's avoiding someone or something. Her night starts off simple enough and before she knows it, she's pulled into some interesting situations.
What I like about this book is that Murakami is able to bring you into his world very quickly. I also think that there's naturally something interesting about the flow of time as it gets really late into the night. Places changes, strange things happens, and some things aren't what they seem. The book captures the essence of the odd things you'll find alone when it's very late at night.