I decided to pause watching the drama in order to finish the book first and I found that the show really fleshed a lot of things out more. I'm not sure if this is merely a lack of context that the text itself doesn't provide because a large chunk of the Japanese population would already be familiar with certain ideas or if it's an artistic choice, but I did find myself lost at certain points.

Unfortunately I also found it difficult to keep track of most of the characters as they didn't really have unique voices and there were multiple abrupt cuts as if I was reading the drama in novel form instead of a novel that was adapted into a drama. There's definitely a good story in here, but I'm not sure if this is the format for me in regards to this particular story.

At its best, crime fiction books around Japanese culture are a real treat. Sadly, Tokyo Swindlers felt more like a punishment. There is no tension, the characters cannot be differentiated and any plot is indistinguishable amid such an anaemic narrative. I learnt a little about Tokyo real estate but was hoping for so much more from this offering.