Language no bar

Be it the classic detective novel or a psychological thriller, crime fiction has always been a favorite with readers of all kinds and across all cultures. However, the trend of crime novels set in Asia and translated into English gaining traction across the Anglophone world seems to be new. Increasingly, readers are attracted to crime novels from different countries, regions and cultures. Hideo Yokoyama's Six Four sold a million copies within six days of publication in Japan. Now its English translation is also a worldwide hit.

The British writer Ruth Ware has been translated into 40 languages. All three of her thrillers are on international best-seller lists. Her latest novel The Lying Game, made it to actress Reese Witherspoon's book club. Ian Rankin's novels have been translated into 36 languages and are best-sellers around the world.

"Crime fiction is more popular than ever," Rankin said. "It contains a strong element of storytelling, elements of fable and folk tales, complex central characters, and it asks the reader big moral questions. We are all fascinated by good and evil, we all wonder what it would feel like to commit a crime. We also have a need for heroes. We wish they existed in reality the way they exist in fiction!"

Ware - who, like Rankin, is also making her first visit to Hong Kong to speak at HKILF - says books like Gone Girl and Before I Go to Sleep have been game-changers for psychological thrillers. "It's definitely a very exciting time to be writing in this genre. The competition is phenomenal, but there's nothing like reading a book where someone has done something really brilliant or very clever to set your writerly imagination ticking!"

(HK Edition 11/03/2017 page10)