As this book is only available in German, the following blurb is quoted in German. The remainder of the review is written in English.
Yoko ist Ende zwanzig, als sie die von ihrem Vater geerbte Metzgerei in eine kleine Manufaktur umwandelt - liebevoll verpackt sie fortan das Glück in kleine Kekse anstatt Schweinehälften zu zerlegen. Sie ist verliebt, ihr Leben ist das erste Mal erfüllt von Leichtigkeit. Doch dann ist sie eines Tages zur falschen Zeit am falschen Ort. Sie liefert eine Kiste Glückskekse an ein chinesisches Restaurant aus, und als sie versucht im Hinterhof einem kleinen Hund zu helfen, wird sie für ihre Courage von dessen Peinigern bestraft. Yoko ist das leichte Opfer zweier Männer im Gewaltrausch. Alles zerbricht, ihr Leben liegt von einem Moment zum nächsten in Scherben.
Aber Yoko fasst einen Entschluss: Nicht ihre Verfolger werden entscheiden, wann ihr Leben endet. Nicht das Schicksal wird bestimmen, wie ihre Geschichte verläuft. Sie selbst wird es tun.
Noch ahnt sie nicht, mit wem sie es zu tun hat. Und mit welch ungeahnter Härte sie sich rächen wird.
Summary
YOKO is a German thriller by Austrian author Bernhard Aichner, who currently resides in my hometown of Innsbruck, that centres around the titular character, Yoko, a young butcher turned fortune cookie baker, as she goes on a vengeful murder spree. If that sounds simple, that’s because it is. While over time, the book fleshes out Yoko’s character a little, the story itself never really progresses past a very straightforward murder fantasy.
Review
I will preface this review by saying that this book was lent to me by a friend, and if my past few reading experiences are anything to go by, I am apparently not very into thrillers. So if you personally really like thrillers, keep in mind that my review of the book might skew negative. YOKO immediately opens with exposing the titular character to a traumatic situation, which becomes the core hook for the rest of the book. Over the remaining 90% or so of the story, it then follows Yoko as she goes on a rampage against the ones responsible for said trauma.
Like I said, this is a very simple plot. Honestly, it’s too simple. Throughout most of the book, I felt like I was reading the story of a Hitman game. Shortly after each of Yoko’s kills, another target conveniently pops up, and this repeats ad nauseam. Except for the very beginning, during the entirety of the 300+ pages that follow, it never feels like Yoko is seriously threatened in her revenge mission. Instead, it’s basically every other character that is close to her that pays for her actions. The book combines this with dumping even more of Yoko’s past trauma on you in an attempt to evoke some emotions, but this fell completely flat to me, and it’s probably because Yoko’s entire rampage basically goes off without a hitch. Her plot armour is laughably thick, and you have to suspend your disbelief more and more the further you progress through the book. It doesn’t benefit a story much to portray the antagonists as untouchable organised criminals when anyone can just walk up to them and stab them on the street.
I am assuming this book is supposed to represent a type of “revenge at any cost” storyline, where the main character continues to exact their revenge despite it ruining their future completely. I think this doesn’t work for two reasons. One, the book is written in a very simple style. Short sentences, simple words. This makes it genuinely difficult to read into the book any more than what the surface-level action scenes present. Two, the story just never really gets to a point where Yoko’s life seems genuinely over. Every time she does genuinely fall into a pit of despair, she sort of magically pulls herself back out for one more hit shortly after. This is exacerbated by the ending, which fails to hit the “lone wanderer” trope it was probably supposed to hit and instead feels more like an “oh well that sucked but whatever let’s move on” setup for the sequel, which I will definitely not be reading.
As I’m writing this, I do recognise that there are hints of a good story in this book. There are some faint ideas of a tragic and melancholic revenge story, of a young woman torn apart by her unhealthy ways of coping with trauma that was unjustly inflicted on her, acting in a way that vindicates her, but also destroys any chance she might have had for a happy ending. Unfortunately, this version of the story just fails to manifest, and the surface-level action writing that remains feels more like a movie script than a serious novel for adult readers.
Final Review
I have to give YOKO 2.5 out of 5 stars. It would be 2, but fortunately for this book, I have been negatively anchored by another thriller, which I have not yet reviewed, that managed to impress me even less. The main positive feedback I can give on this book is that it’s a very easy read, suitable for a vacation or to listen to as an audiobook. Personally, though, I can’t really recommend this book to anyone. There are so many good stories out there, I don’t see why you would choose this out of all the options. If you read the blurb of this book and feel like it scratches an itch, consider picking up a Hitman game or just watching a generic revenge movie.