Thank you to NetGalley and Panda Moon Publishing for providing me with an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A missing friend sends protagonist Ted Hara on an expansive odyssey of the Bay Area.

To Kill a Unicorn finds its footing after the first couple of chapters. In the beginning, the writing, colloquial speech especially, is noticeably clichéd and might deter people from continuing further. Similarly, some expositional phrases were a little stilted, likely to take readers out of the story.

The writing improves significantly when it focuses on the immediate action.

Overall the narrative does well to tie in personal loss, the literal weight of a human life, Silicon Valley and Japanese culture into a mystery. This comes at the expense of character development, where most characters feel one-dimensional, leaning heavily on archetypes. Many male characters are described to be motivated (at least in part) by gaining the attention/favour of female characters. Despite the novel’s devotion to the protagonist, he isn’t entirely compelling either.

All this to say, the plot becomes more interesting and inventive as more and more of the depths of the mystery reveals itself. Most enjoyably, money in the form of stocks, cryptocurrency, net worth, cash etc is a recurrent motif. The story hints at a critique of the obscene wealth of Silicon Valley tech giants in contrast the unhoused population they co-exist with. Although, the resolution only perpetuates the working class system. Religion, most often Christianity is also a consistent theme. The ending succinctly provides closure to the main plot points.

Fans of Haruki Murakami will notice how the novel wears its Murakami references on its sleeve, most reminiscent of the mysteries of missing persons such as A Wild Sheep Chase and Sputnik Sweetheart (among others), including overt mentions of Norwegian Wood and The Elephant Vanishes.

This was a fun read! It had all the good stuff I love in a book: funny, atmospheric, and mystery. It took my brain on a joy ride. and. Definitely recommend if you are looking for something spontaneous to read. The writing was so good!!
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.