A man has to find a sheep, because a shady secretary is ready to bring down his world if he doesn't. This is no ordinary sheep, either. No, this sheep is something else. For those it has met, in "spiritual communion," their world is forever changed.

This is the third book I've read by Murakami, and it certainly fits a certain formula that is familiar to his other works (I've read "1Q84" and "Kafka On The Shore"). It was a good read. It was a bit slow to start, but Murakami's way of storytelling seems to work as a slow burn with firecrackers starting to go off along the way.

Definitely can see his craft building up into what would be his style in later works.

[Extra notes]

I haven't read the other books in The Rat series, and didn't know it was part of a series initially, but this book can be a standalone read.

I've seen some reviews out there that didn't understand how this is part of The Rat series, and that they found no mention of The Rat. Ignore any of these reviews, because they clearly haven't read the book! A character, referenced as The Rat, actually plays a repeating role much throughout the book. In fact, if you remove them from the book, it wouldn't even work. So, I'm not sure where this confusion is coming from -- unless they stopped reading very early in the book.

UPDATE: I have read "Dance, Dance, Dance" -- which is a good follow-up book that continues the story, with the same main character/narrator.