BOOK REVIEW: The Final Six by Akinari Asakura

Shogo Hatano has beaten thousands of applicants to become one of six final candidates in the running for a graduate position at Japan's most exclusive tech company. But Spiralinks will only make an offer to one of them, decided by a group vote in their last interview ...

As deliberations begin at the glossy high-rise office in Tokyo, Hatano finds six envelopes addressed to them all. Each contains a shocking revelation about one candidate: six secrets so terrible that they could ruin more than just careers. They could destroy lives.

With the clock ticking, Hatano must figure out who planted the damning evidence and convince the others that he deserves the job of all their dreams.

--- --- ---

We meet the final six at their last formal interview, where they’re invited to one final round - a group task, or conversation, to be held in a months time where they may all receive a job offer that could completely change their lives.

We meet the crew in a natural way, getting to know them as they get to know each other, awkwardly at first, then breaking through the politeness. As a group, I loved their dynamics, from the lovely starting montage of them getting to know each other, before the company decide to throw a complete 180 and throw their beautifully created group into chaos, Hatano acts as the mouthpiece for the first part with insightful narration - it felt somewhat formal and slow at times, but thoughtful, descriptive and highly engaging.

Though their eyes, we saw the competitive nature of the job market, a potential blossoming romance - it moved so naturally at first but once we got into the room about 30% I lost the pacing for a while and did myself slightly less excited to find out what happens next.

The next act, another member takes over the narration, as they investigate more about just what happened at that strange interview and the people involved. Not what I expected at all, I expected something that carried the mystery, the tensions, the high stakes a while longer but it was an intriguing, curious assessment of the absurdity of hiring culture and modern work.

⭐⭐⭐

The Final Six will be released June 4th with Little, Brown Book Group. I received an advanced reviewers copy of this title.

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