is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

by Miyuki Miyabe. The novel, published in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, and was published in English by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

America in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. The English version was translated by Deborah Stuhr Iwabuchi and Anna Husson Isozaki.

Plot introduction

The novel is about a girl named Junko Aoki (青木淳子 ''Aoki Junko''), who has the psychokinetic power of pyrokinesis. She decides to kill criminals in order to make her world better. When Junko sets off to rescue a woman kidnapped by juvenile delinquents, the

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and a secretive vigilante group that wants to recruit her, pursue her. Chikako Ishizu (石津ちか子 ''Ishizu Chikako''), a policewoman, is astounded by Junko Aoki's case as she digs deeper into it.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

There is a 2000 film version of ''Crossfire'' entitled '' Crossfire'' (''Pyrokinesis'' in English). A mobile phone

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

version of the novel has been produced by Konami. In addition, featured in Konami's beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS is a song titled NΦ CRIME, featuring a video made up of panels from the manga. The lyrics of the English version are based loosely on the premise of the novel.

External links

"Crossfire" review
''Japanzine'' By Zack Davisson

* 1998 Japanese novels Japanese crime novels Novels by Miyuki Miyabe Japanese novels adapted into films Novels set in Tokyo {{1990s-crime-novel-stub