I think the breadth of the story was just too much. The first 1/4 of the book is basically just her background of life and family before she travels. We do get a lot information about the case and the investigation but we also get a TON of background about Tokyo general international issues, the background of the industry she worked in, connected industries, etc. basically ANYTHING remotely connected to the case, even dead ends, we get chapters of information about. This book could have easily been 150+ pages shorter and still told a cohesive story of her disappearance.