A Wild Sheep Chase Vintage Classics

A Wild Sheep Chase is Haruki Murakami’s third novel and the final book in the “Trilogy of the Rat,” following Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973. It begins when an unnamed Tokyo advertising executive uses a landscape photograph sent by his vanished friend, the Rat, in an advertisement. One sheep in the image has a strange star-shaped marking—and drawing attention to it has consequences. A powerful man’s secretary gives the narrator an ultimatum: find the mysterious sheep or face ruin. Accompanied by his new girlfriend, whose unusually beautiful ears seem to possess uncanny powers, he travels from Tokyo to the remote, snowbound landscapes of northern Japan. What begins as a detective-style search becomes a surreal journey through political influence, mythology, loneliness, personal history, and the unknowable forces shaping human lives. The novel blends noir mystery, romance, satire, fantasy, philosophical speculation, and deadpan humour. The Vintage Classics edition includes a new introduction by Murakami; the 2025 paperback edition is 320 pages, ISBN 9781529957723.