Silence Once Begun continues Jesse Ball's unique experimentation, startling originality, and deft, magician-like crafting of the novel. A string of disappearances occur in a Japanese town and Oda Sotatsu confesses to the crime. But even with a signed confession Oda will not say why he committed the crime. He will not speak about it at all and maintains this vow of silence, even after months of interrogation by the police and passionate pleas for explanation from his family. Ball remains at all times a superb story teller, and his labyrinthine search for the truth is always at odds with the limitations of facts spoken aloud and secrets hidden in silence.