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館シリーズ #1
The Decagon House Murders
In its starred review, Publisher’s Weekly writes: “a brilliant and richly atmospheric puzzle which will appeal to lovers of Golden Age whodunits…. As in the best fair-play mysteries, every word counts, leading up to a jaw-dropping but logical reveal.”
Students from a university mystery club decide to visit an island which was the site of a grisly multiple murder the year before. Predictably, they get picked off one by one by an unseen murderer. Is there a madman on the loose? What connection is there to the earlier murders? The answer is a bombshell revelation which few readers will see coming.
The Decagon House Murders is a milestone in the history of detective fiction. Published in 1987, it is credited with launching the shinhonkaku movement which restored Golden Age style plotting and fair-play clues to the Japanese mystery scene, which had been dominated by the social school of mystery for several decades. It is also said to have influenced the development of the wildly popular anime movement.
This, the first English edition, contains a lengthy introduction by the maestro of Japanese mystery fiction, Soji Shimada.
Locked Room International discovers and publishes impossible crime masterpieces from all over the world
Students from a university mystery club decide to visit an island which was the site of a grisly multiple murder the year before. Predictably, they get picked off one by one by an unseen murderer. Is there a madman on the loose? What connection is there to the earlier murders? The answer is a bombshell revelation which few readers will see coming.
The Decagon House Murders is a milestone in the history of detective fiction. Published in 1987, it is credited with launching the shinhonkaku movement which restored Golden Age style plotting and fair-play clues to the Japanese mystery scene, which had been dominated by the social school of mystery for several decades. It is also said to have influenced the development of the wildly popular anime movement.
This, the first English edition, contains a lengthy introduction by the maestro of Japanese mystery fiction, Soji Shimada.
Locked Room International discovers and publishes impossible crime masterpieces from all over the world
228 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 5, 1987
About the author
Yukito Ayatsuji
124 books503 followers(Japanese: 綾辻 行人)
'Yukito Ayatsuji' is the original creator of Another. He is a famous writer of mystery and Japanese detective fiction. He is also one of the writers that demands restoration of the classic rules of detective fiction and the use of more self reflective elements. He is married to Fuyumi Ono, author of The Twelve Kingdoms and creator of Ghost Hunt, Juuni Kokuki, and the author for a few other manga.
'Yukito Ayatsuji' is the original creator of Another. He is a famous writer of mystery and Japanese detective fiction. He is also one of the writers that demands restoration of the classic rules of detective fiction and the use of more self reflective elements. He is married to Fuyumi Ono, author of The Twelve Kingdoms and creator of Ghost Hunt, Juuni Kokuki, and the author for a few other manga.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,286 reviews
December 11, 2018
Are you aware of the physical space around you? Asks the mad architect. He will build two houses, one of Blue and one of Ten. These houses will hold secrets and mysteries and murder and despair. One burned to the ground, one empty but soon to be burned.
Are you aware of the physical space around you? Asks the author, Yukito Ayatsuji. He will build a novel based around concepts of space, of physical limitations and barriers. Of open areas concealing closed areas - the mental ones as well. He will describe these spaces regularly and with careful precision.
Are you aware of the physical space around you? Asks the murderer. He will build a trap of one of these houses. He will know the extra layers and extra walls and extra rooms; just as he will know your secrets, casting a cold eye upon them. He will come through these places and spaces; he will murder you, he will murder you all.
This is the third Japanese locked-room mystery I've read this year, and although only a star separates this one from the prior two, The Decagon House was easily my favorite of the three. It lacked the labyrinthine quality of The Tokyo Zodiac Murders and the over the top melodrama of The Inugami Clan, but its clarity of purpose - shades of Christie's And Then There Were None - and its interesting focus on physical spaces - and not just the murder house, but nearly all indoor locations - made it thoroughly absorbing from beginning to end. Even the blandness of its prose and the purely surface-level characters worked in its favor. And the reveal of the murderer genuinely shocked me. One of those reveals where I had to go back and double check what I was actually reading. I like that feeling.
Are you aware of the physical space around you? Asks the author, Yukito Ayatsuji. He will build a novel based around concepts of space, of physical limitations and barriers. Of open areas concealing closed areas - the mental ones as well. He will describe these spaces regularly and with careful precision.
Are you aware of the physical space around you? Asks the murderer. He will build a trap of one of these houses. He will know the extra layers and extra walls and extra rooms; just as he will know your secrets, casting a cold eye upon them. He will come through these places and spaces; he will murder you, he will murder you all.
This is the third Japanese locked-room mystery I've read this year, and although only a star separates this one from the prior two, The Decagon House was easily my favorite of the three. It lacked the labyrinthine quality of The Tokyo Zodiac Murders and the over the top melodrama of The Inugami Clan, but its clarity of purpose - shades of Christie's And Then There Were None - and its interesting focus on physical spaces - and not just the murder house, but nearly all indoor locations - made it thoroughly absorbing from beginning to end. Even the blandness of its prose and the purely surface-level characters worked in its favor. And the reveal of the murderer genuinely shocked me. One of those reveals where I had to go back and double check what I was actually reading. I like that feeling.
April 7, 2019
A group of students arrive on a deserted island, which was the scene of a grisly murder one-year prior. .Obviously nothing goes wrong and they spend a relaxing week long vacation, talking about books they like and taking in the sun… oh, wait, no, this a mystery novel. Yeah, scratch that… bad things happen.
This is a book that notes its origins with pride. The plot kicks off with a reference to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, and continues with loving nods (including all the characters having nicknames based on American and European mystery authors) throughout. The novel is a part of what is referred to in Japan as Honkaku mystery. This subgenre is what typically would be referred to in English speaking countries as a “locked room” or “fair play” mystery. Meaning all clues are given, so despite the improbability of the crime, you, the reader, could in theory solve it as well. In fact, the book contains an absolutely fascinating introduction, giving a brief history of the Honkaku sub-genre and is well worth a read (I particularly liked the bit of info where they discuss that it’s looked less as a literary genre and more like a game between author and reader).
So, did I solve the case? Well, yes and no. I pretty much figured out who did it fairly early on, but I didn’t figure out how so much (and when the reveal hit, I had a moment where I could have applauded it)
So, points for a clever solution. Sadly, I can’t really give full praise here. Remember how I said the Honkaku mystery is often thought of more as a game than a literary genre? You can tell it here and it hurts it. The characters are stock types, given little to no personality (seriously, you may as well call them victim 1, 2, 3 etc.). With the exception of Ellery, who is obviously set up as our official detective in the group, everyone else is pretty much void of a personality other than one or two emotions that they express when stressed. Even Ellery is such a cliché of a character that I didn’t really feel any real excitement about him. In one way, this made it feel less like your classic mystery, and more like a slasher movie, where you just watch with curiosity on how the teens will be picked off by our killer next.
This book when released was apparently one of the leaders in the resurgence of the Honkaku genre (which had lost popularity with the rise of noir and police procedurals). I don’t know if this is because of the clever conclusion or if there was something majorly lost in translation, but I don’t quite get why this would be one of the standouts. Would I give it a recommendation? Only to a very specific group of people. To really enjoy this one, you have to be a person who enjoys the deduction aspect of a mystery novel over the plot. You need to be the person who sits there puzzling over every line and trying to think outside the box… those here for the story will likely leave unfulfilled, those here for the “game” of it, they may find something special.
3 stars because I am the sort of mystery fan described above and the ending is clever enough to warrant a notation. Also, as mentioned before, the introduction to the book is fascinating enough alone to warrant a read.
This is a book that notes its origins with pride. The plot kicks off with a reference to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, and continues with loving nods (including all the characters having nicknames based on American and European mystery authors) throughout. The novel is a part of what is referred to in Japan as Honkaku mystery. This subgenre is what typically would be referred to in English speaking countries as a “locked room” or “fair play” mystery. Meaning all clues are given, so despite the improbability of the crime, you, the reader, could in theory solve it as well. In fact, the book contains an absolutely fascinating introduction, giving a brief history of the Honkaku sub-genre and is well worth a read (I particularly liked the bit of info where they discuss that it’s looked less as a literary genre and more like a game between author and reader).
So, did I solve the case? Well, yes and no. I pretty much figured out who did it fairly early on, but I didn’t figure out how so much (and when the reveal hit, I had a moment where I could have applauded it)
So, points for a clever solution. Sadly, I can’t really give full praise here. Remember how I said the Honkaku mystery is often thought of more as a game than a literary genre? You can tell it here and it hurts it. The characters are stock types, given little to no personality (seriously, you may as well call them victim 1, 2, 3 etc.). With the exception of Ellery, who is obviously set up as our official detective in the group, everyone else is pretty much void of a personality other than one or two emotions that they express when stressed. Even Ellery is such a cliché of a character that I didn’t really feel any real excitement about him. In one way, this made it feel less like your classic mystery, and more like a slasher movie, where you just watch with curiosity on how the teens will be picked off by our killer next.
This book when released was apparently one of the leaders in the resurgence of the Honkaku genre (which had lost popularity with the rise of noir and police procedurals). I don’t know if this is because of the clever conclusion or if there was something majorly lost in translation, but I don’t quite get why this would be one of the standouts. Would I give it a recommendation? Only to a very specific group of people. To really enjoy this one, you have to be a person who enjoys the deduction aspect of a mystery novel over the plot. You need to be the person who sits there puzzling over every line and trying to think outside the box… those here for the story will likely leave unfulfilled, those here for the “game” of it, they may find something special.
3 stars because I am the sort of mystery fan described above and the ending is clever enough to warrant a notation. Also, as mentioned before, the introduction to the book is fascinating enough alone to warrant a read.
Shelved as 'dnf'
January 28, 2024DNF 20%
The narration is terrible. Sounded like Google text to speech. I tried and had to quit.
Then I tried again. Quit again.
Tried a third time. But no. This was just terrible narration. TERRIBLE. I'm going to avoid this narrator (P.J. Ochlan) like the plague from here on out.
I'm going to check out the physical book and see how that goes.
The narration is terrible. Sounded like Google text to speech. I tried and had to quit.
Then I tried again. Quit again.
Tried a third time. But no. This was just terrible narration. TERRIBLE. I'm going to avoid this narrator (P.J. Ochlan) like the plague from here on out.
I'm going to check out the physical book and see how that goes.
May 27, 2024
[...]He has to kill them in order, one by one. Precisely like that story written by the famous British female writer—slowly, one after the other. He shall make them know. The suffering, the sadness, the pain and terror of death.[...]
I knew I had to read this book as soon as I read these words.
To begin, I've been intending to read this book for a long time; I adore Japanese literature, and what better way to sample Japanese fiction than through a honkaku mystery?
The novel began with a mood that was very similar to And then There Were None, which is one of my favourite books of all time. A group of pals from university's mystery club agreed to investigate the case on a deserted island? Solve the situation? That occurred six months ago. However, everything began to go wrong, and they began to be slain. A parallel plot follows two of their fellow mystery club members as they attempt to uncover the mystery of "letters by dead man" along with a Mr. Shimada.
The Decagon House Murders alternates between Kawaminami's investigations on the mainland and the progressively macabre events taking place on the island, paying respect to Christie's original while crafting its own convoluted and skillfully constructed mystery. The novel manages to innovate despite references to Christie's classic – as well as the detectives and writers of the larger Golden Age milieu – and there are a number of sophisticated variations on well-worn patterns.
The Decagon House Murders is a twisted and enjoyable mystery in its own right. There's lots of room for red herrings, plot twists, and unexpected disclosures with its constrained setting and characters, dual narrative, and dual timeline.
Overall, I guess I'm still undecided about how I feel about this book. The puzzle it poses and solves is of great quality, and the parts of the novel dedicated to the island inhabitants and their growing anxieties and paranoia are particularly compelling. However, due to the sparse styling forewarned in the introduction, there are parts of the text that are less enjoyable, and I believe the mainland parts of the storey, while essential in many ways to the final solution, wasn't that compelling and interesting. The writing style lacked to convey true emotions at some points which can be problem of translation. So instead of a solid 4 I am giving it a 3.75 stars.
I knew I had to read this book as soon as I read these words.
To begin, I've been intending to read this book for a long time; I adore Japanese literature, and what better way to sample Japanese fiction than through a honkaku mystery?
The novel began with a mood that was very similar to And then There Were None, which is one of my favourite books of all time. A group of pals from university's mystery club agreed to investigate the case on a deserted island? Solve the situation? That occurred six months ago. However, everything began to go wrong, and they began to be slain. A parallel plot follows two of their fellow mystery club members as they attempt to uncover the mystery of "letters by dead man" along with a Mr. Shimada.
The Decagon House Murders alternates between Kawaminami's investigations on the mainland and the progressively macabre events taking place on the island, paying respect to Christie's original while crafting its own convoluted and skillfully constructed mystery. The novel manages to innovate despite references to Christie's classic – as well as the detectives and writers of the larger Golden Age milieu – and there are a number of sophisticated variations on well-worn patterns.
The Decagon House Murders is a twisted and enjoyable mystery in its own right. There's lots of room for red herrings, plot twists, and unexpected disclosures with its constrained setting and characters, dual narrative, and dual timeline.
Overall, I guess I'm still undecided about how I feel about this book. The puzzle it poses and solves is of great quality, and the parts of the novel dedicated to the island inhabitants and their growing anxieties and paranoia are particularly compelling. However, due to the sparse styling forewarned in the introduction, there are parts of the text that are less enjoyable, and I believe the mainland parts of the storey, while essential in many ways to the final solution, wasn't that compelling and interesting. The writing style lacked to convey true emotions at some points which can be problem of translation. So instead of a solid 4 I am giving it a 3.75 stars.
April 9, 2016
First, I want to say thank you for Sanny who introduced me with this novel, and more importantly introduced me with Honkaku mystery genre. Honkaku means orthodox in Japan, and this genre keeps the whodunit mystery stories alive in Japan. I admit I didn't know the existence of Honkaku mystery before I read this novel.
This is an isolated-island murder mystery with the clues, red herrings, and so on with climax when readers found whodunit.
In my opinion, the mystery and climax is good, just as expected. I expected a twist at climax, and I like the twist. I was reading the last pages at the morning and still sleepy, then the climax words successfully slapped me into fully awake.
I recommend this novel for whodunit stories fans. If you don't know Honkaku genre, I recommend to search a bit about it, as what I have been doing for several days.
EDIT NOTE: I previously only mentioned the genre as Honkaku. Sanny corrected me.
This is an isolated-island murder mystery with the clues, red herrings, and so on with climax when readers found whodunit.
In my opinion, the mystery and climax is good, just as expected. I expected a twist at climax, and I like the twist. I was reading the last pages at the morning and still sleepy, then the climax words successfully slapped me into fully awake.
I recommend this novel for whodunit stories fans. If you don't know Honkaku genre, I recommend to search a bit about it, as what I have been doing for several days.
EDIT NOTE: I previously only mentioned the genre as Honkaku. Sanny corrected me.
May 6, 2021
OH MY GOD THIS BOOK ! This is a new favorite. Like, oh my god this book.
I was so invested in my reading ! You can ask my friends whom i was facetiming with during some of the time i read this, my reaction were one of a kind. This book is so immersive and addictive. You literally cannot stop reading. The characters construction is amazing, you get attached to them so quickly even though you perfectly well know what's gonna happen to them - but still, you have a tiny bit of hope that maybe your fave will survive this. The writing, with both perspectives from the island and from the land, is so amazingly smart. Everything is intriging, you can"t stop making up theories in your mind.
Anyway, this book is stunning, you need to read it, i can promise you this is one of the best reading experience you'll get. Thank you netgalley for providing this for me !
I was so invested in my reading ! You can ask my friends whom i was facetiming with during some of the time i read this, my reaction were one of a kind. This book is so immersive and addictive. You literally cannot stop reading. The characters construction is amazing, you get attached to them so quickly even though you perfectly well know what's gonna happen to them - but still, you have a tiny bit of hope that maybe your fave will survive this. The writing, with both perspectives from the island and from the land, is so amazingly smart. Everything is intriging, you can"t stop making up theories in your mind.
Anyway, this book is stunning, you need to read it, i can promise you this is one of the best reading experience you'll get. Thank you netgalley for providing this for me !
September 2, 2016
3.75 stars.
This is right up my guilty pleasure alley. Originally published in Japan in 1987 and only now available in English translation, this book represents a resurgence of "locked room" mysteries in Japan at the time. It's an unmistakable homage to Agatha Christie's incomparable And Then There Were None. I just love those impossible closed door mysteries of the Golden Age in which the suspects are limited and the clues are there for the reader, with no rabbit pulling at the end. They are like dark, dangerous puzzles, each piece illuminating a disturbing truth.
This story has seven students on a private, isolated island. They all belong to their university's mystery society, and as such, go by awesome nicknames like Agatha, Van Dine, Leroux, Orczy, Ellery, Carr and Poe. (This alone earned the book half a star for me.) They are intrigued to spend a week on this island because an unsolved murder/suicide happened there six months previously. They stay in a unique/creepy house shaped like a decagon. Then, as you might guess... they start to drop like flies. This is scary! No way of escaping, or communicating with the outside world, surrounded by your increasingly dead friends, with a maniac on the loose. And that maniac is likely one of your friends.
The book also tells the story of what was happening on the mainland at the same time, with people who were starting to put together the idea that something very wrong was happening.
And then... a great twist that I didn't see coming which reveals the identity of the murderer. Makes me want to go back and re-read.
Unfortunately, the 'denouement' felt a little too "informative" rather than exciting, and that lessened my rating of the book. I understand that explanation is there in order to reveal the clues that the readers could have picked up on; it's also fun to re-live the days on the island from the point of view of the killer. There just has to be a better way of ending the book that explains the beautiful puzzle but also packs a bigger punch. Also, I needed more character development just so I could attach more of an identity to each of the people on the island. I had a hard time keeping track of who they were at times.
I admire that Ayatsuji took on a classic Christie - there's so much love for the Golden Age mysteries in this book. I would recommend this for anyone who shares that love.
This is right up my guilty pleasure alley. Originally published in Japan in 1987 and only now available in English translation, this book represents a resurgence of "locked room" mysteries in Japan at the time. It's an unmistakable homage to Agatha Christie's incomparable And Then There Were None. I just love those impossible closed door mysteries of the Golden Age in which the suspects are limited and the clues are there for the reader, with no rabbit pulling at the end. They are like dark, dangerous puzzles, each piece illuminating a disturbing truth.
This story has seven students on a private, isolated island. They all belong to their university's mystery society, and as such, go by awesome nicknames like Agatha, Van Dine, Leroux, Orczy, Ellery, Carr and Poe. (This alone earned the book half a star for me.) They are intrigued to spend a week on this island because an unsolved murder/suicide happened there six months previously. They stay in a unique/creepy house shaped like a decagon. Then, as you might guess... they start to drop like flies. This is scary! No way of escaping, or communicating with the outside world, surrounded by your increasingly dead friends, with a maniac on the loose. And that maniac is likely one of your friends.
The book also tells the story of what was happening on the mainland at the same time, with people who were starting to put together the idea that something very wrong was happening.
And then... a great twist that I didn't see coming which reveals the identity of the murderer. Makes me want to go back and re-read.
Unfortunately, the 'denouement' felt a little too "informative" rather than exciting, and that lessened my rating of the book. I understand that explanation is there in order to reveal the clues that the readers could have picked up on; it's also fun to re-live the days on the island from the point of view of the killer. There just has to be a better way of ending the book that explains the beautiful puzzle but also packs a bigger punch. Also, I needed more character development just so I could attach more of an identity to each of the people on the island. I had a hard time keeping track of who they were at times.
I admire that Ayatsuji took on a classic Christie - there's so much love for the Golden Age mysteries in this book. I would recommend this for anyone who shares that love.
March 19, 2024
Well, that went well! Thank all the gods on Olympus I didn't succumb to the temptation of throwing in the towel, because at the end I realized how much I enjoyed the 17 days I spent reading this Golden-age-esque mystery book filled with endless and inane dialogues between the characters.
And you know what was the cherry on top? It wasn’t the non-stop wrong deductions or the fact that the characters who had received anonymous death threats and were marked for murder just accepted their fate and went along with it.
Oh, no! It was the author’s rehashing of the events over and over and over again. To be fair to the author, the simple-minded reader may not have understood the facts the first couple of times.
In a word, Christie has nothing on the author!
And you know what was the cherry on top? It wasn’t the non-stop wrong deductions or the fact that the characters who had received anonymous death threats and were marked for murder just accepted their fate and went along with it.
Oh, no! It was the author’s rehashing of the events over and over and over again. To be fair to the author, the simple-minded reader may not have understood the facts the first couple of times.
In a word, Christie has nothing on the author!
January 22, 2023
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*yawn*
The Decagon House Murders is a pale imitation of the novel it is trying to pay homage to. While by no means a terrible read, I found it to be boring and ultimately deeply underwhelming. As the self-proclaimed whodunnit enthusiast that I am, I was looking forward to reading this, especially as it promised to be a playfully meta murder mystery. Rather than reading like a celebration of the golden age crime novel, The Decagon House Murders reads like an incredibly derivative work that is not nearly as clever a novel as it portends to be.
A couple of university students who are members of a mystery club and crime fiction aficionados travel to the decagon house, which is on a remote island that was the site of a brutal and still unsolved multiple murder the year before. The reason for their presence there is a bit flimsy, as they are supposedly there to try to solve this cold case but do not have an actual plan in place to figure out how they will spend their week there. Anyway, they wake up to an ominous sight straight out of And Then There Were None. They initially think one of them is playing a nasty prank but when they start getting killed off they realize that someone may have brought them to the island with murder in mind. Now, they are meant to be crime fiction experts, and yet do not really implement any actual knowledge of this genre. Sure, one thing is reading about whodunnits, and another thing is being in a whodunnit, but their delayed responses and realizations really made me question how well they were acquainted with the mystery/crime genre.
The book’s supposed self-awareness didn’t really add anything, if anything it made me all the more unconvinced by the characters’ ignorance and ineptitude.
The women in this book unfortunately suffer from the classic written-by-a-male-author syndrome. There is the extroverted pretty and the dowdy introvert…funnily enough one of the female characters is the first one to ‘lose it’, to the point of having to be sedated and referred to as hysterical. The two share one of the most hilarious ‘bonding’ moments, where they discuss their shared love for hand cream (i believe it was hand-cream) which is just..that is what us girls do when left on our own. A very relatable moment indeed.
Not one of the characters was actually clever or possessed any real common sense, many scenes were wasted on each character asking ‘was it you? and saying ‘it wasn’t me’. They spend so much of their time defending themselves when it should have been obvious that their word (saying ‘it wasn't me’) was a waste of time/breath as they had no way of proving their innocence, and yet we have these unnecessary interactions taut could have easily been summarized in a few words (they took turns accusing one smother etc). Also, they are whodunnit experts, surely they would know that they are squandering valuable time on the kind of idiotic disagreements that solve nothing and if anything may result in them not paying attention to their surroundings etc.
The mystery switches between the club members who are at the house and a couple of ppl who are trying to learn more about an event some of the members were involved with. The switching between these two threads lessened the momentum of the events at the decagon house and didn’t really even result in some tantalizing red herrings or promising leads. Frankly, it just bogged things down.
The members at the island are known to us by their very imaginative nicknames (names of famous crime authors) which take away from the characters themselves…while I never go into a murder mystery expecting nuanced characters it would have been nice for the cast of characters to be at least entertaining, and caricatures can be engaging as Agatha Christie demonstrated time and again (the rapport between her characters is nearly-always amusing, The theatrical nature of many of them adds a comical quality to her mysteries). But here the characters were bland, the girls left a lot to be desired (they are the type of characters that would have been okay-ish if they existed in a 1930s whodunnit) while the boys (allegedly) were all kind of clever and yet so very foolish and slow.
This would have worked better for me if the author think if the author had committed to a sillier tone, as it would have resulted in a more spoof-type of narrative that doesn't elicit a lot of scrutiny. But here the story seems to think it is far more intelligent and thrilling than it is...
Anyway, just because I found this to be a banal and lacklustre read does not mean you should not give it a go. As we know, YMMV.
*yawn*
The Decagon House Murders is a pale imitation of the novel it is trying to pay homage to. While by no means a terrible read, I found it to be boring and ultimately deeply underwhelming. As the self-proclaimed whodunnit enthusiast that I am, I was looking forward to reading this, especially as it promised to be a playfully meta murder mystery. Rather than reading like a celebration of the golden age crime novel, The Decagon House Murders reads like an incredibly derivative work that is not nearly as clever a novel as it portends to be.
A couple of university students who are members of a mystery club and crime fiction aficionados travel to the decagon house, which is on a remote island that was the site of a brutal and still unsolved multiple murder the year before. The reason for their presence there is a bit flimsy, as they are supposedly there to try to solve this cold case but do not have an actual plan in place to figure out how they will spend their week there. Anyway, they wake up to an ominous sight straight out of And Then There Were None. They initially think one of them is playing a nasty prank but when they start getting killed off they realize that someone may have brought them to the island with murder in mind. Now, they are meant to be crime fiction experts, and yet do not really implement any actual knowledge of this genre. Sure, one thing is reading about whodunnits, and another thing is being in a whodunnit, but their delayed responses and realizations really made me question how well they were acquainted with the mystery/crime genre.
The book’s supposed self-awareness didn’t really add anything, if anything it made me all the more unconvinced by the characters’ ignorance and ineptitude.
The women in this book unfortunately suffer from the classic written-by-a-male-author syndrome. There is the extroverted pretty and the dowdy introvert…funnily enough one of the female characters is the first one to ‘lose it’, to the point of having to be sedated and referred to as hysterical. The two share one of the most hilarious ‘bonding’ moments, where they discuss their shared love for hand cream (i believe it was hand-cream) which is just..that is what us girls do when left on our own. A very relatable moment indeed.
Not one of the characters was actually clever or possessed any real common sense, many scenes were wasted on each character asking ‘was it you? and saying ‘it wasn’t me’. They spend so much of their time defending themselves when it should have been obvious that their word (saying ‘it wasn't me’) was a waste of time/breath as they had no way of proving their innocence, and yet we have these unnecessary interactions taut could have easily been summarized in a few words (they took turns accusing one smother etc). Also, they are whodunnit experts, surely they would know that they are squandering valuable time on the kind of idiotic disagreements that solve nothing and if anything may result in them not paying attention to their surroundings etc.
The mystery switches between the club members who are at the house and a couple of ppl who are trying to learn more about an event some of the members were involved with. The switching between these two threads lessened the momentum of the events at the decagon house and didn’t really even result in some tantalizing red herrings or promising leads. Frankly, it just bogged things down.
The members at the island are known to us by their very imaginative nicknames (names of famous crime authors) which take away from the characters themselves…while I never go into a murder mystery expecting nuanced characters it would have been nice for the cast of characters to be at least entertaining, and caricatures can be engaging as Agatha Christie demonstrated time and again (the rapport between her characters is nearly-always amusing, The theatrical nature of many of them adds a comical quality to her mysteries). But here the characters were bland, the girls left a lot to be desired (they are the type of characters that would have been okay-ish if they existed in a 1930s whodunnit) while the boys (allegedly) were all kind of clever and yet so very foolish and slow.
This would have worked better for me if the author think if the author had committed to a sillier tone, as it would have resulted in a more spoof-type of narrative that doesn't elicit a lot of scrutiny. But here the story seems to think it is far more intelligent and thrilling than it is...
Anyway, just because I found this to be a banal and lacklustre read does not mean you should not give it a go. As we know, YMMV.
April 24, 2023
4.5 stars - I have a few misses on the pacing, but other than that, this is just candy for the mystery lover in me, particularly the isolated closed circle mystery lover that I am.
January 30, 2019
Bad things happen. Everybody dies.
The flatness of the prose in this novel at first bothered me and then delighted me because it freed me from that somewhat squicky feeling I often have, when reading a murder mystery, that violent death should not be quite so entertaining. The characters here are nothing more than pieces on a magnificent, imaginative board game, and their lack of dimension allowed me to feel pleasure in the storytelling.
I lived for years in Japan and this experience made my reading all the more delightful. The translation sounds exactly like the Japanese, to the point where many times I could know for certain what the Japanese word or phrase had originally been. It felt as if the translator is not a native English speaker, or at least the translator never stepped out of literal translation, and the unusual nature of the language in the novel gave it a charged, unexpected feeling as I read.
The English here sounds something like Japanese native speakers who have only a fragile command of English. Some of the direct translations of Japanese concepts include "senior" for a person who is ahead of you in the same school, or "after-after-party," which is self explanatory but is an actual thing in Japan for that smaller, frequently drunken gathering that happens when you're too tired to go home or the trains have stopped running and you're stuck in limbo with your friends until morning comes. The proper names weren't reversed to fit English usage. Some words honestly seemed made up or taken from a not very good bilingual dictionary--like "shrubberies" rather than "shrubbery." I'm going on about it because it was an aspect of the novel that I enjoyed deeply but I'm not sure how readers who haven't lived in Japan would take it.
Then there is the mystery itself. Honestly I felt both very satisfied by the solution to the puzzle, and kind of snookered by it. I didn't feel the story gave me all necessary clues throughout the novel for me to feel satisfied with the ending as it unfolded--a lot of these clues instead were given after the fact, to fill in the blanks. I didn't mind this however because I got such pleasure from reading this strange little book, and because of all the ways it was different from anything else I'd read, and because of all the ways the language intersected with my experience of Japan.
The flatness of the prose in this novel at first bothered me and then delighted me because it freed me from that somewhat squicky feeling I often have, when reading a murder mystery, that violent death should not be quite so entertaining. The characters here are nothing more than pieces on a magnificent, imaginative board game, and their lack of dimension allowed me to feel pleasure in the storytelling.
I lived for years in Japan and this experience made my reading all the more delightful. The translation sounds exactly like the Japanese, to the point where many times I could know for certain what the Japanese word or phrase had originally been. It felt as if the translator is not a native English speaker, or at least the translator never stepped out of literal translation, and the unusual nature of the language in the novel gave it a charged, unexpected feeling as I read.
The English here sounds something like Japanese native speakers who have only a fragile command of English. Some of the direct translations of Japanese concepts include "senior" for a person who is ahead of you in the same school, or "after-after-party," which is self explanatory but is an actual thing in Japan for that smaller, frequently drunken gathering that happens when you're too tired to go home or the trains have stopped running and you're stuck in limbo with your friends until morning comes. The proper names weren't reversed to fit English usage. Some words honestly seemed made up or taken from a not very good bilingual dictionary--like "shrubberies" rather than "shrubbery." I'm going on about it because it was an aspect of the novel that I enjoyed deeply but I'm not sure how readers who haven't lived in Japan would take it.
Then there is the mystery itself. Honestly I felt both very satisfied by the solution to the puzzle, and kind of snookered by it. I didn't feel the story gave me all necessary clues throughout the novel for me to feel satisfied with the ending as it unfolded--a lot of these clues instead were given after the fact, to fill in the blanks. I didn't mind this however because I got such pleasure from reading this strange little book, and because of all the ways it was different from anything else I'd read, and because of all the ways the language intersected with my experience of Japan.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
March 28, 2023Interesting isolated house murder mystery with a vivid setting, plenty of red herrings, and a slowly depleting cast as the murderer whittles away. Good and twisty though the translation is pretty workmanlike.
April 21, 2021
4.5-5
ça m'avait trop manqué les murder mystery!!
ça m'avait trop manqué les murder mystery!!
April 23, 2021
it was so SMART and i LOVE smart things
June 14, 2022
A group of young mystery novel aficionados plan to spend a week at the site of an infamous murder. One by one, they get picked off. If you read mysteries at all you have already read this plot numerous times. The author didn’t create any clever twists for this book. As usual, the mystery is sustained only because the author withholds facts. Even so, I guessed the villain from the beginning, but the motive remained a secret until the end. The book wasn’t bad, but I don’t really see a need to read yet another example of this old fashioned genre. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
August 26, 2022
Note: this book was first published in Japan under the title of 'The Island of Lamentation' and it won the author an award when he was still a student. Decades later it has been published as 'The Decagon House Murders' in English.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
For the first book of Yukito Ayatsuji's Mansions Series, I gave 3.5 stars after I re-read the story for the third or fourth time, it's a nice take of the traditional murder mystery taking place within an "isolated mansion" (the students went to a remote island and were killed one by one, obviously this book is a homage to And Then There Were None). It's Mr. Ayatsuji's first published novel and it does show in his writing, but luckily for him and for us readers, Mr. Ayatsuji's later works show a great deal of improvement.
However, back in the 1980s to 1990s, Yukito Ayatsuji and his first novel did make a huge impression to the audience and his success had inspired an army of younger novelists when the Japanese crime and mystery market was dominated by the 'hard boiled/social' detective novels.
As much as I enjoy this book, I admit there is a big fat dead giveaway early in the story so it isn't all that hard to guess who is the killer.
I'm not saying I don't like this book, I think the murder mystery is outstanding for a newbie author, my only complaints being: (1) part of the story telling seems a bit forced, (2) instead of coming up with his own style, the author borrowed a bit too heavily from the classical murder mysteries and used a bit too much of the same-old, same-old elements within those mysteries.
My most favorite Yukito Ayatsuji's detective novels:
(1)Murder At the Mansion of Antique Clocks: Dark imaginary, clever plot twists and a lot of deadly surprises, it's my all time favorite.
(2)Murder At the Mansion of Darkness: one hell of a dark, intriguing Gothic thriller!
(3)Murder At the Mansion of Waterwheel: really, really intriguing plot twists
(4)The Witch Hunt Game: a breathtaking thriller sets in a scary private school for girls which looks like it's taken straight out of Dario Argento's surreal horror movie classic Suspiria.
(5)The Curse of the Puppet Prince: Fairy tale crossovers murder mystery! What's not to love?
(6)Murder At the Mansion of Black Cat: I really couldn't see the ending coming!
(7) Murder At the Mansion of Strange Masks: the latest book in the Mansions series and it's still going strong.
(8) Another: this one is a gem in the genre of YA crime and mystery novels, and it comes with a manga, a movie and a TV series adaptations.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
For the first book of Yukito Ayatsuji's Mansions Series, I gave 3.5 stars after I re-read the story for the third or fourth time, it's a nice take of the traditional murder mystery taking place within an "isolated mansion" (the students went to a remote island and were killed one by one, obviously this book is a homage to And Then There Were None). It's Mr. Ayatsuji's first published novel and it does show in his writing, but luckily for him and for us readers, Mr. Ayatsuji's later works show a great deal of improvement.
However, back in the 1980s to 1990s, Yukito Ayatsuji and his first novel did make a huge impression to the audience and his success had inspired an army of younger novelists when the Japanese crime and mystery market was dominated by the 'hard boiled/social' detective novels.
As much as I enjoy this book, I admit there is a big fat dead giveaway early in the story so it isn't all that hard to guess who is the killer.
I'm not saying I don't like this book, I think the murder mystery is outstanding for a newbie author, my only complaints being: (1) part of the story telling seems a bit forced, (2) instead of coming up with his own style, the author borrowed a bit too heavily from the classical murder mysteries and used a bit too much of the same-old, same-old elements within those mysteries.
My most favorite Yukito Ayatsuji's detective novels:
(1)Murder At the Mansion of Antique Clocks: Dark imaginary, clever plot twists and a lot of deadly surprises, it's my all time favorite.
(2)Murder At the Mansion of Darkness: one hell of a dark, intriguing Gothic thriller!
(3)Murder At the Mansion of Waterwheel: really, really intriguing plot twists
(4)The Witch Hunt Game: a breathtaking thriller sets in a scary private school for girls which looks like it's taken straight out of Dario Argento's surreal horror movie classic Suspiria.
(5)The Curse of the Puppet Prince: Fairy tale crossovers murder mystery! What's not to love?
(6)Murder At the Mansion of Black Cat: I really couldn't see the ending coming!
(7) Murder At the Mansion of Strange Masks: the latest book in the Mansions series and it's still going strong.
(8) Another: this one is a gem in the genre of YA crime and mystery novels, and it comes with a manga, a movie and a TV series adaptations.
June 16, 2021
And so this marks my 1000th read/logged book on Goodreads :-)
February 12, 2021
20 years ago, Nakamuro Seji built a Blue Mansion and a decagonal Annex on an uninhabited Japanese island. 6 months prior to this book, the mansion burned down and took the livers of the owner, his wife, and their 2 servants. Strange detail was that all the dead had been administered a sedative and were murdered prior to the blaze.
We’re March 1986. 7 university students, belonging to a Mystery Club decide to take a week-long trip to the island and possibly write some stories. Each one is only known by their nickname that’s taken from the most famous European and American writers of the Golden Age. Once there, they’re completely on their own. They find a strange collection of name-plates “first victim, second victim, third victim fourth victim, last victim, detective, murderer” that shakes them up. No-one admits to being behind this unsavoury prank. The next morning, a female student is found strangled with her left hand missing (like Seji’s wife) and the plaque with 1st victim glued to her door. At first, they assume that 1 of them is the killer but there’s also the possibility that Seji might be still alive.
On the Mainland, another student from the same club receives a letter that says that ‘all of them are guilty of murdering Nakamura Chiori (yes, daughter of). She was a girl member of their club who died a year earlier through alcohol poisoning and a subsequent heart attack. Apparently, the other members of the club also received a similar letter but they had already departed for the island. He starts looking into the murders on Tsunojima Island and also thinks that Seji might be still among the living.
This is the debut novel of the author and also the first of his works to be translated into English. It was the second novel with the same premises that I read in a short period, but I must admit that this one beats ‘Whisper Island’ easily. They both have students going to a remote island where they’re killed off 1 by 1 and both openly pay homage to Agatha Christie’s original.
There’s a distinct difference between both storylines (Island and Mainland). The events on the island breathe the entire atmosphere and the investigating elements of the great (mainly) American and English detective series of the Golden Age. Even the names by which we know the actors are all taken from there. If you don’t know better, you wouldn’t immediately notice this is a Japanese story. There are some references to Japanese riddles, poems and stories that (I think so) loose out a lot in the translation. I would not be surprised if there’s a whole layer that we miss out on. The Mainland thread is more visibly non-western; not only by the use of the proper names for the characters but also in the references to the lifestyle and habits. I did love the occasional mention of historical and cultural details but those are made for people that are actually acquainted with it already and not especially infused for ‘tourists’.
After a very long introduction and a slow start, the story becomes ever more suspenseful in the best tradition of the old fashioned detective stories those students admire. With not 1 but 2 murder investigations going on, you must keep your wits around and you’re not certain if the murders then and those now are related. You’re also kept in the dark if it’s one of the students that’s guilty or that there’s another person hiding on the island. The split story always keeps you on the edge of your seat as you keep wondering what’s happening in the other storyline. I swear that the eventual reveal is more than surprising. I did not guess this at all. The explanation might be a bit strange but it’s very ingenious.
If you’re not all that familiar with Asian and Japanese literature, I think this is an ideal point to start.
I received a free ARC through Edelweiss+ and Steerforth Press; this is my honest, unbiased review of it.
We’re March 1986. 7 university students, belonging to a Mystery Club decide to take a week-long trip to the island and possibly write some stories. Each one is only known by their nickname that’s taken from the most famous European and American writers of the Golden Age. Once there, they’re completely on their own. They find a strange collection of name-plates “first victim, second victim, third victim fourth victim, last victim, detective, murderer” that shakes them up. No-one admits to being behind this unsavoury prank. The next morning, a female student is found strangled with her left hand missing (like Seji’s wife) and the plaque with 1st victim glued to her door. At first, they assume that 1 of them is the killer but there’s also the possibility that Seji might be still alive.
On the Mainland, another student from the same club receives a letter that says that ‘all of them are guilty of murdering Nakamura Chiori (yes, daughter of). She was a girl member of their club who died a year earlier through alcohol poisoning and a subsequent heart attack. Apparently, the other members of the club also received a similar letter but they had already departed for the island. He starts looking into the murders on Tsunojima Island and also thinks that Seji might be still among the living.
This is the debut novel of the author and also the first of his works to be translated into English. It was the second novel with the same premises that I read in a short period, but I must admit that this one beats ‘Whisper Island’ easily. They both have students going to a remote island where they’re killed off 1 by 1 and both openly pay homage to Agatha Christie’s original.
There’s a distinct difference between both storylines (Island and Mainland). The events on the island breathe the entire atmosphere and the investigating elements of the great (mainly) American and English detective series of the Golden Age. Even the names by which we know the actors are all taken from there. If you don’t know better, you wouldn’t immediately notice this is a Japanese story. There are some references to Japanese riddles, poems and stories that (I think so) loose out a lot in the translation. I would not be surprised if there’s a whole layer that we miss out on. The Mainland thread is more visibly non-western; not only by the use of the proper names for the characters but also in the references to the lifestyle and habits. I did love the occasional mention of historical and cultural details but those are made for people that are actually acquainted with it already and not especially infused for ‘tourists’.
After a very long introduction and a slow start, the story becomes ever more suspenseful in the best tradition of the old fashioned detective stories those students admire. With not 1 but 2 murder investigations going on, you must keep your wits around and you’re not certain if the murders then and those now are related. You’re also kept in the dark if it’s one of the students that’s guilty or that there’s another person hiding on the island. The split story always keeps you on the edge of your seat as you keep wondering what’s happening in the other storyline. I swear that the eventual reveal is more than surprising. I did not guess this at all. The explanation might be a bit strange but it’s very ingenious.
If you’re not all that familiar with Asian and Japanese literature, I think this is an ideal point to start.
I received a free ARC through Edelweiss+ and Steerforth Press; this is my honest, unbiased review of it.
Shelved as 'dnf'
July 30, 2024dnf @ 10%
nothing wrong with it i just want to read something im gonna love rn
nothing wrong with it i just want to read something im gonna love rn
December 16, 2020
full post here:
http://www.crimesegments.com/2020/12/...
This one's like a 3.7 popped up to a 4 by the ending. Speaking of which, crikey! While not the best Japanese crime novel I've ever read, had I been eating something when the big reveal of this story came along, I probably would have choked because of the huge gasp that involuntarily came out of me. As soon as that cleared, the first words out of my mouth were "holy sh*t." I don't have that reaction very often; even though there have been many times I've been truly surprised at the unmasking of the who, this one absolutely takes the cake.
What begins as a week of fun and writing time for seven members of their university's Crime Club at an uninhabited island quickly turns into a nightmare. As the back-cover blurb reveals, they will all have to use their "murder-mystery expertise" to find out why and by whom they are being "picked off, one by one." While this is happening, back on the mainland another investigation has started, one that may hold clues to the mystery club's dilemma by delving into the past.
As I've always said about this particular genre that really stands on its own within the genre of crime/mystery fiction, these stories are less character oriented and more about how the deed was done. It's no surprise to me on reading several reader reviews of this book that noted the lack of character development, because that's pretty standard with this sort of thing, something I've come to expect after reading so many of them. Taking that aspect away, focusing on the who and the how, The Decagon Murders becomes an intense puzzle, the solution of which I would never have guessed. I will say that I'm a bit frustrated at not being able to share my experience with the identity of the who, but to do so would be giving away the show. I do think I would like to take a look at the original though, because I'm not sure I would have translated some things in this book the same way, for example, in having one character refer to the group as "y'all." I mean, come on.
I had great fun with this novel, and I certainly would recommend it to regular fans of this sort of puzzler, or to fans of Japanese crime fiction in general. The ending alone was worth the price I paid for the book.
http://www.crimesegments.com/2020/12/...
This one's like a 3.7 popped up to a 4 by the ending. Speaking of which, crikey! While not the best Japanese crime novel I've ever read, had I been eating something when the big reveal of this story came along, I probably would have choked because of the huge gasp that involuntarily came out of me. As soon as that cleared, the first words out of my mouth were "holy sh*t." I don't have that reaction very often; even though there have been many times I've been truly surprised at the unmasking of the who, this one absolutely takes the cake.
What begins as a week of fun and writing time for seven members of their university's Crime Club at an uninhabited island quickly turns into a nightmare. As the back-cover blurb reveals, they will all have to use their "murder-mystery expertise" to find out why and by whom they are being "picked off, one by one." While this is happening, back on the mainland another investigation has started, one that may hold clues to the mystery club's dilemma by delving into the past.
As I've always said about this particular genre that really stands on its own within the genre of crime/mystery fiction, these stories are less character oriented and more about how the deed was done. It's no surprise to me on reading several reader reviews of this book that noted the lack of character development, because that's pretty standard with this sort of thing, something I've come to expect after reading so many of them. Taking that aspect away, focusing on the who and the how, The Decagon Murders becomes an intense puzzle, the solution of which I would never have guessed. I will say that I'm a bit frustrated at not being able to share my experience with the identity of the who, but to do so would be giving away the show. I do think I would like to take a look at the original though, because I'm not sure I would have translated some things in this book the same way, for example, in having one character refer to the group as "y'all." I mean, come on.
I had great fun with this novel, and I certainly would recommend it to regular fans of this sort of puzzler, or to fans of Japanese crime fiction in general. The ending alone was worth the price I paid for the book.
July 1, 2021
I enjoy reading mysteries from all corners of the world. Here in Japan of 1986, several college students are on a boat to an island to spend a week indulging in their common enjoyment. They all belong to a mystery club and plan to consider the multiple murders incident that occurred on the island six months before as well as the future work of the club. They will be on this island with no communication out or way off. What could possibly go wrong....
Meanwhile, we are introduced to some peripherally related characters ashore who are involved in the situation. The author was interested in Golden Age Mysteries and even the characters in this book note similarities to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None.”
Initially, the story felt somewhat dry, formulaic, but once the characters were set and the layout established, the pace and intensity picked up. The second half moved at a good pace. I’m of two minds about the Epilogue, as I imagine other readers may be.
Rating 3.5* rounded to 4. The summing up was well done.
A copy of this book was provided by Pushkin Vertigo through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Meanwhile, we are introduced to some peripherally related characters ashore who are involved in the situation. The author was interested in Golden Age Mysteries and even the characters in this book note similarities to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None.”
Initially, the story felt somewhat dry, formulaic, but once the characters were set and the layout established, the pace and intensity picked up. The second half moved at a good pace. I’m of two minds about the Epilogue, as I imagine other readers may be.
Rating 3.5* rounded to 4. The summing up was well done.
A copy of this book was provided by Pushkin Vertigo through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
July 6, 2023
Very clever writing. I think this was the first time I read characters I didn't feel connected too, which didn't affect my reading experience.
April 8, 2021
Seven friends venture to an isolated island for a week of bonding over their shared love for detective fiction. They leave both civilisation and their real persons behind, adopting the names of their beloved, favourite writers for themselves. They also, unknowingly, take on the contents of their books, as well as the names that adorn the front covers, as events quickly turn sinister and, with no escape from the island, they only have their own astute minds to help save them from their bloody fates.
This was a twisted, little story and I greatly appreciated witnessing it unfold. Death was quickly welcomed into the plot and a And Then There Were None scenario was introduced, where both reader and remaining characters attempted to puzzle out who the criminal in their midst was.
Despite adoring the sinister plot, the dialogue appealed to me far less. Perhaps there was some elegancy that was lost in translation, but I found the character interactions to feel stilted and unnatural. Conversations would unfold in a manner that took me out of the story and often felt like scenes were created only to fill the reader in on information that should have been already known to the characters, and therefore not something they would naturally discuss. An example of this was when the captain manning the vessel that transported the friends to the island commented on their rather bizarre names. They responded that they were merely names borrowed from their idols. Pages later the friends then have a similar conversation with each other where one states the same facts concerning theirself-given names. If these were names they had been using with each other for years then why would they suddenly discuss it with no other motive than to inform each other on something they should already be aware of? This might seem petty but I did find myself drawn from my immersion, on occasion, due to it.
I became disengaged with the unfolding events, about half-way through the book, as well. Events slowed and the focus returned, again and again, to the characters casting their suspicions on one another.
The end twist, however, was probably one of the best I have read! I am mad not to have loved everything that led up to it in quite the same way, as the conclusion, with its grand reveal, was utterly ingenious and highly original. I would recommend this book to any thriller reader and classic crime lover, just so they get to experience Ayatsuji's clever dupe for themselves.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Yukito Ayatsuji, the translater, Hong-Li Wong, and the publisher, Pushkin Press, for this opportunity.
This was a twisted, little story and I greatly appreciated witnessing it unfold. Death was quickly welcomed into the plot and a And Then There Were None scenario was introduced, where both reader and remaining characters attempted to puzzle out who the criminal in their midst was.
Despite adoring the sinister plot, the dialogue appealed to me far less. Perhaps there was some elegancy that was lost in translation, but I found the character interactions to feel stilted and unnatural. Conversations would unfold in a manner that took me out of the story and often felt like scenes were created only to fill the reader in on information that should have been already known to the characters, and therefore not something they would naturally discuss. An example of this was when the captain manning the vessel that transported the friends to the island commented on their rather bizarre names. They responded that they were merely names borrowed from their idols. Pages later the friends then have a similar conversation with each other where one states the same facts concerning theirself-given names. If these were names they had been using with each other for years then why would they suddenly discuss it with no other motive than to inform each other on something they should already be aware of? This might seem petty but I did find myself drawn from my immersion, on occasion, due to it.
I became disengaged with the unfolding events, about half-way through the book, as well. Events slowed and the focus returned, again and again, to the characters casting their suspicions on one another.
The end twist, however, was probably one of the best I have read! I am mad not to have loved everything that led up to it in quite the same way, as the conclusion, with its grand reveal, was utterly ingenious and highly original. I would recommend this book to any thriller reader and classic crime lover, just so they get to experience Ayatsuji's clever dupe for themselves.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Yukito Ayatsuji, the translater, Hong-Li Wong, and the publisher, Pushkin Press, for this opportunity.
May 29, 2021
Seven friends go to a deserted island where a bloody triple murder-suicide was committed just six months before in this Japanese classic locked room mystery that gives a nod to And Then There Were None. The friends are members of a group of classic locked room mystery fans who give each other nicknames that are the names of classic British and American mystery writers. When members of the group start dying and no way off the island or to call for help, they must figure out for themselves who the culprit is before it's too late.
This is a book for those who love solving logic puzzles, riddles, and other similar things. The author gives the readers all the clues as you go through the story. So there's not much of a story here and the characters are not very well developed. Also, there seems to be a lot lost in translation as the dialogue is very stilted and not all that realistic, which can leave the reader rolling their eyes and being pulled out of the story. I enjoyed reading trying to solve the puzzle along side our characters, but its certainly not for those who prefer a well fleshed out stories and characters. 3.5 rounded up to 4.
My appreciation to Puskin Vertigo, author Yukito Ayatsuji, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This is a book for those who love solving logic puzzles, riddles, and other similar things. The author gives the readers all the clues as you go through the story. So there's not much of a story here and the characters are not very well developed. Also, there seems to be a lot lost in translation as the dialogue is very stilted and not all that realistic, which can leave the reader rolling their eyes and being pulled out of the story. I enjoyed reading trying to solve the puzzle along side our characters, but its certainly not for those who prefer a well fleshed out stories and characters. 3.5 rounded up to 4.
My appreciation to Puskin Vertigo, author Yukito Ayatsuji, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
September 27, 2020
If you are a fan of the formal puzzle mysteries of the old school, in particular the Characters On An Island Picked Off One By One subgenre, this is one of the absolute best.
This is the third Japanese "Honkaku" mystery I've been able to read this year, all released newly in the US in translation by Pushkin Vertigo. (The other two are by Seishi Yokomizo.) This one is my favorite of the genre so far, hitting all the beats you want, while balancing surprises with the tropes. It feels distinctly different and more modern than the mid-century ones, but still with a dedication to the form that goes beyond homage. (This title is from the mid-80's.)
At first I was skeptical. Yes fine all of our characters are in a Detective Fiction club and have taken on the names of their favorite authors as their nicknames, but they seemed to run together too much. I had only the most basic feel for who they were as the story started and I worried they would blend together. But I went with it and found that I knew all of them well enough to rank them as suspects, which is really all you need.
What is trickiest about this genre is the puzzle nature of it. Personally I don't love it when the reveal of the killer is one that was impossible for the reader to imagine on their own, though this is quite common because the setups are so intricate they're designed to be too wild to unravel. On the other hand, if it's too obvious what is really going on, you lose interest. This book balanced it just right for me. I had a hunch who the killer was but the book made me keep wondering if I was right and keep weighing other possible options. It turned out I was right about the killer (hooray!) and I'm fine being right as long as I'm constantly guessing, it's actually my best possible outcome. There were also still plenty of reveals I didn't foresee, and yet none of them felt so farfetched that I rolled my eyes at the book.
One thing I liked particularly about the book was the use of double plot. We have our characters trapped on an island getting picked off, but we also have a second set of characters on the mainland investigating another mystery. The second mystery is an older one but also set on the island and we know that it involves our characters, so we get to suspend the tension of the island's action while fleshing out the question of why this is all happening and how we got here. The way they're combined in the end is particularly brilliant.
As I usually do with Japanese fiction in translation, I'll note that if you're new to it you may find the prose stilted at first, give yourself some time to get comfortable.
This is the third Japanese "Honkaku" mystery I've been able to read this year, all released newly in the US in translation by Pushkin Vertigo. (The other two are by Seishi Yokomizo.) This one is my favorite of the genre so far, hitting all the beats you want, while balancing surprises with the tropes. It feels distinctly different and more modern than the mid-century ones, but still with a dedication to the form that goes beyond homage. (This title is from the mid-80's.)
At first I was skeptical. Yes fine all of our characters are in a Detective Fiction club and have taken on the names of their favorite authors as their nicknames, but they seemed to run together too much. I had only the most basic feel for who they were as the story started and I worried they would blend together. But I went with it and found that I knew all of them well enough to rank them as suspects, which is really all you need.
What is trickiest about this genre is the puzzle nature of it. Personally I don't love it when the reveal of the killer is one that was impossible for the reader to imagine on their own, though this is quite common because the setups are so intricate they're designed to be too wild to unravel. On the other hand, if it's too obvious what is really going on, you lose interest. This book balanced it just right for me. I had a hunch who the killer was but the book made me keep wondering if I was right and keep weighing other possible options. It turned out I was right about the killer (hooray!) and I'm fine being right as long as I'm constantly guessing, it's actually my best possible outcome. There were also still plenty of reveals I didn't foresee, and yet none of them felt so farfetched that I rolled my eyes at the book.
One thing I liked particularly about the book was the use of double plot. We have our characters trapped on an island getting picked off, but we also have a second set of characters on the mainland investigating another mystery. The second mystery is an older one but also set on the island and we know that it involves our characters, so we get to suspend the tension of the island's action while fleshing out the question of why this is all happening and how we got here. The way they're combined in the end is particularly brilliant.
As I usually do with Japanese fiction in translation, I'll note that if you're new to it you may find the prose stilted at first, give yourself some time to get comfortable.
March 15, 2022
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To satisfy my craving for thrillers (esp. Japanese), I bought some of the most impressive and popular titles from Pushkin Vertigo. "The Decagon House Murders" would be the second book I read out of the five titles in my TBR.
The book is considered a classic cult mystery, and I can see why. It's a locked-room mystery and pays homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None."
The bizarre book begins when the members of the mystery club of a university decide to stay on an uninhabited island. Around 20 years ago, Nakamura Seishi built a Blue mansion and Decagon House, which, as the name suggests, is shaped like a decagon.
But about a year ago, the Blue Mansion burned down, killing all the family members. However, the dead people were found to have sedatives, so they are believed to be murdered.
The members of the mystery club are excited to stay at the decagon house, uncover clues and discuss theories to determine what really happened.
The club members don't use their real names but refer to each other as Ellery, Carr, Leroux, Poe, Agatha, and Orczy. The names were derived from the American, British, and French mystery writers that the members looked up to.
However, things take a wild turn when the members of the mystery club get killed one by one, and the killer is just among them, hiding in plain sight.
With them secluded on an island completely cut off from the main land, they need to use their amateur sleuthing skills to figure out who the killer is before it's too late.
This is definitely an interesting and strange mystery that will keep you hooked. The characters are remarkable, the story is intriguing, and I loved reading about how things pan out.
The book actually has two storylines, one that takes place on the remote island while another takes place on the main land that eventually blends to disclose a big reveal.
If you're looking for an exciting thriller, then try this book!
To satisfy my craving for thrillers (esp. Japanese), I bought some of the most impressive and popular titles from Pushkin Vertigo. "The Decagon House Murders" would be the second book I read out of the five titles in my TBR.
The book is considered a classic cult mystery, and I can see why. It's a locked-room mystery and pays homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None."
The bizarre book begins when the members of the mystery club of a university decide to stay on an uninhabited island. Around 20 years ago, Nakamura Seishi built a Blue mansion and Decagon House, which, as the name suggests, is shaped like a decagon.
But about a year ago, the Blue Mansion burned down, killing all the family members. However, the dead people were found to have sedatives, so they are believed to be murdered.
The members of the mystery club are excited to stay at the decagon house, uncover clues and discuss theories to determine what really happened.
The club members don't use their real names but refer to each other as Ellery, Carr, Leroux, Poe, Agatha, and Orczy. The names were derived from the American, British, and French mystery writers that the members looked up to.
However, things take a wild turn when the members of the mystery club get killed one by one, and the killer is just among them, hiding in plain sight.
With them secluded on an island completely cut off from the main land, they need to use their amateur sleuthing skills to figure out who the killer is before it's too late.
This is definitely an interesting and strange mystery that will keep you hooked. The characters are remarkable, the story is intriguing, and I loved reading about how things pan out.
The book actually has two storylines, one that takes place on the remote island while another takes place on the main land that eventually blends to disclose a big reveal.
If you're looking for an exciting thriller, then try this book!
July 23, 2021
Author Yukito Ayatsuji takes Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and gives it several twists and slathers on the suspense. I never, ever guessed who the murderer was, and the ending is an incredible surprise. Highly recommended.
September 29, 2021
Seven members of a university mystery-fan club travel to a desolate island for a week to read, write, and explore the remains of a burned-down mansion where multiple murders were committed not long before. They’re staying in “Decagon House,” which is exactly that: a ten-sided structure that survived the earlier tragedy. But during their first night there, one of the group is killed, and the body left with a grisly reminder of what happened to the island’s ill-fated inhabitants. It will not be the last death during their stay.I zoomed breathlessly through this response to And Then There Were None.
Meanwhile, on the mainland, a former member of the mystery club receives a letter from the previous owner of the mansion — a dead man — accusing him, and every member of the club, of murder.
Okay, actually I found the first 50 pages or so, when the island students travel and get settled in, to be a bit dull, with too much verbal explication and a slightly stiff feel to the writing. But once I got to the first portion of the story that takes place on the mainland, I was completely hooked and hated putting the book down.
Because it’s 1986, pre-internet and pre-mobile phone, the island and mainland stories play out entirely separately. The students on the island cannot reach anyone else for help, nor can they escape. The mainland characters can only speak to each other via a telephone call that’s actually picked up in a residence, or in person.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters are pretty much cardboard cutouts, but the plot was fascinating, with the two main threads twisting together, and several side threads winding in and out. It was entertaining to keep track of them all and guess at which ones mattered and which ones might be red herrings.
The ending/reveal was much more satisfying than the Agatha Christie novel that inspired this book, and is appropriately poignant. I mourned the young people who were killed, and I also felt terribly sad for the murderer. If I remember nothing else about this mystery, I will remember how bereft I felt as I closed the covers the final time.
I’m giving this 5 stars because I was completely pulled into it and lived it in my head when I wasn’t reading. I recommend it for the complex puzzle and detail in the story and its answer to And Then There Were None, which I recommend reading or rereading before this book. I should probably knock a star off for a couple gimmicky touches , but I’m not going to, because at least everything in the story was creative and fit reasonably well into the mythology created around Decagon House. This story definitely deserves its status as a cult classic.
January 17, 2023
I thought I had this plot twist in the bag and then the reveal slapped me in the face.
Besides that everyone acted unusually calm for their friends being murdered and when someone did die it kinda just…. happened?? like no depth whatsoever in that aspect.
Besides that everyone acted unusually calm for their friends being murdered and when someone did die it kinda just…. happened?? like no depth whatsoever in that aspect.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2020
The Decagon House Murders pays homage to Agatha Christie's And then there were none, which is one of my fav books. This is a locked room (locked island?) mystery where seven students decide to spend a few days in the Decagon house. These students belong to the mystery group at the university and have nicknames based on famous mystery writers. There's Ellery, Agatha, Van, Leroux, Orczy, Carr and Poe. While they are away on the island, a former member of the mystery group, Kawaminami receives a mysterious letter that points out his connection to a former student Chiori, who died. Now the Decagon house has had a 'everyone-murdered' scenario before and coincidentally Chiori is related to the house (she is daughter of the owner). Now the students who are staying in the house start getting murdered, one by one, sometimes even hands being cut off from their bodies (eeerily similar to the old series of murders). So the three mysteries—the murders of the past, the student group getting murdered, Chiori's death—clash.
What I loved?
- the mystery
- the climax was nice! I guessed the motive of the murderer very early on. But I liked that even after that, the murderer was elusive to me
- I also liked how the mystery group tries to solve the murder of their friends. And how quickly everyone is dead (however bad that sounds)
Small hiccups
-I didn't love it as much as The Inugami curse, the earlier title released in the Pushkin Vertigo series. Mainly because The Inugami Curse was more dramatic and twist-filled while The Decagon House murders is more of a narration without added 'shocks' and 'emotions'. But I did really enjoy the book (PS: The narration style was not a problem for me and if you enjoy cozy mysteries, Agatha Christie mysteries, it would not affect your enjoyment of the book either) and if you love And then there were none, definitely give this a try.
- During the major part of the novel, the characters are called by their nicknames. But at the end when the mystery is resolved, the characters are suddenly addressed by their original names. I found this confusing and kept forgetting who was whom. I wish the original names were introduced earlier on, so that the reader had enough time to map the nicknames to the real names. This wasn't a big deal; because they were all dead anyway. But I woud've liked an earlier introduction.
Much thanks to Pushkin for an early e-copy. All opinions my own
What I loved?
- the mystery
- the climax was nice! I guessed the motive of the murderer very early on. But I liked that even after that, the murderer was elusive to me
- I also liked how the mystery group tries to solve the murder of their friends. And how quickly everyone is dead (however bad that sounds)
Small hiccups
-I didn't love it as much as The Inugami curse, the earlier title released in the Pushkin Vertigo series. Mainly because The Inugami Curse was more dramatic and twist-filled while The Decagon House murders is more of a narration without added 'shocks' and 'emotions'. But I did really enjoy the book (PS: The narration style was not a problem for me and if you enjoy cozy mysteries, Agatha Christie mysteries, it would not affect your enjoyment of the book either) and if you love And then there were none, definitely give this a try.
- During the major part of the novel, the characters are called by their nicknames. But at the end when the mystery is resolved, the characters are suddenly addressed by their original names. I found this confusing and kept forgetting who was whom. I wish the original names were introduced earlier on, so that the reader had enough time to map the nicknames to the real names. This wasn't a big deal; because they were all dead anyway. But I woud've liked an earlier introduction.
Much thanks to Pushkin for an early e-copy. All opinions my own
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