The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

3.83 AVERAGE

inspires_mez's profile picture

inspires_mez's review against another edition

4.5
mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
ninaprime's profile picture

ninaprime's review against another edition

4.0
mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
A clever Japanese mystery inspired by Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None.' The characters were slightly pretentious uni students in a mystery club, and their author-inspired nicknames confused me at first. Once I got into it, I thought the writing and twists were quite clever, especially with the chapters switching off between the mainland investigation and the incidents on the island. I found Shimada - a random stranger (and monk?) - investigating the case a bit weird and thought for most of the story that he had done it, but the reveal that
Morisu did it in revenge for the alcohol poisoning death of Chiori/his girlfriend by the club members
was poignant.
sam_rm94's profile picture

sam_rm94's review

3.75
challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

rye_bread07's review against another edition

4.0
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

kritlop's review against another edition

3.75
adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lindz524's review against another edition

4.0
I don’t know if it was the translation or the audio narrator or just the story, but this was so much better than Mill House.
cechdh's profile picture

cechdh's review against another edition

4.25
adventurous dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
je suis sans voix 
liaseth's profile picture

liaseth's review against another edition

A Japanese murder mystery pays homage to "And Then There Were None." Clearly translated (you can tell from the phrasing and some word choice) but it totally pulled me in. The setting was weird and the twists were well done. Glad I finally got to this one! IT's been a while since I read a satisfying mystery story like this.

wintermute47's review against another edition

3.0
This was an entertaining read, and the solution to the mystery did take me by surprise despite there being at least one obvious clue I really should have caught. Whether it's a purely stylistic decision by the author or a product of translation, the language feels very spare in a way that I think could have benefited from a bit more elaboration. It's fine to say that the characters in this genre aren't typically well-developed, but when some of the principle cast are so blandly characterized that it's hard to distinguish them I find it a bit alienating. There were also a few red herrings that I think could have been more strongly developed, which would have enhanced the ending reveal. Not bad, but out of context it's difficult to appreciate how this book revitalized the genre in Japan.

alex_in_bookland's review against another edition

3.0
3/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to the author, Pushkin Vertigo and NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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