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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
I tried to solve this, but was unsuccessful. I enjoyed this while reading it but some parts were slow and I don't think it will be memorable.
the central mystery is neat, but i thought the writing itself was a little clunky and i didn't feel any particular attachment to the characters.
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This feels like a love letter(book?) to And Then There We’re None and dark academia. It’s one of those books I knew I would love and didn’t want to burn through but also wanted to devour. It’s got that Clue and Knives Out vibe where once you figure out who it is, you want to go back and revisit to see if it all adds up.
I will say I wish the characters had more depth / personality to them but I gave 5 because I didn’t want to put it down.
I will say I wish the characters had more depth / personality to them but I gave 5 because I didn’t want to put it down.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4/5 stars.
I'm still reeling about that ending because oh my gosh. Even though I wish the characters had been developed more, the mystery and setting were very developed and incredibly captivating from start to finish.
I'm still reeling about that ending because oh my gosh. Even though I wish the characters had been developed more, the mystery and setting were very developed and incredibly captivating from start to finish.
I had initially rated this book 2 stars, but decided to downgrade to 1 after further thought. Note, this review is based on the unabridged audiobook read by P.J. Ochlan.
The closest I can come to saying something positive about this book is that I cannot tell if the writing was just terrible or if it suffered from a bad translation (though I suspect that the answer is both). I get that the author was paying homage to a genre; however, all he managed to do was produce a turgid and highly derivative mishmash of the most cliched bits of the crime novel highlight reel. The story opens with a Roger Ackroyd-esque framing of the tale to follow and frankly, I probably should have stopped reading right there and then. It takes a skillful author to present the unreliable narrative without making their audience feel as though they were cheated. By the end, I was left with a variation on the Sherlock Holmes notion, namely, once you rule out the impossible, whatever remains however improbable or extremely stupid, has to be the solution. As it turns out, the device of having all the characters use nicknames based on English and American mystery writers/characters mainly serves to obscure the identify of the killer. There are several obvious facts that the characters should know, but conveniently don't. Ridiculous? Yes, but the characters were all flat to the point where I didn't actually care what was happening to them. We are also told when the book is set though there is nothing that culturally places this book in any era save the absence of things like GPS or mobile phones. You barely feel as though the book takes place in Japan and while I'm not saying that the author needed to lean into social commentary, the utter absence of anything that provided context to the book made the whole experience feel really generic. The revenge motive is ridiculous. The police are incompetent to a whole new level, but also can display god-like powers when deciphering the precise times/causes of deaths from charred remains. The last hour of the audiobook is a detailed explanation of how it was done when frankly, once you know the overarching who and how (which could summed up in a single sentence), the details are irrelevant and boring. In the end, the resolution left me completely unsatisfied.
Finally, I can't even recommend the audiobook because the reader's voices and intonations are all just bizarre. Good luck figuring out who among the barely distinguishable characters are speaking at any given point.
The closest I can come to saying something positive about this book is that I cannot tell if the writing was just terrible or if it suffered from a bad translation (though I suspect that the answer is both). I get that the author was paying homage to a genre; however, all he managed to do was produce a turgid and highly derivative mishmash of the most cliched bits of the crime novel highlight reel. The story opens with a Roger Ackroyd-esque framing of the tale to follow and frankly, I probably should have stopped reading right there and then. It takes a skillful author to present the unreliable narrative without making their audience feel as though they were cheated. By the end, I was left with a variation on the Sherlock Holmes notion, namely, once you rule out the impossible, whatever remains however improbable or extremely stupid, has to be the solution. As it turns out, the device of having all the characters use nicknames based on English and American mystery writers/characters mainly serves to obscure the identify of the killer. There are several obvious facts that the characters should know, but conveniently don't. Ridiculous? Yes, but the characters were all flat to the point where I didn't actually care what was happening to them. We are also told when the book is set though there is nothing that culturally places this book in any era save the absence of things like GPS or mobile phones. You barely feel as though the book takes place in Japan and while I'm not saying that the author needed to lean into social commentary, the utter absence of anything that provided context to the book made the whole experience feel really generic. The revenge motive is ridiculous. The police are incompetent to a whole new level, but also can display god-like powers when deciphering the precise times/causes of deaths from charred remains. The last hour of the audiobook is a detailed explanation of how it was done when frankly, once you know the overarching who and how (which could summed up in a single sentence), the details are irrelevant and boring. In the end, the resolution left me completely unsatisfied.
Finally, I can't even recommend the audiobook because the reader's voices and intonations are all just bizarre. Good luck figuring out who among the barely distinguishable characters are speaking at any given point.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Wow the reveal for the murderer was incredibly well done! Even though I had my suspicions it definitely took me for surprise. My suspicions were nowhere near what actually happened tho and I definitely didn’t think that Morisu and Van were the same person. It’s wild how the set up of the nicknames in the very beginning led to this reveal. So simple but still impactful.
Also, I guess the thing that Leroux remembered after remembering Chiori was Seiji’s daughter was the rope that Morisu left on the rock?
Also I can’t believe the whole plot line about Chiori’s real father being Ko explaining why Seiji killed his wife and then himself.
Also, I guess the thing that Leroux remembered after remembering Chiori was Seiji’s daughter was the rope that Morisu left on the rock?
Also I can’t believe the whole plot line about Chiori’s real father being Ko explaining why Seiji killed his wife and then himself.