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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
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
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Fun little whodunnit!
mysterious
reflective
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:
No
Decided that I love this genre and will actually finally start reading Agatha Christie. Twisty and turny and so so gripping (loses a star for the writing style tho)
Revenge is a dish best served thoughtfully.
If you like puzzles, you’ll definitely enjoy this read. It’s not your typical thriller, but it takes on many elements of classic mystery literature and pays homage to great mystery writers. This book follows two stories occurring simultaneously. On one side, we follow six college students from a murder mystery club who want to stay at a seemingly haunted house where a recent murder occurred. On the other hand, we follow others looking to delve into the past and discover the truth behind the horrors that plagued the Decagon House.
I personally really enjoyed this book. There are occasions when you can easily spot whodunit, yet the book continues at an improper pace with moments that fall flat. This is not like that. It reads like a challenge, a mystery begging to be solved. Even when you feel like you know who’s done it, it never stops turning your head, providing different suspects, and making you question everything you’re looking at. As we follow the college students to this house, we watch as they are slowly picked off one by one. Like them, we too are trying to piece together who could be behind this.
While the characters to some degree don’t actually have a lot of depth, you can tell they’re written similarly to an 80s thriller slasher. You know just enough about each character to hear their distinct voice and feel their absence. But they’re not the focus. This felt extremely deliberate, as the author and killer remind you that these six college students are not the story that matters most, but instead the story they choose to ignore: the death of a fellow classmate that they all played a part in.
This felt like the perfect early fall, end-of-summer kind of read. I’ll definitely be looking into reading more books by both the author and Pushkin Vertigo to find more works of this style and tone. I want to remind you that this is a translated work, so the tone and prose may come off more direct or succinct than flowery. But for me, it didn’t miss the mark.
If you like puzzles, you’ll definitely enjoy this read. It’s not your typical thriller, but it takes on many elements of classic mystery literature and pays homage to great mystery writers. This book follows two stories occurring simultaneously. On one side, we follow six college students from a murder mystery club who want to stay at a seemingly haunted house where a recent murder occurred. On the other hand, we follow others looking to delve into the past and discover the truth behind the horrors that plagued the Decagon House.
I personally really enjoyed this book. There are occasions when you can easily spot whodunit, yet the book continues at an improper pace with moments that fall flat. This is not like that. It reads like a challenge, a mystery begging to be solved. Even when you feel like you know who’s done it, it never stops turning your head, providing different suspects, and making you question everything you’re looking at. As we follow the college students to this house, we watch as they are slowly picked off one by one. Like them, we too are trying to piece together who could be behind this.
While the characters to some degree don’t actually have a lot of depth, you can tell they’re written similarly to an 80s thriller slasher. You know just enough about each character to hear their distinct voice and feel their absence. But they’re not the focus. This felt extremely deliberate, as the author and killer remind you that these six college students are not the story that matters most, but instead the story they choose to ignore: the death of a fellow classmate that they all played a part in.
This felt like the perfect early fall, end-of-summer kind of read. I’ll definitely be looking into reading more books by both the author and Pushkin Vertigo to find more works of this style and tone. I want to remind you that this is a translated work, so the tone and prose may come off more direct or succinct than flowery. But for me, it didn’t miss the mark.
Translations are always hard, because it won't have the same rhythm and flow as the original language. This is better than others, but there still is the feeling while you are reading it that it's not meant to be read in English. I don't think that detracts from the story, but adds a little bit of atmosphere into it.
As others have mentioned, this is a Japanese nod to [b:And Then There Were None|16299|And Then There Were None|Agatha Christie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391120695l/16299._SY75_.jpg|3038872]. It's a locked room mystery on an island off the coast. The island was the scene of some grisly murders several months earlier. Seven university students in a murder mystery club think they are staying there for a week to put their amateur detective skills to the test. Instead they themselves are the victims of an elaborate murder plan, dying one by one. There are also some alternating chapters with two other members of the club are drawn into the murder, along with a new friend they meet, as they also try to figure out the events of the first set of murders.
Given the limited number of characters, it is surprising that I still did not manage to figure out who the murderer is. I really thought the person would be one of the early victims. The shocking twist that everyone raves about isn't that the person is the murderer, but how the revelation that they are the murderer plays out. The next chapter basically goes over the entire book from their point of view, explaining everything. It's obvious once you get to that chapter, but the clues are very well hidden beforehand. Once they were revealed, I literally sat there with my mouth open for a minute. The book plays very well into the assumptions the author wants you to make, and I was fooled into making those assumptions.
As others have mentioned, this is a Japanese nod to [b:And Then There Were None|16299|And Then There Were None|Agatha Christie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391120695l/16299._SY75_.jpg|3038872]. It's a locked room mystery on an island off the coast. The island was the scene of some grisly murders several months earlier. Seven university students in a murder mystery club think they are staying there for a week to put their amateur detective skills to the test. Instead they themselves are the victims of an elaborate murder plan, dying one by one. There are also some alternating chapters with two other members of the club are drawn into the murder, along with a new friend they meet, as they also try to figure out the events of the first set of murders.
Given the limited number of characters, it is surprising that I still did not manage to figure out who the murderer is. I really thought the person would be one of the early victims. The shocking twist that everyone raves about isn't that the person is the murderer, but how the revelation that they are the murderer plays out. The next chapter basically goes over the entire book from their point of view, explaining everything. It's obvious once you get to that chapter, but the clues are very well hidden beforehand. Once they were revealed, I literally sat there with my mouth open for a minute. The book plays very well into the assumptions the author wants you to make, and I was fooled into making those assumptions.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
an interpretation of and there were none. i wish the writing style was more engaging, but i understand it’s been translated from japanese.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Amazingly clever and twisty. If you love a whodunit, please read this. Seriously, wonderful.