Reviews - The Decagon House Murders

2.36k reviews for:

The Decagon House Murders

Yukito Ayatsuji

3.84 AVERAGE

bps's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

itsmedot's review against another edition

3.0

mysterious fast-paced

vhanabi's review against another edition

3.25

dark mysterious sad tense

Overall an intriguing book. Love the aliases as a nod to notable figures. Like a lot of reviewers say, the characterization and dialogue feels rather flat and stilted. But whether this is due to translation, I can't be sure.
I'd like to say I found the plot predictable, but I'm rather smooth-brained so I didn't connect the dots until the criminal was actually revealed haha!

vanya_vatsal's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

As a homage to And Then There Were None, this was quite good. Most of the cast has an English nick name inspired by an American or European mystery author so the name of the characters are easy to remember - something which I struggle with generally in Japanese novels.

The mystery was taut once it got going at around 20%. I thought I had guessed it all, but I hadn’t at all, not even close! Also at the end of that one chapter after which the answers get revealed, there’s this one single line of dialogue which chilled me to my core. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know which one I mean.

Anyhow, I understand that because this was written in the 80s and also that it’s translated from Japanese, the writing was stilted. It’s common for Japanese translations to have kind of a stiff writing which makes it a bit of a difficult task to make it through the initial few pages but the payoff here is totally worth it.

One thing I hated here and might have led me to give this 4.5 stars is that the women seem to exist only for one reason - to cook, clean or make coffee. The men will look but not bother to help even a little bit. Although I do recognise the existence of sexism in Japan and how it’s woven in their culture and traditions, it was quite off putting.

lifepluspreston's review against another edition

4.0

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji--Renowned for basically reviving the murder mystery genre in Japan, this book is simultaneously a love letter to the golden age of detective novels and a bold step forward. The story focuses on a murder mystery fan club that chooses to spend a weekend at the site of a notorious murder. It's written well, jumping between the travails of the mystery club and the events of the original investigation. I really appreciated the ending, as multiple genre tropes are turned on their head. Thumbs up.