vanillabbt 's review for:

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

3.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

When a close friend of mine recommended this Japanese murder mystery book to me, I knew that it would be a doozy. There's just something fun about mystery novels, and the fact that the victims of The Decagon House Murders all held codenames after the greatest mystery writers of all time was a fun detail. Despite the fact that the version I read was directly translated from Japanese, the story was not overly simplified and still held its essence in English. I will be honest — the format of this book was rather odd and I didn't really like how there wasn't an introduction to both perspectives at the start. It was rather confusing to try and figure out who was who and the dynamics of their relationships. However, as time progressed and the plot gets more exciting, I understood the need for two perspectives. Can I also just say that this mystery was absolutely diabolical? 😱 I definitely did not guess the right person at all and I was super shocked when everything was revealed at the end. The reasoning behind this character's motive was a little weak in terms of plot, but it still works nonetheless. I would definitely recommend reading this during the day if you're squeamish! 😅