A review by ameliareadsstuff
Goth by Otsuichi

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

oth is a great read, but not one I'd recommend to those with a slight disposition. These are some nasty, brutal stories, without even the handhold of "good" protagonists to help steady the reader. The book also has an episodic quality, each individual chapter being a short story that was originally written and published separately. There is a definite progression—Goth would lose something if you read its chapters out of order—but it does mean each story is relatively self-contained, and certain details do unfortunately get reiterated needlessly every forty or so pages. 

Otsuichi calls out his love of Japanese mystery novels in the afterword, and I can definitely feel that influence here. It adds an extra texture to these stories beyond horror and thrills. Of note is how he creates some clever twists by cutting between different first-person narrators without any indication of whose perspective we're now in. 

I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of Otsuichi's horror work in the future.