A review by massivepizzacrust
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

First the good: I really enjoyed the writing style once I got into it. The dual timeline was a nice break from the tension on the island, and provided good exposition. I'm also a sucker for someone telling the whole story at the end, though I would have preferred it from one of the detectives. Now the rest: I knew this was a closed room mystery going into it but unfortunately it's modeled after my least favorite Christie. I just don't really enjoy this amount of people dying in such quick sequence without any progress being made on solving the mystery. On top of that, I guessed who the murdered was as soon as everyone was on the island and I never really wavered from that decision, I even guessed the motive. There was still an interesting twist in the end but a lot of the characters on the island made pretty stupid decisions.

How many people have to die from poisoning before you stop smoking other people's cigarettes and drinking the drinks they make you? And none of the characters ever realized that as a relative of the island's owner, Van had the opportunity to come to the island early and set up any supplies he wanted? The only surprise for me was that it was Morisu going back and forth, that was a pretty neat alibi trick. But risky since any of the students could have told someone before the trip that Morisu was joining them.