Reviews

Rating 3.75 stars rounded up.
This was my first time reading Iyamisu, a subgenre of mystery fiction which deals with grisly episodes and the dark side of human nature. I really enjoyed the writing, even if the style was very different compared to what I'm used to when I read thrillers (the author does a bit more "telling-rather-than-showing" in some chapters, especially those narrated by Ryosuke). Nevertheless, there is a strong element of suspence and the setting is quite vivid. The strongest parts of the book are the notebooks that Ryosuke finds, rather than his own storyline: of course, Misako is purposely written as a more engaging narrator than Ryosuke (to justify his morbid fascination with the notebooks), but I found that his character was just not as interesting as the others who surrounded him (even his brother Yuhei, with very little page-time, manages to shine more than the narrator).
I loved Misako and the way her character evolves across the length of the book :

I really appreciated the fact that she was not the usual static character that we find as a villain in a lot of thrillers. Since she's basically the protagonist of the story, the author is forced to develop her in more ways than one, and by the end of the book the reader finds themselves strangely attached to this deeply weird and flawed woman who just cannot be different from what she is. I also appreciated the way Ryo's dad's character was developed, especially how he filled the "only sane man" role in the novel, even if he was the first person Ryo suspected at the beginning.

From a purely "technical" point of view

the plot twist at the end is unfortunately too obvious to the reader, since after Misako stops writing the notebooks the attention abruptly shifts to Ryosuke's life and ms. Hosoya, who was a sidelined minor character until then, suddenly has a thousand interesting character traits. Moreover, Chie's entire character (she's not really a character to be completely honest) and her disappereance, which is the secondary mistery that is supposed to make Ryo's story interesting, is just a plot device to introduce the twist at the end and reveal Misako's identity. I didn't mind the "heartwarming" ending though, even if it is a bit in contrast with the tone of the book at the beginning

.
Overall, I really liked the emphasis on the psychology of the characters, which is what drives the novel forward in the end, even if I would've liked for the author

to give us a final glimpse of what's going on in Misako's head, but I understand why it was not possible.

elizivans's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

3.5

at first it wasn't really that impressive, i almost decided that i've mistaken what i thought book is about plus some depictions of self harm and cutting were vomit inducing, i hated reading it. but second part really gave me what i wanted! i cried so much i really didn't expect thriller would evoke such reaction from me, but it turned out to be all about poignant love and family, how could i not be touched? PLOT TWIST in the end took my breath away i didn't see it coming i had to take a break because of HOW surprised i was. overall this book has very well crafted plot which keeps you wondering and hit a lot of my personal buttons too. definitely going to check more women written japanese thrillers too bad there's not many of them translated.

pierreikonnikov's review against another edition

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4.0

A deep dark and dirty look into one family's sordid past that's very good fun to read. It isn't perfect- some of the events seem a bit arbitrary and a few characters are a bit flat, but the narrative is gripping and the narration is perfectly claustrophobic. Good fun.

debbshock's review against another edition

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3.0

This was good. A man finds some journals and thinks his father may be a serial killer.

shelves's review against another edition

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3.0

the most surprising thing about this book is that my key takeaway from it is that it's capable of such softness.

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