NetGalley Review - The Decagon House Murders

I’m not sure, at the time of writing this, if this is going to be a post for one eProof I got from publishers via NetGalley or two. So, excuse me while I ramble and I can figure out. 

Let’s start with this Japanese crime classic, shall we? 

Title and Author: The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji (Translated by Ho-Ling Wong)
Publisher: Pushkin Veritago

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof gifted by UK publisher in exchange for honest review/reaction, though listened to audiobook via Audible Plus

Buy From (Affiliate): https://uk.bookshop.org

In this Japanese cult classic (a loving nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None), the island of Tsunojima is the setting for strange, unsolved murders. So when a group of students from K-University Mystery Club go there for their annual trip, they think it will be great inspiration for the crime fiction magazine.

But when one of their member is murdered, the others realise that they are trapped on the island with no way to escape or call for help. And the murderer has made it clear to them that all of them won’t survive by the end of the trap. 

At the same time, back on the main land, poison pen letters have been sent, accusing the receivers of the tragic death of a young woman who died of alcohol poisoning. But how is that connected to the terror that’s unfolding on the island?

I’m going to admit this: I did find this quite clinical, but I can’t tell if it was because of the writing, the translation or the audiobook narrator. But it took a while time for me to warm to the story and, even then, I felt like I was being kept at arm’s length. I was being told what was happening and I never felt a connection of what these characters are going on. 

Because of this, this suffered a little from show and tell. I kept feeling as if I was being told these things were happening or the characters were feeling this way, but I was never shown. I was told these characters were scared, but I never felt I was shown, if that makes sense. Plus, the one or two occasions I was shown, I felt I was kept at a slight distance. 

Maybe I felt this way because I keep comparing it to Agatha Christie and other Golden Crime novels (something this book does often) and, because this book was self-aware, I couldn’t let this stand up on its own two feet and, by the time it did (15 to 20% towards the end), most people would stop caring about the perils these characters are going through. 

But the reveal and the solution were interesting and how everything was explain was clever. This makes me want to read the author’s other titles, The Mill House Murders and The Labyrinth House Murders (both are locked room mysteries). But I don’t think it’s a crime novel that will stick with me, sadly… 

This feels like a good place to stop so am going to make this one post and the other NetGalley proof I read will be up later in the week!