Published: October 2022
Pages: 232
Translated by: Jim Rion
Standalone
Summary
A pregnant woman’s sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning.
A child’s picture of his home contains a dark secret message.
A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbithole that will reveal a horrifying reality.
Structured around these nine childlike drawings, each holding a disturbing clue, Uketsu invites readers to piece together the mystery behind each and the over-arching backstory that connects them all
My thoughts
This is a book that I’ve seen get a lot of negative posts online, but reading this one, I really enjoyed it. It’s such a simple concept but I feel it was written very well. Weaving these different stories together, not quite sure which ones come together, which ones don’t. It was so fun going through this and trying to figure it out.
It’s quite a short book but I really struggled to put it down. Especially with the addition of pictures it really helped add a different interactive quality to this book. I also found out that the front cover glows in the dark which totally fits with mysteriousness of this book! A lot of thought has been put into that.
When faced with true sorrow, people lose even the strength to shed tears.
Coming away from this book I had two feelings – enjoyment and sadness. This is a very sad book. When the pieces of the puzzle came together near the end I was overwhelmingly sad. Mixed with the enjoyment I had reading this, forming my own thoughts and analysing all the pictures. I spent so much time thinking and noodling away it was fun and I was sad for it to be over.
The storylines are rather unique, at first I couldn’t see how these came together. At times my heart was pounding with fear, or I was incredibly sad, or very hopeful. The writing is strong to be able to make the reader feel so strongly and so convincingly. Maybe I am just really naïve but I’ve also read so many crime books and thrillers that I am usually very good at seeing the outcome. It was good to open this and have some surprises!
There’s fun to be had, even living alone.
The other aspect of this was the psychology behind these stories. The crimes that happen, the people/person that do them. The writer takes time to portray the emotional mind behind these situations. What the people/person is going through and what they’re thinking. It gives us different perspectives, not just seeing the outside whilst trying to be an at-home detective but also the perspective of the other side of the one/s doing the crime. I also deliberately say people/person so I give away no spoilers at all!
Would I recommend?
Yes – this was so much fun. A quick but engaging and enjoyable read where you can put on your Sherlock hat, pick up your magnifying glass and get snoopin’! It has some heavy material and if you’re a big empath like me, it can be very sad. I absolutely recommend!
and once again im adding to my never ending want to read list
Yay! The added mystery is that no one knows who this author is. They are completely anonymous.. I wonder who it is!