The Decagon House Murders: Yukito Ayatsuji (Pushkin Vertigo)

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A stunner of a plot, with an ending which I simply could not believe when it was first revealed... Rivals Soji Shimada's The Tokyo Zodiac Murders for sheer audacity and ingenuity" — At the Scene of the Crime This first volume of The Decagon House Murders was already quite intriguing and filled with suspense. Although there are several characters, I felt each of them was given fair attention. While there were a couple individuals I enjoyed more than the others, I was able to connect on some level with all of them. There was also a lot of great dialogue between characters, establishing the nuances of various relationships within the Mystery Club. ⁣

This celebration of traditional whodunits plays with the mystery genre in a wonderfully self-referential way... With each new murder, the remaining members of the group must use their knowledge of the genre to find the killer and try to stay alive

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Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. November 22, 2019. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021 . Retrieved July 29, 2021. However, things take a wild turn when the members of the mystery club get killed one by one, and the killer is just among them, hiding in plain sight.

It was not the plot that was vital, but the framework. A framework where it was always possible to make the best choice, depending on the circumstances at the time. The novel might have worked better if it had focused solely on the puzzle, and treated the characters just as role-playing cogs in the story's machinery. Tal vez por su brevedad, en este primer tomo ya se presentan tantos personajes y datos que puede ser un poco saturante, me parece una obra que se debe leer despacio y analizando todo lo que los protagonistas puedan decir. Además, su capítulo final deja con muchas ganas de continuar leyendo y resolver los misterios que envuelven a nuestros personajes. Ayatsuji’s brilliant and richly atmospheric puzzle will appeal to fans of golden age whodunits… Every word counts, leading up to a jaw-dropping but logical reveal “— Publishers WeeklyThe exposition is integral to the plot, but the fact that it's through her is very annoying she is clumsily handled and just has zero real personality, everyone on the island is so much more interesting than her, the POV shifts can kind of kill your interest in the story and momentum you have going while reading. I know it's to space out the buildup and pay off, but it just doesn't work. The story starts intriguingly. Seven students (five boys and two girls) of K-university arrive to an island not that far from the main land for a week to get some inspiration or write their own stories of mystery. They are all members of the Mystery Club at their university, and the island to which they arrive is the place where horrific deaths of the owner of the house Nakamura Seiji, his wife and their two servants happened some time previously. In the centre of the island is the eerie Decagon House, which is described as “ the decagonal trap” [1987/2015: 16] unbeknown to the students. The seven students also do not know that there is someone who wants to harm them and what awaits them on the island is the very thing that they are so excited about when they read and write their murder mysteries. Meanwhile, events also happen on the main land and the acquaintance of the seven students on the island – one Kawaminami Taka’aki receives a scary letter accusing him and other students of the death of another young female student who died from alcohol poisoning some time before. Kawaminami starts investigating and the connection with the isolated island events is revealed. Clodhopping prose and clunky exposition don't succeed in spoiling the pleasure of trying to guess the identity of the culprit, or the highly ingenious solution." - Laura Wilson, The Guardian

Overall, I had enjoyed this manga very much and I can't wait for it to be released! The premise of the story is very similar to the novel and I love the art style in this book. The lines are defined and the the mangaka had portrayed and kept the level of suspense at bay. But about a year ago, the Blue Mansion burned down, killing all the family members. However, the dead people were found to have sedatives, so they are believed to be murdered. The end twist, however, was probably one of the best I have read! I am mad not to have loved everything that led up to it in quite the same way, as the conclusion, with its grand reveal, was utterly ingenious and highly original. I would recommend this book to any thriller reader and classic crime lover, just so they get to experience Ayatsuji's clever dupe for themselves. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. August 24, 2019. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021 . Retrieved July 29, 2021. The time focused on her and their shenanigans is pretty boring, she's a boring Mary Sue and her clueless demeanor and comedic relief makes me think she's more or less there for the reader to insert into and live through as she watches all of this unfold around her while desperately (and failing) to piece this entire mystery together.

The Decagon House Murders is a weird read, and you should believe Shimada Soji when he tells you the writing is clunky and the char­ac­ters vacant. But the book presents a fasci­nating puzzle, and the solution is electrifying, in large part because it relies entirely upon the book-ness of this book. No movie adap­ta­tion is possible. I'll say nomore. As the students approach Tsunojima in a hired fishing boat, ‘the sunlight shining down turned the rippling waves to silver. The island lay ahead of them, wrapped in a misty veil of dust,’ its sheer, dark cliffs rising straight out of the sea, accessible by one small inlet. There is no electricity on the island, and no telephones, either. Instead, they find themselves living out a Christie-like murder mystery -- with no possibility of escape. I'm not saying I don't like this book, I think the murder mystery is outstanding for a newbie author, my only complaints being: (1) part of the story telling seems a bit forced, (2) instead of coming up with his own style, the author borrowed a bit too heavily from the classical murder mysteries and used a bit too much of the same-old, same-old elements within those mysteries. A stunner of a plot, with an ending which I simply could not believe when it was first revealed… Rivals Soji Shimada’s The Tokyo Zodiac Murders for sheer audacity and ingenuity” — At the Scene of the Crime