A PAGE TURNING JAPANESE MURDER MYSTERY

Inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, this Japanese cult classic tells the story of a group of seven university students who travel to a deserted island that was the scene of a grisly mass murder six months earlier, where events soon turn ominous...

I read quite a lot Japanese thrillers when I was in high school, but this book has to be one of the best!! It kept me guessing from the very beginning...and the ending was just WOW!! It’s such a clever book!!! The answer was right there at the very beginning!!!
Plus, though it’s translated from Japanese, the writing was very smooth and I didn’t have any confused moment that I sometimes get when I read a translated book.
I just love everything about this book!

I highly recommend all thriller lovers to read this Japanese classic!

Yukito Ayatsuji's novel is a delightful throwback to the golden age of detective fiction.
A group of college students obsessed with murder mysteries and a loose cannon among them determined to give himself the ultimate thrill of his life by simply and coldly bumping them off one after the other.....
A fiendishly and cleverly written locked-room mystery that kept me guessing on the edge of my seat until the last page & a wonderful nod and wink to the undoubted queen of the classic old school whodunit, Agatha Christie. To be enjoyed without moderation!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the opportunity to read this wonderful novel prior to it's new release

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Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for allowing me to read this ARC!


Content Warning: graphic violence, arson, brief reference to sexual assault/rape, casual misogyny.


In a seaside city in Japan, seven university students write stories for their murder mystery club. By luck and a stroke of opportunity, they get the chance to go to the island of Tsunojima, the site of a particularly brutal multiple murder the year before. What they don't know is that soon, they'll be caught up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse where nothing is as it seems.

I was so thrilled when I saw this on NetGalley. I've been wanting to read this classic Japanese mystery for ages, but was unable to find it anywhere for purchase or in English translation. Ayatsuji's novel is considered a staple of the genre in its home country, and after reading it, it's clear why. The writing style is characteristically Japanese - very dry and pared down - but even if you're someone who prefers more descriptive or poetic writing, it doesn't draw away from the fascinating story taking place.

The inspiration drawn from Agatha Christie is well-done, and especially fun if you've read And Then There Were None. Ayatsuji's writing style is actually quite similar to Christie's as well. What really shines here is the entertaining deductions made by the characters, leading you back and forth as you make an attempt to decipher who is really pulling the strings. The tension is palpable, and despite the fact that it was written in the late 1980s, it doesn't feel dated.

There was, however, some period typical sexism. The two female members of the group, nicknamed Orczy and Agatha (for obvious reasons), are the only two characters who give in to "hysteria," which honestly made me laugh a bit. A lot of attention is also put on their looks, which I felt takes away from the fact that they're actually both interesting people in their own right.

All seven of the members are not exactly likable, which makes it all the more fun to watch as they slowly begin to unravel. The plotting is superb, leaving me never quite sure what was going on or who to trust. As someone who reads a lot of mysteries and thrillers, I was caught in surprise by the end and can certainly say I did not see it coming!

Highly recommended for fans of mysteries, especially those (like me) who love international ones!

THIS REVIEW DOES NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS

Wow.

What a book! After reading this, I am going to look further into this genre as I absolutely loved this book.

The book, set in 1987 when it was originally written in Japanese is about a group of students who have formed a "murder group" where they try and crack unsolved murders. The murder they are trying to solve at the moment is that of an architect who took his wife to live on an isolated island in Japan. The believed story is that both the man and his wife, and their live in maid/butler were killed by the gardener who then burnt their residence down.
The group of students, from a local uni decide to visit the island where this happened and stay in Decagon House, a house where nearly everything is decagonally shaped.

On the mainland, there is a current member of the group who was unable to travel with the group. There is also an ex member, who has left the group.

On the island and the mainland, both are trying to crack the case as to what happened in the murders. However, on the island, one by one, the members of the group end up murdered...

So, what is going on?? Is the murderer one of the group on the island? Is it someone else on the island? Could it be that one of the parties that had been murdered originally is actually still alive?

This has to be one of the best written murder mystery books I have ever read. The book progresses in an almost humdrum way and them bam! Out of the blue, someone dies.

The resolution is the most logical but startling thing when it is described to you as the book reaches the end. I was kicking myself that I hadn't figured it out and you will be doing the same but there is literally no way I could have seen it coming.

This book stands out with a brilliant killer reveal. The mystery part is great. We’re given new details as the story progresses. These details made me suspect almost all the characters, at any given time, including the actual murderer…in a matter of speaking.

The Beginning
As always, I jumped into the book because something caught my interest, without any research. I knew the story takes place in Japan, but I had no idea it is set in the 80s. The beginning felt a bit odd because of that.

While I enjoyed the prologue (to all the prologue-haters out there, check this one out because it’s a good one), my interest dropped a bit after that, until later it caught me again. I couldn’t connect with the characters in the beginning. The writing style was quite different than what I’m used to, making it that much harder.

The Story in a Nutshell
The story revolves around two mysteries. First in chronological order, is a still-unsolved quadruple murder that took place on an island six months before the events of the book.
Second, the systematic killing of a group of students vacationing on the same island. This group of students, all part of the same mystery club, found the idea of visiting the site of those gruesome murders appealing, as many people would. When the killing starts, they’re unable to leave the island or call for help (it was the 1980s, after all); their only option was to stay and try to figure out what happened. They couldn’t. Suspicion fell on everyone, even the dead.

The Characters
Except for a few random details about the characters, they seem to be there only to serve a purpose. This is not a character-driven book. Personally, I don’t have a problem with that. The mystery part was interesting enough to keep the reader hooked.
This said, the various characters seemed to blend into each other in the beginning. As I was reading, I couldn’t tell who was saying something because… well, they all talked the same and did the same things. Further along, the mystery club members started to take shape a bit. We had the detective who thought he was smarter than everyone (he wasn’t, considering he missed the pink elephant staring him in the face). We had the medicine student, who seemed to want to bring peace. We had the sick guy. The depressed young woman.

The Killer Reveal
This is the main reason why The Decagon House Murders gets 4 stars. It’s not often that a killer reveal surprises me like this. It happens even more rarely to look back at the story and think, How did I not see it coming? After I found out the identity of the killer (brilliantly revealed through a single line of dialogue), I looked back and it made perfect sense, especially after the author explains exactly what happens and how he was able to pull it off.

Big Pluses 
The identity of the killer and the two mysteries are definitely where this book excels. But this is exactly why we read mysteries, isn’t it?

Minuses
A few things irritated me as I was reading, but most of all the smoking. Every character smoked, in hiding if not in public. Every scene has one or more mentions of cigarettes or smoking—it seems that the mystery club did only two things, talk, and smoke. For a non-smoker, this is just… very annoying. People do other things than smoke.

Then it was the expositional style. In certain areas, it reads more like a news report rather than a novel. Even the characters talk in the same way.

Who Would Enjoy Reading The Decagon House Murders?
People who love a good locked-room mystery. Fans of the genre.

The Decagon House Murders is a Japanese murder mystery book that follows 7 college students as they embark to a deserted island where a horrific multiple homicide has taken place 6 months prior. The students are each mailed letters that are signed by one of those victims, though they aren’t aware of it until it’s possibly too late.
Then the murders start. The students are picked off one by one, which naturally leads to a high level of distrust within the group. Will the group be able to follow the breadcrumbs to solve this mystery on time or will they fall to the same fate as the previous inhabitants?

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The characters can be a little flat, but honestly the story isn’t really so much about them as it is getting to the bottom of what exactly is happening. There are several twists that I didn’t see coming, though the clues were placed throughout. It’s 3.5-4 stars for me. The Decagon House Murders would make a pretty fun summer poolside read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I devoured this book in a day. An old school mystery full of red herrings that kept me guessing till the end. The ending was a massive AHA moment for me! A book where truly everyone is a suspect and no one can be trusted!

I began the book with trepidation as I couldn't get my head round the various characters; following the prologue, I also decided to try and figure out who's tone of voice that was in, which I wouldn't recommend as it's not helpful! My first thoughts after finishing the book is that I love Japanese crime fiction; 'The Decagon House Murders' is packed with mystery and you're left right until the end to find out the answer to all of the questions that have built throughout.

What I particularly enjoyed about 'The Decagon House Murders' is that it paid homage to 'And Then There Were None', a novel which I have read and loved. However, Yukito Ayatsuji brought a contemporary feel to this puzzle within a puzzle narrative. His plot line is clever, whilst laying clues for the reader as you continue to read on and begin to stitch this together.

'The Decagon House Murders' is witty, detailed, full of mystery, brilliant narrative and I my mouth was open with shock when it came to the end. Highly recommend and thank Pushkin Press and Netgalley for letting me read the e-ARC version! I'll be reading moreJapanese mysteries for sure!

What a page turner! The Decagon House Murders was set in Japan in the 80s when cell phones haven't been invented yet, so there was no way to get help from the outside world when a group of mystery club went to an isolated island where a massacre had occurred 6 months prior. The translation was a bit odd at times, but overall, it really captured the essences of Japanese culture and of that era (so much smoking!). The plot was intricate and well-paced. Would definitely love to read more of Yukito Ayatsuji's novels!

I was so excited to be offered a copy of this translation that I read it practically immediately. I think this book is marketed perfectly, it was such a satisfying mystery that won't leave my mind any time soon. The cover is awesome and intriguing, and I will be recommending this to fans of mystery/thrillers and translated fiction for years and years.

Seven college students, all members of their school’s Mystery Club, travel to an uninhabited island for a getaway despite it being the site of an unsolved multiple homicide. Things take a turn when mysterious letters signed by one of the murder victims begin arriving, both to the students already on the island and to two former Mystery Club members still on the mainland.

And then then murders start. As everyone begins to turn on each other, it seems as though there’s no way that the dwindling survivors will be able to stop the murderer and get off the island.

I haven’t read much in the way of translated fiction. There’s always the worry that something will be lost in translation, you know? That isn’t the case here. Translator Ho-Ling Wong maintains the Japanese origins of this book and the descriptive prose of Ayatsuji while adjusting parts of the text so that jokes land and ideas flow. I throughly enjoyed this book: the clues sprinkled through kept me guessing, the twists and turns kept me surprised, and when I thought I knew what was happening I would turn the page and realize I had no idea. Y’all, the reveal made my jaw drop. I wanted to read it again once I knew so I could pick up the clues! I think will read more of the hokaku subgenre of mystery, because the puzzle pieces is this were so fun to put together and it kept me stumped right up until the end.

I hope every mystery lover and fans of Golden Age Mystery put this book on their radar. I am so excited to read it! This is a Japanese classic finally translated to English! If loving puzzles and knowing Yukito Ayatsuji plays by the same rules as Agatha Christie, Sayer and Carr isn’t enough, I hope the synopsis will!

Ahhh to be young and ambitious... university students who formed a mystery club decide to go to this island. Why you ask? Well, that island happens to be the sight of a gruesome and still unsolved murder spree that happened the previous year. Of course, the uni students feel they can do better than the police and set off on a mission to solve that murder! If you think that it will not be easy and that they will start to be murdered one by one, you’re right. But the publishers promise this is the last thing you will guess correctly! The Decagon House Murders is described as “clever enough that you’re unlikely to guess, but simple enough that you’ll kick yourself when it’s revealed”.

Technically, I cannot fault this book. The atmosphere and ambience were amazing, and it represents not only Japanese culture, but the year in which it was written, 1987. I appreciate how Yukito stayed true to his plot. The execution was superb. All the characters were developed well and stayed true to themselves. I felt as though they leaped from the page and I was on that island with them. Ayatsuji played extremely fair, and I can promise (without spoiling the book) the solution relies only on what is on the pages.

I am so thankful for having read this book because I have just instantly become obsessed with shin honkaku and Japanese Mystery/thrillers! This book is quite literally unputdownable, the characters are annoyingly vivacious, the puzzle is hard but within reach and the pace and narrative are superb! I do not speak Japanese, but I have to say that I feel as though Ho-Ling Wong did an amazing job translating this book. I have read many translated books, and The Decagon House Murders read complete and as if nothing was lost in translation.

My only complaint is that it will not be published until May 25. I think that Pushkin Vertigo should release at least one book every May 2 from now on. I would love to make getting a new shin honkaku book part of my birthday tradition!

p.s. now I want a decagon shaped house on an isolated island!

#TheDecagonHouseMurders #NetGalley
Thank you, Pushkin Vertigo, NetGalley and Yukito Ayatsuji for an advanced copy of The Decagon House Murders in exchange for an honest review.

The members of a university mystery club decide to visit an island which was the site of a grisly, unsolved multiple murder the year before. They're looking forward to investigating the crime, putting their passion for solving mysteries to practical use, but before long there is a fresh murder, and soon the club-members realise they are being picked off one-by-one. The remaining amateur sleuths will have to use all of their murder-mystery expertise to find the killer before they end up dead too. What an enjoyable and fun read! This was impeccably translated and nothing was lost. If you are a fan of Agatha Christie and/or locked room mysteries you will love this story. I highly recommend googling for a copy of the map in the book. It's a necessary part of the storytelling and helps to explain the end. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

Dripping with delicious atmosphere, this suspenseful book is a feast for the little grey cells! As I've read hundreds upon hundreds of Golden Age mysteries, this one drew me in, hook, line and sinker. The twists and turns kept coming from the moment the characters stepped onto an isolated island until the fabulous ending. The premise is reminiscent of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None yet completely different. It was written in Japanese and translated into English.

With names such as Poe, Ellery and Leroux, the core members of a mystery club quite willingly decide to stay on an isolated island for a week. A week on an island can zip by quickly but when you're on an island where a cold case quadruple murder mystery is niggling your subconscious and weird things begin happening in the present, including murder, a week can be intense and insurmountably long. Maps in mystery books are always fun, including those in this book. To me it's details like that which elevate a good book to a great book! The descriptions are awesome and there is a plethora of red herrings.

When reading this I was practically looking behind my back for something or someone sinister. The author wrote in tension beautifully and crafted his characters marvelously. If you are hankering after a superb mystery reminiscent of the Golden Age, do read this. It would be a shame to miss.

My sincere thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading the e-ARC of this refreshing, enticing and engaging book. I absolutely adored it! Now am on the hunt for other books written by this author.

I thought this was a good rendition of the old 'And Then There Were None' trope. I would recommend it to people who enjoy these types of mysteries, where characters are killed off, one by one, and suspicion looms on them all at one point or another.

Personally, I felt that the characters weren't developed enough for me to keep track of most things regarding them. It felt very much like there was a lot of telling instead of showing. The twist and ending were great. I was engaged enough to finish the book, but not enough to get invested in the story as much as I'd have hoped.

Exactly how I like my crime stories!

That was a real page turner and I enjoyed every bit of it! If you are a fan of classic Agatha Christie, this is definitely for you. Set on an island and on the mainland, two story lines running parallel, with just the right amount of back and forth. It rarely happens that I need to read more than 90% of the book to find out what the heck is going on.

I am grateful for Pushkin Press and NetGalley for an Advance Reading Copy.

This book got me completely hooked up! I’m not really into detective literature, however I could not stop reading it. And I constantly kept built-up different theories, got one of them right! Interesting characters, mystery, confusion, false leads, very well explained details (which in my opinion is extremely important in this genre). Just a small warning... This book includes dismemberment of human bodies.

It feels like author has been inspired by Agatha Christie story “And then there were none”, but I might be wrong. Group of six students arrive on the inhabitant island where terrible murder happened a year ago. They are all members of Literary Mystery club and are here to write some new story pieces. They stay at the Decagon house, which has ten walls, ten rooms, ten angle tableware. It all feels odd. The murders start to happen. And remaining students have to either solve this mystery or be the next victims.

At the same time, ex-club members (older generation) receive mysterious letters with accusations, and start their own mystery solving. Therefore, we get to observe the story from two different points of view.

I’m impressed how detailed this book was! Timelines, motives, each character looks, tempers. Each character had famous crime author nicknames. At times it felt slightly bland, but I guess that in the end it just made that suspense feeling escalate faster. I’m sure this book would make everyone's brains work and constantly ask questions, but towards the end author gives us a complete conclusion (Which is different kind of satisfaction).

Thank you Netgalley and Pushkin Vertigo for E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Seven members of The Mystery Club go to the remote island. Six months ago that island was a scene of 4 brutal and unexplainable murders as well as one disappearance. The club members plan to stay there for a week and try to solve the crimes. But it is not long before weird things begin to happen and the members start to die one by one. Is someone else doing this to them or is it actually one of them?
I love classic murder mysteries of the Golden age, just adore them. So naturally I've read And then there were none. The Decagon House Murders is very much an homage to it. The details are different but the overall situation is pretty much the same. Agatha Christie's book is more atmospheric and bleak and this book reads lighter than that. But there is an unmistakable Japanese atmosphere to it that I absolutely loved. There was a lot of emphasis on human emotions and there they can drive us, as well as talk of the soul and destiny. You will definitely like it if you enjoy the classic mysteries.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgally, Pushkin Vertigo and Yukito Ayatsuji for the chance to read The Decagon House Murders.
The author makes a point at the start, with one character stating that a good mystery novel is an intellectual puzzle, a game between reader and author. They dismissed gritty realism, preferring the golden age classics: great detective/mansion/shady cast of residents/bloody murder/impossible crimes and never-before-seen tricks played by the murderer. And this is exactly what Ayatsuji provides us, the reader.

I'm not exactly an aficionado of golden age, locked room style mysteries. (I have the same question every time. After the first death, why would you stick around?) I feel they require too much suspension of disbelief. But...I was hooked by the author's puzzle.

This was a lot of fun. It's a quick read, with excellent pacing, that is genuinely hard to put down. It only took me a few chapters to start guessing who would be the first to die (I was right! Unfortunately, because the author did a great job setting it up so that you really felt for and even empathize with the character) and who the killer was (my first instinct was right, but I can't claim victory because at the two thirds mark, I gave up. I couldn't decide. There were just too many logical possibilities. But then when the big reveal happened, I thought, ugh, yes! It was so well plotted. The clues are all there, and it is definitely possible to solve it yourself, which I appreciate. It's always great when you come to the end of a mystery and it all just makes sense, no MacGuffins, no lazy plot twists that come out of nowhere, just a sense of satisfaction and appreciation of a really well plotted tale.

While I did have to suspend my disbelief a bit (again, after the first person died, I'd be finding a way off the island, asap. No way would I be calmly spending the night with a corpse and an unknown killer! I get that they're on an island, with no boat and no phone [again, gotta suspend my disbelief that a bunch of university educated crime enthusiasts would willingly walk into that situation...] but I'd be setting up a signal fire or something pretty much instantly), I still enjoyed it, largely because of the skillful plotting, and how nicely everything came together in the end.

The characters were an interesting bunch. Despite not having a lot of time with each of them, they still managed to come across as three-dimensional, believable people with distinct personalities and motivations. It wasn't hard to get invested in what was happening to them.

The other thing was, I wasn't sure what the translation would be like. I've never read a fiction book translated from the Japanese before. I do read a lot of translated books, generally, though, and it can be hit or miss. The translator sometimes injects too much of their native dialect, and it's distracting. That's not the case, here. While I obviously can't attest to the accuracy and faithfulness of the translation, I feel like they did a good job. I liked the narrative style, and the prose was believable.

This was a great read. Thanks again for the opportunity to check it out!

Written by a member of a University Mystery Writing Club, this book features members of a University Mystery Writing Club, all on their jollies on an isolated rocky island. It used to contain a mansion, built by a reclusive one-time wunderkind architect, but the only building there now is a peculiar decagon annex – ten lozenges of rooms between the decagonal outer wall and the decagonal inner chamber. The students are there to write, and get the aura of the place where the mansion's inhabitants were slaughtered in an unsolved crime just months previously. But they've left before checking the day's post – for they have all received letters saying the death of a girl who was in their club is on their hands. But the letters are signed by the mansion's architect, who we know was killed and burnt along with his house...

The credit of this book is that it has the same kind of clubby gang of detective aces (and cliff-top, Soldier Island-type action) as seen in the likes of https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51070523-the-detection-club and also the potential to veer off into a crime where it's a crime not to pay attention to the architecture, as in this publisher's own https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42643538-murder-in-the-crooked-house. Actually, no, for the credit of this book is in how well-created it has been. You get a theory just in time for the characters to pick it apart and demolish it for you. You settle down for a good, but not spectacular, locked-room mystery and there are the hairs on the back of your neck rising. It's very easy to get the willies from these pages.

They're not perfect – having to watch multiple groups of people come to similar conclusions is something a more experienced author might not have forced us to do. Also, I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say I got triggered by some sexism, for while we had a prologue proving a male instigator, the characters didn't – yet nobody ever suspects the female the cryptic letters also could refer to. But this is still certainly very good indeed. And even if you get halfway towards the right solution, which is debatable, the feeling you need to start all over again to see which strands of wool were pulled over your eyes and where is a very strong one. One with four and a half star strength.