Another book by this author that was will leave you puzzled until the the reveal! Not overly complicated and always an enticing read.

I absolutely loved this! It felt like I was doing a deep dive on wiki about a true crime. So fun! I could totally see this becoming a tv show! I highly recommend!!

Strange Houses feels a lot like reading a creepy story on an online forum. The atmosphere has this gossipy, conspiratorial vibe that keeps you interested and makes you want to uncover the full mystery.

I think that Uketsu's other novel, Strange Pictures, has an overall more cohesive story with a more satisfying conclusion. If you enjoy things like creepypasta and Internet mysteries, you will enjoy this book. It is also a very quick read, perfect for one sitting!

(This review is being provided in exchange for an advance reader copy of the novel. Thank you to the publisher!)

An architectural mystery. A house built for child abuse or murder?

A house is for sale. It was built only a year ago and the floor plan is odd to say the least. To top it off a body is found near by. The deep dive begins and other deaths seem to pop up and there may be more then one house. How deep will this go.

So here’s my take on this read. I liked that they actually provide floor plans to help create the visuals and immerse the reader in the story. This story is clean and simple yet purposely written. Nothing is added that is not important to the story. That is the issue I have with it. Instead of feeling like I was reading a mystery/triller/horror I felt like I was watching a low budget crime documentary. Its an interesting story no doubt just no major twists or shocks just a matter of fact feel. I guess I just expected or should I say I wanted more because I truly liked the overall idea or premise. With that being said, its definitely worth a read. Its only 200 pages and was a nice pallet cleanser after the heavy epic fantasy I read before it.

Thank you to Net Galley and HarperVia for the ARC. Wow, this was such a creepy read, totally regret reading this before going to bed, but also, I want to read more books by Uketsu. The simple and direct writing style makes this a scary read right from the first page. The unsettling descriptions and pictures of the floor plans of houses leads to a horrifying mystery that the characters unravel in this book. This was a fast read that was fun to puzzle through but also with horrifying implications for what is really happening.

What an odd book! I loved this weird little book and found myself constantly engaged! It was a great fix of unsettling with enough mystery to keep me turning the page!

When the movie adaptation for this novella came out I kept hearing about it and was really intrigued, so when I saw the English translation for Strange Houses was being released I was really excited to read it!

The story kicks off when some acquaintances of a writer approach him with the floor plans of a house they are considering. Looking more closely, that’s when the oddities appear: windowless rooms, strange dead spaces, and a layout that doesn’t quite make sense. The writer decides to share the plans with his architect friend, Kurihara, who is totally into mystery novels. Kurihara picks up on the many unsettling details of the house and starts to form some dark, somewhat unhinged, theories about their purpose. So what is the true story behind this strange layout?

Dark and mysterious, this is a great read for the summer holidays! The length is perfect to read in one sitting, and once you get started you won’t want to put it down. As the layers of the mystery behind the house and the family who lived in it begin to unravel the story becomes utterly unputdownable. Exploring the floor plan was a really fun concept especially as more details would come to light. It made me want to read more of the author’s novels and I’m eager to read Strange Pictures next.

A short, fast-paced, immersive read this is perfect for traveling or to enjoy during a summer downpour with a nice cup of coffee.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy. This review was written voluntarily.

Another fun, unique puzzle style horror mystery for Uketsu. I enjoyed Strange Pictures by this same author and enjoyed this one as well. I like the way the author's brain works in figuring out these mysteries and presenting them through pictures. This one is a short read but still manages to bring a few twists and turns with that overarching sense of creepiness and dread found in Strange Pictures.

I'd recommend this if you're a fan of mystery novels but are looking for something told in a unique way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy for review.

Creepy, Clever, and Unnervingly Addictive

Review:
Strange Houses pulls you into a quietly disturbing mystery that unfolds through eerie floor plans and haunting discoveries. The atmosphere is tense and claustrophobic, and the deeper the narrator digs, the more sinister things become. The concept of a house hiding secrets in its architecture is brilliantly executed, and Uketsu masterfully builds dread with each unsettling reveal. It’s a unique blend of horror and mystery that lingers with you—perfect for fans of slow-burn psychological thrillers with an edge of the supernatural.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#StrangeHouses #NetGalley #HorrorMystery #Uketsu

I didn't like the mystery of Strange Houses as much as Strange Pictures -- it was laid out pretty much from the beginning, though there were some significant twists and amendments by the end which kept it interesting. While I really enjoyed the seemingly disjointed stories that all turned out to be interconnected of Strange Pictures, the more in-the-moment investigative and dialogue-driven style of Strange Houses was equally as compelling and made me feel much more attached to the characters. I hope Uketsu's work continues to be translated into English so I can read more!

3 stars

Translated from the Japanese by Jim Rion.

A story of three houses and their mysteries of possible murders within, the floor plans and layouts are key here as the author coordinates with an architect friend, and others to uncover nefarious crimes.

This is the second book I’ve read by Ukutsu, STRANGE PICTURES was the first, and both are based around sketches. Both are better in theory than in reality. According to the book blurbs these are big in Japan. It is always nice to see something different though, so three stars.

We have a writer fascinated by the unnatural who is approached by a friend who is looking to buy a new home. After looking over the floor plans of the house he finds himself investigating a disturbing home for sale in Tokyo. At first it seems normal enough but after closer inspection, the building’s floor plans reveal a mysterious "dead space” hidden between its walls. Seeking answers, the author is set out to find anyone who might have clues to what the floor plan means.

Very quickly we’re wrapped up in questions. Why is the dead space there? Who put it there? What are they using it for?

I love the style of writing used while translating this because we as readers get to find a lot of our own answers as well as creating our own questions. The blue prints of the houses really help the reader understand how to follow along as well as create our own hypothesis.

Since it’s not a very long book it was a quick read for me but I think that gave a chance for really good timing. We didn’t have anything drag out long but nothing felt rushed either. Overall I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by Uketsu.

This was a wonderful read, full of intrigue, far-fetched ideologies brought to stark relief against the backdrop of indoctrination and the complications of family hierarchies.

I enjoyed the formatting, and the step back from long, exposition heavy narratives mingled with the Author's voice and his friend's observations at the end.

Strange Houses is like an adult picture book with thrills and kills that kept me invested throughout the entirety of the story.

When a writer learns of an oddly built house from his friends and decides to dive deeper into its bizarre layout he stumbled upon a mystery spanning generations involving hidden rooms, family secrets, and dismembered bodies.

The last act of the book was the only tough part for me with a massive info dump from one of the characters at the end. I wish the book had been longer to make space for slowly letting the characters discover the information rather than having it all kind of laid out for them at the end. I understood the character's motivation for info dumping but I wish a good chunk of that had been discovered in different ways and then you come to them for the big reveal.

Overall, I loved Strange Houses, it was a quick read with lots of twists and turns and the inclusion of floorplans throughout the story and all the visuals added to the fun of trying to figure out the mystery. I have yet to read Strange Pictures, Uketsu's other book, but I'll definitely be picking it up next.

Uketsu is quickly becoming one of my new favorite authors. After reading Strange Pictures earlier this year, I knew I needed to read this. This book is strange, weird, twisty, slightly confusing, and absolutely amazing. I had no idea what was happening during most of it, and every twist caught me off guard. It's hard for a book to make me feel this way, but Strange Houses exceeded at this. I read this in one sitting on a plane ride and I couldn't put it down during the entire flight. I highly recommend reading this, especially if you enjoy both horror and thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for this eARC!

Strange Houses by Uketsu was not my cup of tea. It was boring and felt like a badly written creepy pasta. I enjoyed his first book but this was a huge miss for me. I'll still keep my eye on him!

This was my first time hearing about Uketsu. I'm now super intrigued and what to read Strange Pictures too. I was constantly being thrown for a loop and my mouth was hanging open for a large portion of the book. I also love that's its told like nonfiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for the ARC!

This one didn't grab me the same way Strange Pictures did, but it was still a fun, creepy read that I enjoyed devouring in a day. While some of the characters made some WILD jumps in conclusions throughout trying to solve the mystery of the strange house floorplans, Uketsu does a really good job of holding attention and building suspense. I'd absolutely read more from them.

First, a thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reading eCopy!

It took me a week to read this book. Not because it was hard or wordy or anything. Because I had to sit with this.

The first time I read it, I was taking notes. It got dark FAST.  I got to the ending and literally asked myself, in bed, passing out, one eye open, "WTF just happened?"

So I sat with it. And I read the last handful of oages again. And the possibilities started to open.  So I sat with them.

Then I read the ending AGAIN. And I needed to read Chapter 1 again. And the possibilities hit me in the face. And now I am telling myself I need to re-read the entire thing again with the thoughts I have to see if it makes sense. 

I love the fact this doesn't provide full closure, as much as I despise that. As a reader, I love being all knowing. This didn't give me that satisfaction, but it gave me something greater: the forever rolling over of an idea in my mind.

Less anxiety-ridden than Strange Pictures, but dark, intriguing, and curious! I'll be re-reading this one!

I think that there were some interesting concepts and formatting things being done here. I'm just not sure that these are worked all the time? I think sometimes the formatting mattered more than the story and that's not super for me.