This was very much a letdown. I really liked Strange Pictures and I was expecting more of the same with this one, but a theory was pulled out of nowhere and stuck. I found myself rolling my eyes a lot. I just couldn't believe in any of it. I did like the narrator and the interview format and that it was such a short read but I couldn't get into it. It lacked the charm of Strange Pictures and how the different parts and times came together. This one was just a lot of me going "huh??".
Also, I wasn't able to get the attached PDF since audio ARC and I had trouble picturing the floor plans which was an integral part of the story.
So yes, truly a letdown. This really didn't work for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ebook ARC in exchange for my review.

This author is a new one to me, and in looking up their details, I saw that they don't appear in public often, and wear a mask and use a voice changer to speak. So many mysteries! Also, it appears that this is book 2 in a series, and I haven't read book 1.

This book follows a question and answer format by the characters to pull together a series of murders through a set of odd blueprints. It is probably much better in it's original language, but I found the translation to a bit - awkward? maybe. I didn't find the mystery to be compelling, and had issues distinguishing one character from another. Again, this could be due to translation. Overall I found it to be an interesting short mystery, but I had a harder time enjoying the mystery compared to other mysteries.

3 stars.

Strange Houses is about a few homes that have unusual architecture and prospective buyers go to a man who is known for being educated by the unusual. The houses have a lot of mystery to them.

I wanted to like this so bad. I purchased Strange Pictures from this author because I heard it was intriguing. I'll still try Strange Pictures even though I didn't care for this one.

The main character goes to his friend who is an architect to see if he knows why a house would be built this way. The architect comes up with some out of nowhere story that is very specific. The rest of the story just goes along with it like it's totally a logical first conclusion. This is a translated work so maybe this is a common trope in Japanese horror but it seemed to have come out of nowhere.

The narration is good and the book is short but it was unbelievable. The underlying plot was fine but the fact that the author and architect kept speculating completely random things and be somewhat close kind of took away from the story.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to listen to this book early. The opinion in this review is my

I didn't realize when I started reading this that is book is what the manga by this author is based on. I actually read the manga before I read this so that took away a little of the mystery and suspense of this book but that my fault. That being said I still really enjoyed reading this as a novel. Also when I read the manga I really enjoyed the twist and turns I just accidentally spoiled myself for the books.

I absolutely loved Strange Pictures, so I was thrilled to dive into Strange Houses. It did not disappoint! The story pulled me in from the start, and I ended up binging it in one sitting. The atmosphere and pacing were spot-on. I really hope there is another book in the works.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio Adult for letting me read this in exchange for my opinion.

When a writer attempts to help a friend to determine if they should buy a house, the writer discovers a dead space in the house. He reaches out to an architect to help him, and they find more stranger areas in the house. As they continue this journey, they talk with others who knew the family that lived there prior, and the tale gets stranger and stranger. When I started this book, I wondered what horrors a house would tell. I wasn't expecting this story, and it was intriguing! Clearly, this was a fast-paced story given it was shorter. I absolutely devoured it!

(3.75 Stars)

Thank you to #NetGalley for making this book available for reading and review.

So, this is the second book I've read by this author, and while I like it, it just seems over simplified and juvenile. It is like you are sitting around the camp fire taking turns telling ghost stories and your stoner friend starts telling you a story... and you can't help yourself but you really get into it. You overlook all the parts that don't make sense because you are just enjoying the tale.

This book is fun, I feel like characters come to conclusions they couldn't possibly get to. Or make these wild assumptions that have never happened before, but they turn out to be right. But, it is so interesting you just get caught up in the story.

I won't say there is good character growth because the stories are told like a journal, or article, or some other correspondence. But you get invested in them nonetheless.

There will be another installment called Strange Buildings, and I can't wait.

Strange Houses is another eerie, horror adjacent mystery, a little grislier than Strange Pictures. Similarly convoluted in plot and simple in style in a way that reads easy and fun. Great warm weather book.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperAudio for an early audiobook copy.

I really enjoyed this book and what could be seen as a different take of a "haunted house." It was creepy and unique in its concept of a murder house built around a child needing to kill to get rid of a curse. I do think I was a bit more intrigued at the prospect of a family doing this as sort of hitmen or serial killers, but I like that there is a happy-ish ending for the poor kid who was supposed to be murdering people.

I will say, I think it would be better with the visuals. The audiobook mentioned that there would be a PDF with the floorplans and other images from the book, but I didn't have access to that and was thoroughly confused for a while. Luckily I know someone who had an ARC ebook of the book and she let me take a peak at the floorplans and everything made much more sense after seeing the maps.