Here is another book that I picked to fulfill a category on the Centennial Challenge. This is a novel I found on the new book shelf that is translated from Japanese.
I didn't really know anything about it before I picked it up, but apparently this was apparently a bit of a sensation in Japan. The author has successfully hidden his or her identity and only shows up on youtube with a mask on and disguising his or her voice. It's more gimmicky than I usually go for but the mystery itself was quite good.
The book is basically organized around four interconnecting shorter mystery stories. Each story involves a drawing produced by a character in the story. There are actually a lot of illustrations, it's a pretty visually interesting production.
The firsts story involves a series of drawings created by a pregnant woman just before she dies in child birth. The second story features a picture drawn by a young boy before he disappears and figuring out the drawing is key to finding him. The third story is about an art teacher who is brutally murdered after hiking to the top of a mountain. His mutilated body is found with an enigmatic landscape sketched on the back of a receipt. The fourth story ties everything into a single narrative. A young girl who is confined after killing her mother is asked by a therapist to draw a picture.
The writing style is a little sparse and quirky, but it's worth the effort. It's an unusual and interesting mystery
This looks really interesting. Just downloaded it. thanks for all these blurbs and reviews on books!
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