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Pushkin Vertigo

The Decagon House Murders (Pushkin Vertigo)

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Arrives Tuesday, Nov 26
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Format: Paperback


Description

"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 Weekly A hugely enjoyable, page-turning murder mystery sure to appeal to fans of Elly Griffiths, Anthony Horowitz, and Agatha Christie, with one of the best and most-satisfying conclusions you'll ever read. A classic in Japan, available in English for the first time. From The New York Times Book Review: "Read Yukito Ayatsuji’s landmark mystery, The Decagon House Murders, and discover a real depth of feeling beneath the fiendish foul play. Taking its cues from Agatha Christie’s locked-room classic And Then There Were None, the setup is this: The members of a university detective-fiction club, each nicknamed for a favorite crime writer (Poe, Carr, Orczy, Van Queen, Leroux and — yes — Christie), spend a week on remote Tsunojima Island, attracted to the place, and its eerie 10-sided house, because of a spate of murders that transpired the year before. That collective curiosity will, of course, be their undoing. 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. A fresh round of violent deaths begins, and Ayatsuji’s skillful, furious pacing propels the narrative. As the students are picked off one by one, he weaves in the story of the mainland investigation of the earlier murders. This is a homage to Golden Age detective fiction, but it’s also unabashed entertainment." Read more


Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pushkin Vertigo (May 25, 2021)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1782276343


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 40


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.07 x 0.79 x 7.78 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #101,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #493 in International Mystery & Crime (Books) #2,498 in Psychological Thrillers (Books) #5,978 in Suspense Thrillers


#493 in International Mystery & Crime (Books):


#2,498 in Psychological Thrillers (Books):


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • A Japanese "And Then There Were None" that is worthy of Agatha Christie herself.
One of my favorite books which I read over and over when I was in middle school (then it was called "junior high school") was And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Although the numerous film versions (usually under the title "Ten Little Indians") which almost invariably have a "happy ending" tacked on it make it seem like a hoary cliché to many people, for me the original book has lost none of its power. Which is probably why I set myself up for disappointment whenever I read a book that deliberately patterns itself after Dame Agatha's masterpiece. Nine Man's Murder by Eric Keith is a wonderful whodunit, but I couldn't believe the characters were suffering the psychological terror I expected. The Ex or You Won't Leave Here Alive (You Won't Leave Here Alive Series Book 1) by Nicholas "Nick" Sanders is a gripping thriller where you can easily believe in the characters' terror---but at the end it's clear he wanted to write a horror story rather than a mystery. The Invisible Circle by Paul Halter had a solution to the locked-room mystery that I had big problems with. But this book had several good reviews and so I decided to give it a try. To say the least, I was very impressed. Is it AS good as ATTWN? No, but I don't think any mystery book can be. It is a great mystery that "gets" Agatha Christie's famous work, and is most worthy of sitting next to it on the bookshelf. Several kids sail out to an uninhabited island where a series of grisly murders took place six months previously. They're all members of a detective book club in college, and all of them refer to each other by nicknames referring to famous mystery writers---- Agatha [Christie], [John Dickson] Carr, Ellery [Queen], [Gaston] Leroux, [Emma] Orcsy, [Edgar Allen] Poe, and [S.S.] Van [Dyne]. After their first night, they are greeted at breakfast with seven plates labelled "First Victim", "Second Victim", "Third Victim", "Fourth Victim", "Fifth Victim", "Detective", and "Murderer." It seems like a sick practical joke---until the kids start to die. Meanwhile on the mainland, a former member of the detective book club, Kawaminami receives a mysterious letter from the man who used to own that island and who was murdered six months ago. It read "My daughter was MURDERED by all of you." He contacts his buddy Morisu who has also received a similar letter, and soon the two of them are playing detective to find out who sent the letters and the truth about the murder six months ago. Can they find out who's responsible before their friends are all dead on the island? Considering how well known this story is, I found myself genuinely surprised at the unique twists taken in this book. It's not a coincidence that one of the kids on the island has the nickname "Ellery Queen", because I believe that his work as much as Agatha Christie specifically influenced this novel. Specifically, The Egyptian Cross Mystery . (When characters talk about "this being your typical 'headless corpse'" they are referring to this book.) Also as in Ellery Queen, things which seem to be the act of a homicidal lunatic actually have a very sane reason behind them. At the end, when the murderer and their plans are finally revealed, I think the reader will be as surprised as I was by why things took place. While this is less of a "whodunit" than "Nine Man's Murder" there are clues left which point in the direction of the killer which the astute reader might be able to catch. (I missed them. :( ) It would not be right for me to overlook the work of translator Ho-Ling Wong. He not only had a steep language barrier to overcome to make this book available for English-language readers, but a cultural one as well. For example, when "Ellery" tells two riddle that rely on knowledge of Japanese "kanji" to get the joke, Wong tells a new joke that relies on English wordplay while explaining the original in footnotes. My only quibble with his translation is his decision to render Japanese names with the surname or family name first. I know this is how names are actually written in Japanese, but unlike China, Japanese people usually reverse the names into Western format whenever the names are written or spoken in English. Still, it's a minor quibble. The revelation of the killer is stunning surprise, and Wong formats the book so that this takes place at the very bottom of a page. Perhaps the best compliment that I can give is that like ATTWN, I found myself still thinking about this book for several days after I finished reading it. Mystery fans should be grateful to Locked Room International publisher John Pugmire for making this available to English-speaking mystery fans. Although it won't be published by him, because of this book I am looking forward to reading "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" by Soji Shimada which will be republished in English come September. Shimada wrote the introduction to this book. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2015 by Edward J. Cunningham
    • Very interesting plot
Most of his are spoiled by Agatha Christie's character Hercules Poirot. His methodology and interesting analysis of the situation always resulted in the right answer. Who was the murderer and why. This is my first Ayatsuji book. This is #32. A compleo180 from Agatha Christie's writing style. I need to read more of his books and I know that I will love it, but I am also curious about if The Decagon House Murders is an example of all his other books. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2023 by Kindle Customer
    • Decent , but overly long
The book was decent, I would recommend it. My main criticism lies in the books repetition. The book drags on longer than necessary because phrases are constantly repeated. For this reason in terms of storytelling it’s not as engaging as it could have been 8/10 plots
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2023 by JeanKarlos Espinosa
    • Good read
Great for readers of And Then There where none by Agatha Christie.
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2023 by Neshjalee Butter
    • Best book I've ever read
Not sure if I'm supposed to rate the product or the book itself, but both were perfect. If you're wondering whether to read this book or not, PLEASE do read it, it's brilliant!! The product itself was great, I didn't notice any defects or problems.
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2023 by ozzy
    • An excellent translation of a Japanese mystery; well-worth reading!
A group of people is stuck on an island, with no way off. Stuck on the island with them is a mad, cunning killer, determined to pick off the group members one by one. It’s a race against time, a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. No, I’m not talking about Agatha Christie’s "And Then There Were None". Rather, I’m talking about a recently-published translation of a Japanese detective story: "The Decagon House Murders". The titular Decagon House is, of course, shaped like a decagon, and the island upon which it sits was recently the site of a gruesome series of murders. Naturally, a university’s mystery club (modelled on such a club at Kyoto University) decides the island is a great place for a club excursion. Thus the members meet up, each of them known by a pseudonym taken from one of the great Western Golden Age writers: Agatha, Orczy, Van Dine, Leroux, Ellery, Carr, and Poe. It doesn’t take long for murder to occur, and as the body count rises, the list of suspects gets shorter and shorter… Locked Room International has become known in recent years for its work in the locked-room/impossible-crime subgenre, especially when it comes to publishing the work of Paul Halter in English. With its publication of Yukito Ayatsuji’s The Decagon House Murders, however, LRI has taken a bit of a different step from the usual. The novel was originally published in Japanese in 1987, and was credited with helping to resurrect the Golden-Age style detective story in Japan (the official term for this being "honkaku"). Another book that helped this resurgence was "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" by Soji Shimada. Shimada played a big role in the success of Ayatsuji’s book – he promoted it upon its initial publication in Japan, and he now has fittingly written the introduction to this English translation. This translation comes to you courtesy of Ho-Ling Wong, who must be commended for his translation of The Decagon House Murders – it is eminently readable. The prose style is easily digestible, and it made for really compelling, page-turning reading. I was genuinely excited to get further along in the book. From what I can tell, Yukito Ayatsuji has minimal interest in character development in this book. What propels the book is the plot, and so the characters are drawn in a few hasty brush strokes. Agatha is the popular, pretty girl. Orczy is the not-so-pretty wallflower who likes to retreat into her inner world of fantasy. Ellery has a brilliant intellect, but is extraordinarily pompous (much like the early incarnations of Ellery Queen in that respect!). And so on. When this style works, I really admire this – you get what you need out of characterization, and no more. What fuels interest is the plot. And boy, oh boy, is this plot ever a sweet one! "The Decagon House Murders" must deal with the example that Agatha Christie left behind. Simply recycling her ending will not do. Ayatsuji found an excellent way of handling this problem. Simply put, this is a stunner of a plot, with an ending which I simply could not believe when it was first revealed. When I put the book down, I realized that I had just read a book which rivals "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" for sheer audacity and ingenuity. Indeed, now that I’ve read it, I have to say that "The Decagon House Murders" is a serious contender for my favourite Japanese mystery. It has everything I want in a mystery. It left me satisfied with what I’d read, and eager to read more. I sincerely hope that this publication signals more to come in English from the Japanese honkaku school – you can count on me being at the front of the line waiting for more books like this. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2015 by Patrick

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