Scan barcode
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Violence, and Body horror
Minor: War
celina246's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Gore, and Murder
Minor: Toxic relationship and War
james1star's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
- The limbs of heavily tattooed woman, Kinue, are found by the young doctor Kenzo in her bathroom but the door and window is locked… from the inside
- What ensures is the investigation by Kenzo as he assists his detective brother into who, why and how she was murdered and also why her torso was taken
- It’s a classic murder mystery but that’s not all…
- Akimitsu weaves in a lot of Japanese culture too, it’s set post-WW2 with a country still coming to terms with being on the loosing side and having been hit with 2 nuclear bombs and so the country and her people are trying to rebuild and return to normal with many doing things they don’t want but need to do for survival which was probably the book’s best part
- He also places a lot of love and admiration for traditional Japanese tattoos which was good, the contrasts and meaning in the different designs, mentioning folk and heritage elements too and this I really liked
- BUT it’s not supposed to be focus of the book… the mystery/investigation is and this part I did not like
- It’s very boring, convoluted and drags on and on, it’s like Akimitsu enjoys pulling the reader on this red herring-filled, long-winded and SLOW ride thought all the various people who might have killed Kinue and their reasons why
- The characters are all annoying tbh, I didn’t really like them and because of the dragging nature of the plot I was just wishing for it to end
- Overall it was a mid book, I found the ending alright but not worth all the time it took to get there
- I wouldn’t really recommend it but at the same time I do appreciate it so yh…
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Death
Minor: Classism, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Suicide
dannilmp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
While I had zero expectations of being able to solve the locked room mystery, I was quite suprised by how detailed the mystery was and I felt unless you really knew about Japanese house construction, it would have been nearly impossible to solve how the room remained locked.
This was a good book and an enjoyable read, including the time I spent trying to construct the timeline of the murder! I was able to work out the murderer but only just before the big reveal itself. While this was a good book, now that I know who the murderer is, I would not read it again, hence the three star review.
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Sexual content
snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
As someone who has completely fallen in love with 20th-century Japanese mysteries, I was really looking forward to The Tattoo Murder by Akimitsu Takagi. But, sadly, it didn’t meet my expectations…
While I found the views on traditional Japanese tattoos, the intertwining Japanese folklore and the historical contexts of the setting interesting, they also took over too much of the book. Many times, it felt as though the murder mystery was placed on the back burner just so those views could be further explored. This, in return, made the mystery too drawn out, resulting it in being incredibly underwhelming despite how clever the crime was.
Moreover, Kyosuke Kamizu, the boy wonder mentioned in the summary entered the picture much too late. Instead of being present around the beginning and solving the mystery with us, he comes in only at the final quarter of the book which makes all the revelations too convenient. It felt like he was merely inserted just so a major plot point could be concluded. In fact, the entire crime aspect felt like it was just there as an excuse to talk more about the art of traditional Japanese tattoos.
I think it’s such a shame because the crime itself is clever — a little predictable but still, clever. You have pieces of a gorgeous woman’s corpse found in a locked room. Her torso is missing and it’s the exact location of her equally gorgeous Orochimaru tattoo which she had only just revealed to a crowd of spectators days ago. There are several suspects but instead of a tense race to unveil the truth before the next victim appears, we end up with an incredibly slow and cumbersome investigation. Sure, this may mimic reality where not all cases can be solved and closed quickly but I think in a book, there should be a little leeway for the pace to be sped up so that the story becomes less exhausting and more of a page-turner.
All things considered, The Tattoo Murder reads more like a historical fiction with a side of crime than a thriller mystery set in 1947 Japan. It’d be best to read this with the expectation that it’s more focused on the beauty of traditional Japanese tattoos instead of the murder mystery.
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content and Sexual harassment
hilarylouise's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: War and Mental illness
bethjuliette's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Overall a fantastic book with just the right balance of intrigue, suspense, confusion, violence and romance!
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship and War
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Misogyny, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Body shaming, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent, Police brutality, Self harm, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts
candiemarsh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Gore
mal_eficent's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I'd definitely recommend this to any fans of a good old fashioned murder mystery, with a single third person perspective and an amateur detective that can hold his own against any Poirot or Sherlock. If you're squeamish about gore or not into lots of discussion about women in a sexual manner, though, this might not be one for you.
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Mental illness, Death, Murder, and Gore
Moderate: Suicide and Toxic relationship
Minor: War and Sexual content