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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
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
alychee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Minor: War and Mental illness
yii_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Infidelity, Body horror, Blood, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Hate crime and Sexual violence