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A review by mkmilquetoast
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Sōji Shimada
2.0
I don't read a lot of mysteries, so I've been trying to shore up that gap in my library by reading all sorts takes on the genre.
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders was specifically recommended to me due to it kicking off the shin honkaku 'era' of mystery books in Japan. This term refers to more orthodox mysteries which tend to be closer to a puzzle box or game and is far less focused on the social and dramatic elements of a mystery. It's not about spotting inconsistencies in witness testimony or developing a criminal profile, it's more about solving the physical logic behind how a crime happened.
It's a fun idea for approaching a mystery. The problem is this particular book just isn't very fun to read.
The series of murders was fascinating, and I wanted so much to get absorbed in the mystery. But the book is more interested in bogging you down with facts and tidbits about the murder. There are pages and pages of names, astrology definitions, latitudes, longitudes, the top speed of a car during a blizzard, and on and on and on.
The reason for all this was not lost on me. A certain type of trick is being played on the reader, and it's an effective one. But it's also tremendously boring and tedious to actually run your eyes over. If you're going to misdirect me then you should at least have fun with it!
I enjoy logic puzzles, and while I haven't read many mysteries I've played plenty of games and visual novels in the genre, many of which were strongly influenced by honkaku. If this truly was game it'd be very poorly reviewed.
Perhaps it's the translation? I recognized many 'stock phrases' and other details throughout the book that suggested it adhered to a very literal translation. Could be that a lot has been lost in translation. It's hard to speculate too much about that.
I'm glad I read it to better understand the history of the genre, but I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone, and I certainly can't see myself going reading it again.
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders was specifically recommended to me due to it kicking off the shin honkaku 'era' of mystery books in Japan. This term refers to more orthodox mysteries which tend to be closer to a puzzle box or game and is far less focused on the social and dramatic elements of a mystery. It's not about spotting inconsistencies in witness testimony or developing a criminal profile, it's more about solving the physical logic behind how a crime happened.
It's a fun idea for approaching a mystery. The problem is this particular book just isn't very fun to read.
The series of murders was fascinating, and I wanted so much to get absorbed in the mystery. But the book is more interested in bogging you down with facts and tidbits about the murder. There are pages and pages of names, astrology definitions, latitudes, longitudes, the top speed of a car during a blizzard, and on and on and on.
The reason for all this was not lost on me. A certain type of trick is being played on the reader, and it's an effective one. But it's also tremendously boring and tedious to actually run your eyes over. If you're going to misdirect me then you should at least have fun with it!
I enjoy logic puzzles, and while I haven't read many mysteries I've played plenty of games and visual novels in the genre, many of which were strongly influenced by honkaku. If this truly was game it'd be very poorly reviewed.
Perhaps it's the translation? I recognized many 'stock phrases' and other details throughout the book that suggested it adhered to a very literal translation. Could be that a lot has been lost in translation. It's hard to speculate too much about that.
I'm glad I read it to better understand the history of the genre, but I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone, and I certainly can't see myself going reading it again.