Strange Pictures

For a little while now I’ve been reading books in the puzzle-crime genre (think Janice Hallett, Emily Key, Cain’s Jawbone). So, when I read the UK reviews of this new English translation of Strange Pictures (originally published in 2022), I was very keen to read it. The Japanese crime fiction and psychological thrillers I’ve read have been inventive, chilling, and wholly sophisticated. There are some wonderful exponents of the genre. Uketsu is one of them: a ‘phantom’ figure in a mask and body stocking (Google them if you don’t believe me!). He is a big deal in Japan, having written the horror/mystery novel The Strange House (also in Manga), and this new book is no exception. Strange Pictures is a thoroughly unsettling mystery.

The simple structure belies a tangled plot: four parts, preceded by a seemingly innocuous foreword set in a psychology lecture where the lecturer is explaining the merits of a drawing test to elucidate the inner state of a child patient. Pictures are utilised throughout the book, encouraging readers to try and solve the mystery as they read the text. No pen and paper, or spreadsheet, is required. Just read. The cryptic chapters are all varied in their settings and time, designed to obfuscate the truth and befuddle the reader. But, slowly, the connections between the characters and the chapters become apparent, bringing with them a creeping sense of dread.

This is a book that can be easily devoured in one sitting, like I did on a recent flight to Brisbane. By the final pages, as the concluding (re)solution crystallised, I was floored. This is quite unlike anything else I’ve read, and it’s exceptional. Uketsu has clearly found a great partner in the translator Jim Rion to maintain the taut storytelling for the English-language editions. This is the best book I’ve read this year.