Julie's Reviews > The Aosawa Murders

The Aosawa Murders by by Riku Onda, Alison Watts (Translator) is a 2020 Bitter Lemon Press publication.

This Japanese mystery is certainly perplexing, with an interesting and unique presentation of the facts. Unfortunately, I had a very hard time with this novel. We've all struggled with the ability to focus lately, which made this a bad time to tackle this book, perhaps.

So, I put the novel down for a while, then picked it back up only to feel more lost than ever. I started over from the beginning, reading slowly, and concentrating as best I could. But, no matter what, I remained confused, and the ending, after all that trouble, turned out to be one of those open to interpretation, ambiguous conclusions that only compounded my frustrations with the book. I was a little miffed, to be honest.

Normally I would love a crafty, original story like this one because of its extraordinary approach and the clever way the story unfolds. But, it never grabbed me.

I think it could be one those 'it’s not you, it’s me’ situations- 'a cliché, I know, but I think maybe that’s the case for me with this book, since it appears to have been well- received, overall.

Mystery lovers who enjoy, dark, cultural and historical crime fiction will probably love this one. It is a challenge and will be a nice change of pace for those who are looking for something a little different, that doesn't follow the usual crime formulas. It just didn’t work for me at this time.

2 stars