Book Review: Strange Houses by Uketsu
A young couple is in the market for a house, and they’ve found one that might meet their needs. It’s practically new, the exterior is attractive, and it has all the modern conveniences. But something about the interior layout feels off. They decide to consult their friend Uketsu, who is something of an expert on the strange. Uketsu calls in his architectural expert friend, Kurihara. As the two men look at the layout, it becomes more and more disturbing–a “dead space” between two rooms, and a child’s bedroom without any windows placed oddly in the middle of the second floor.
This bears investigation, and dark secrets soon come to light, involving three strange houses.
Uketsu is a Youtuber and author who specializes in tales of the grotesque, in the tradition of early Edogawa Ranpo. He deliberately cultivates an air of mystery, wearing a mask during his videos. This is the second in his “Strange” series, which began with Strange Pictures. (I got confused by the display at the bookstore.) This book, at least, has Uketsu himself as the narrator, though in story he’s a “normal” person who has regular human connections.
The format relies on various diagrams, primarily house layouts, but also a couple of family trees and timelines. There’s a lot of repetition of these in the early going, so the novel is a shorter read than you might expect from the page count. It does make the story easier to follow.
There’s relatively little “investigating” done in this mystery. After Uketsu prints the results of his initial consultation with Kurihara, and mentions that a corpse with a missing left hand was found nearby, another person who’s interested in strange houses for reasons of her own comes forward, and this allows Uketsu to follow the links to a nearly complete explanation of what’s going on, and the secrets of the Katabuchi family. And yet there is an afterword by Kurihara that points out some truths may have been omitted.
Since much of the fun of the story is the gradual reveal of the horror behind the unusual architecture, I can’t talk much about the bulk of the story for fear of spoilers. Naturally, murder, including the murder of children, is involved, as well as other unsavory topics that I’d normally be putting into a content note. I would not recommend this book to sensitive readers.
There’s also a translator note in the edition I read, which talks about how the job was largely easy except having to balance some tone issues to avoid calling attention to certain dialogue too early.
I’m told this is the weakest of the “Strange” series, but it’s still a fun read for fans of the macabre. Recommended for fans of mysteries with twisted family secrets.
