The Inugami Curse - Seishi Yokomizo

"A maelstrom of conflict, kin against kin"

⭐⭐⭐

After straying from my usual genre for my last review, I felt compelled to bury myself in a crime novel once again, and given my new-found adoration of Japanese novels this book kills two birds with one stone!

When revered Japanese silk tycoon Sahei Inugami dies, he leaves behind strict instructions in his will regarding the distribution of his vast fortune to the remaining members of his dysfunctional family. The shocking conditions he has put in place create rifts in the Clan, and start the ball rolling on a series of peculiar and truly disturbing murders. Private detective Konsuke Kindaichi is drafted in to work alongside alongside the police, and the family's attorney to unmask the culprit, unearthing some buried secrets along the way.

After doing some research, I found out that while this book is one of only two Kindaichi novels that have been translated into English, the P.I. was clearly a big hit in Japan with twenty-one novels written recounting his remarkable cases, and it is easy to understand why he was so popular. Yokomizo follows the classic murder mystery structure; there are multiple unreliable suspects, undiscovered secrets and the archetypal wrap up where the detective assembles all the players into one room to lay down the truth and reveal the murderer. It is so classic in fact, that when reading it I had memories of David Suchet's Poirot rolling around in my head!

Yokomizo has an obvious aptitude for shock value. He has dreamt up wonderfully appalling and imaginative deaths for his characters and his plot twists and unexpected behaviours keep you on your toes throughout. I do have to say however, that I was disappointed with the underwhelming character development of our protagonist. Detective Kindaichi is in my opinion a poorly fleshed out character, despite his central importance to the book. All we really know about him is that he has a reputation that precedes him, and an unpleasant habit of scratching his head and I would have liked to have delved deeper into him and his background for him to become a character that I felt invested in.

Nevertheless, I can't in good conscience say that I didn't enjoy this book. I ripped through it in 3 days and was satisfied but sad when it was over.

H x