What’s to like: How all four stories are so deeply connected, and the way pictures—and the methods of drawing them—can be perceived.
When I picked up this book at my favourite bookstore (thanks to recommendations on Pinterest), I really didn’t expect much from it. As someone who has read multiple suspense books, I’ve grown used to figuring out who the main suspect is halfway through the story. What truly piqued my interest, though, was that the author himself is such an enigma—and that in a mystery like this, tiny drawings are used to make sense of the storyline. And it is sooooo worth it!
The book begins with a psychology professor, Dr Tomiko Hagio, explaining what a seemingly simple and harmless drawing made by a child can reveal if we only look closely at the details—the smudge of a smile, the spike of a tree branch, even the house itself. The index follows this explanation and introduces four stories.
The first story follows two university students, Shuhei Sasaki and Kurihara, members of their university’s Paranormal Club, who come across a strange blog titled “Oh no, Not Raku!”. The blog begins with a man sharing snippets of his life and his wife’s pregnancy. Over time, he uploads various drawings his wife made during her pregnancy, right up until she goes into labour. The next blog entry appears a month after the child’s birth and mentions his wife’s death. After that, there are no updates—until a final post three years later, cryptically referring to a “sin” committed by someone he knows. As Sasaki and Kurihara analyse the blog entries and the drawings, they begin to uncover disturbing details that point towards something truly diabolical.
The second story centres on Naomi Konno, a single mother raising her son, Yuta. She begins to notice a man following her every day in a car, right up to their apartment building. Though worried for herself and her child, she hesitates to go to the police. One day, Yuta’s teacher, Miho Haruoka, shows Naomi a strange drawing Yuta made of their apartment building, with both mother and son standing beside it—but their room is completely greyed out. Concerned, Ms Haruoka asks Naomi if everything is okay at home. Naomi reassures her, explaining that she had only scolded Yuta for drawing on the walls. That evening, the man follows them again, prompting Naomi to stay awake all night—until exhaustion takes over. When she wakes up, Yuta is missing. Panic sets in as she calls his teacher to check if he made it to school. A chilling plot twist connects the drawing, the mysterious man, and where Yuta has gone.
The third story follows the brutal murder of an art teacher, Yoshiharu Miura, who was killed at the peak of Mt K-. Years later, one of his former students, Shunsuke Iwata, revisits the case while working at a newspaper agency under his senior, former reporter Kumai. Grateful for the support Miura once gave him, Iwata feels compelled to pursue the case further—especially since Kumai had investigated it extensively in the past. Multiple alibis, forensic details, and suspect statements are presented with precision, leaving behind just one haunting clue from Miura himself: a drawing of the view from the mountain peak. As the clues start pointing in a single direction, Iwata finds himself stepping into dangerous territory.
The fourth story brings all these narratives and characters together into one seamless storyline. This is where everything finally clicks—why every detail mattered, and how each crime is rooted in childhood trauma, twisted by a fierce desire to protect a loved one. I loved the overall storytelling and the constant, watch-over-your-back creepiness that lingers when you look at these truly STRANGE PICTURES. If this is what the new wave of Japanese mystery storytelling looks like, count me in for every book Uketsu writes next.
Favourite line picture: The image that emerges when the three pictures from the blog are combined (read the book to find out why it’s so unsettling!).
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