The Aosawa Murders

Disclaimer: I read this in Japanese. This is probably the second Onda book I read. I heard about this book on The Next Chapter and had to immediately download the Japanese version. I read it in one day. Super mysterious and intriguing. I had a hunch I probably won't find out who the murderer was. I won't say I was right or not. I also thought it was a shame as I'm sure some parts of the Japanese original version won't translate into English, such as Kanji spelling of character names. I'd be curious to pick up the English version just to see how it's done.
Really intriguing, mysterious, fast read. I enjoyed it.

This is just my opinion, of course, but the concept of singular is a subtle but important factor in much of Japanese culture. It implies taking a step back to admire something that might be slightly deviant, or unsettling in some way. To coolly observe something repellent and unpleasant and appreciate it as a form of beauty for entertainment. I find that psychology fascinating. Take the ideogram for “singular” for instance, which also contains the meaning of “suspect and unusual”. I see in that a kind of warped humour. With echoes of a sadistic joke, a brutal awakening, or a detached gaze.

This was an amazing, complex, creepy, brilliant artistic literary achievement. I’m going to take some time to process it before writing more, but I really loved it.