Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news – the son of one of the island’s most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger – with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters’ lives would now be in danger. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophesy, and to protect the three women if he can.
As Kosuke Kindaichi attempts to unravel the island’s secrets, a series of gruesome murders begins. He investigates, but soon finds himself in mortal danger from both the unknown killer and the clannish locals, who resent this outsider meddling in their affairs.
Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the fiendish Death on Gokumon Island is perhaps the most …
Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news – the son of one of the island’s most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger – with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters’ lives would now be in danger. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophesy, and to protect the three women if he can.
As Kosuke Kindaichi attempts to unravel the island’s secrets, a series of gruesome murders begins. He investigates, but soon finds himself in mortal danger from both the unknown killer and the clannish locals, who resent this outsider meddling in their affairs.
Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the fiendish Death on Gokumon Island is perhaps the most highly regarded of all the great Seishi Yokomizo’s classic Japanese mysteries.
Enjoyable second case for detective Kosuke Kindaichi
4 stars
If you liked the "Honjin murders", you'll probably like detective Kindaichi's second case as well. Personally, I liked this one even more than the first one.
The island setting, the mysterious murders and the plethora of intriguing (and suspicious) characters make this case a fun and interesting read. I was definitely suspecting the wrong person(s) for most of the book, so personally I didn't find the ending to be very obvious. Anyway, it's a fun story!
This book was actually quite surprising. It was less surprising for the solution and the mystery itself, but I wasn't expecting for a mystery novel to kind of tackle the idea of 'outsiders' and the supposed suspicious nature of people within a small town while also recognising that there are different cultures within the same country that impact how we think and behave.
Rather, I was more surprised because the handling of the issue wasn't immediately structured in a way to make all the 'small town' people inherently unlikable, unintelligent, or 'beneath' the protagonist (which is something that is annoyingly common in texts that utilise this structure). This is actually something that Yokomizo's books seem to handle well because Kindaichi never seems to hold himself above the people he's around. The locals are shown to be somewhat suspicious and cautious, friendly to a point, but with some still believing that …
This book was actually quite surprising. It was less surprising for the solution and the mystery itself, but I wasn't expecting for a mystery novel to kind of tackle the idea of 'outsiders' and the supposed suspicious nature of people within a small town while also recognising that there are different cultures within the same country that impact how we think and behave.
Rather, I was more surprised because the handling of the issue wasn't immediately structured in a way to make all the 'small town' people inherently unlikable, unintelligent, or 'beneath' the protagonist (which is something that is annoyingly common in texts that utilise this structure). This is actually something that Yokomizo's books seem to handle well because Kindaichi never seems to hold himself above the people he's around. The locals are shown to be somewhat suspicious and cautious, friendly to a point, but with some still believing that the 'outsiders' can never really understand them or the people they've lived with.
I also really like the ways in which superstition is utilised and discussed. This was also another surprise for me because, again, I'm so used to texts that utilise superstition in a way that makes in feel disconnected from the story and the people. This made it feel really authentic to the story and like something you could actually interact with, question, and understand. It wasn't taken for granted, and it showed how even some people who weren't really superstitious could still find themselves falling into the trap of 'fate'.
I was somewhat disappointed by Death On Gokumon Island. As a classic crime novel, it has all the necessary ingredients, but there was something about the way they were blended together which left me cold which was a shame as I had previously enjoyed The Inugami Curse and had hoped for more of the same. The well-crafted atmosphere from that previous book seemed missing from Death On Gokumon Island and I didn't feel as though as much care had been taken over the characterisations either. In fact, at one point, if we want to find out about an Inspector who appears on the scene, we are directed to go and read a previous novel! While the crime narrative itself is suitably complex and convoluted so the book did keep my interest, I found myself more casually reading rather than being absolutely gripped by the tale.
Pushkin Vertigo, the English language …
I was somewhat disappointed by Death On Gokumon Island. As a classic crime novel, it has all the necessary ingredients, but there was something about the way they were blended together which left me cold which was a shame as I had previously enjoyed The Inugami Curse and had hoped for more of the same. The well-crafted atmosphere from that previous book seemed missing from Death On Gokumon Island and I didn't feel as though as much care had been taken over the characterisations either. In fact, at one point, if we want to find out about an Inspector who appears on the scene, we are directed to go and read a previous novel! While the crime narrative itself is suitably complex and convoluted so the book did keep my interest, I found myself more casually reading rather than being absolutely gripped by the tale.
Pushkin Vertigo, the English language edition publisher, has Death on Gokumon Island originally published in 1971 so I wondered if it being one of the later stories in the long 77-book Kosuke Kondaichi series was the reason, but other sources put the book's first publication in 1947 which would make it almost the earliest. There are frequent references within the novel to how characters were coping with the war's end and their return to civilian life.
I will probably try another book in this series at some point in the future as, overall, Death On Gokumon Island was a good read, just not as compelling a mystery as I had hoped for.
Review of 'Death on Gokumon Island' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
An enjoyable read. Nothing amazing, but he paints a decent picture of his setting. At times it got a bit melodramatic, but then so did Columbo, and Kosuke Kindaichi is basically Japanese Columbo by the author's own admission, so I can't really call that a fault.
I thought this one was OK, but not terribly exciting. It’s an easy read with some interesting insights into post-war Japanese culture, but the characters aren’t particularly well drawn or realistic and I never felt invested in them. In particular, the Kito sisters are shallow stereotypes who are only there to drive the plot forwards. There are lots of info-dumps as characters tell the detective what has gone on which get a bit boring. The summing up takes about 20 pages. I’m not itching to read the other books in the series.
I thought this one was OK, but not terribly exciting. It’s an easy read with some interesting insights into post-war Japanese culture, but the characters aren’t particularly well drawn or realistic and I never felt invested in them. In particular, the Kito sisters are shallow stereotypes who are only there to drive the plot forwards. There are lots of info-dumps as characters tell the detective what has gone on which get a bit boring. The summing up takes about 20 pages. I’m not itching to read the other books in the series.
An enjoyable sequel to The Honjin Murders with plenty to like. Multiple murders intertwined into a single central mystery, the post-war setting looming over everything, a solid cast with rival families at its core, a cool island map with a pirate fortress, and a set of final answers that I thought were really satisfying (as someone who doesn't really care about puzzling out solutions before they are explained).
