Whenever the first book in a series starts connecting with me, I have this immense expectation for the others in the series. The book 'Ring' was a good read and I was lucky enough to find the next part in one of the dark corners of the library shelf.
The story starts with Dr. Ando conducting the autopsy of a friend who died under mysterious circumstances. He was also fighting a personal battle of his own; his son's death at the sea and the divorce that followed. The corpse was that of Dr. Ryuji (who was the cynical professor friend from the book 'Ring'). There seems to be some underlying mystery that Ando is unable to find out. Like in 'Ring' where Asakawa and Ryuji try to uncover the mystery; here Dr. Ando tries to reach to the bottom of the happenings along with his friend Miyashita.
This sequel was more along the lines of a medical thriller for me rather than a horror story. It was not as exciting as the 'Ring' which ended as a cliffhanger. Storywise the book was interesting but was tiring as well. The handful of characters does take the story ahead where everything ended in the first book but there was always a sense of something missing. I felt there were many loopholes left open. The ending was not at all up to the mark for me. It was left open but I was not quite held up by it as in 'Ring'. My reading pace was very much affected by the way how draggy it was. The story was good but tended to confuse me many a time. Truly speaking I loved Koji Suzuki's writing style in 'Ring' more than in 'Spiral'.
An average book that can be a passable read which works out in bits and pieces. Those who have not read 'Ring' might not enjoy this. But those who have can find a very average read here.
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