The Village of Eight Graves - Seishi Yokomizo - Book Review

 

                    Yet another Japanese whodunit. Japanese mysteries never cease to impress me and a quick encounter of this book with a mysterious name was sufficient to select this as my next read. That too an author that I had not read. So why not give it a try?

                    The story starts with a brief description of an incident in the village several years ago. A samurai and his troop were cheated by the villagers for money and just before their death, the samurai cursed the village, There was a mass murder that happened a few years after the same and the villagers raised a temple to appease the spirits. The killings stop after the same. Young Tatsuya lives in a city and receives an inheritance in that village connected to his birth. He arrives at the village but death seems to follow him in each of his steps resulting in the deaths of his grandfather, brother, and many more due to poison. People start blaming him for the same and the killings continue in the family. Is he the harbinger of death or is there more than what seems on the outside forms the story?

                    Well! To start with the story is definitely interesting. The storytelling was typical as in many Japanese novels. The flashback at the start did ignite my curiosity. One thing that impressed me in the story was how it kept the mood of the story intact. There was always some sort of twists that kept me engaged throughout. Even though there were only a few characters, the story did give the feel of the entire village being involved. Having said that, the topography of the village in the story provided a perfect backdrop for the story with the author using the entire landscape of the region along with the Japanese culture so effectively. But having said all this, the climax was a real dud for me. There was a detailed explanation which soon followed in the story, but at that moment it was like dousing out the full excitement that was building up till then. Also, since this was a translated work, the translator did do a commendable job keeping the tempo of the story intact.

                    In short, a good and exciting read. Being a fan of Japanese mysteries; I did enjoy this and would really love to follow more of Seishi's works. Whodunit lovers will find this read an interesting one.