Review: Goth

Goth by Otsuichi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oooh this was really fun! Lots of dark twists.

It's a book of short stories all tied together by the two main characters, who constantly find themselves entangled in the happenings of the many serial killers in their town.

Morino is the weirdo 'Goth' that our unnamed male narrator strikes up a friendship with - they're both fascinated by the morbid, so are drawn to one another. As the stories progress, you can see the dynamic is a little different than first expected, and it's quite fun to see things gradually become clearer.

The stories themselves are fantastically twisted and macabre. Some are partially narrated by the perpetrators, too, which is a special treat. The storytelling is done in such a way that the twists sneak up on you and in most cases had me exclaiming out loud - I felt tricked, and absolutely delighted by it.

I did pick this up after reading a comment from another reader stating it was the 'goriest book they'd ever read', so based on that I was a little disappointed, but otherwise this is a fantastically disturbing novel.

Highly recommend for horror fans, particularly for its unusual format and clever turns of phrase.

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