Review: The Tokyo Zodiac Murders

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Sōji Shimada
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I actually found this a little dull right up until it challenged me to solve the mystery myself.

This detailed a 'locked-room mystery' in three parts - first, death of the patriarch, second, death of one of his daughters, third, the murder of his six other daughters and nieces.

The crimes are wild and I was certainly puzzled as to how they all connected.

This book lays out all the details - what occurred, all the clues, all the red herrings, and also blood type and star sign of each person. There are a LOT of details and it's clear this is designed to confuse things and make it harder to tease out what's important.

I found it fascinating, but at the same time nothing new is occurring which meant it was just two-thirds info dump. The case in question is decades old, so most of the relevant players have since died making it a confusing jumble of who's who. There's also not a lot of characterisation so again, hard to keep track of them all.

Still, when the gauntlet was thrown, I found myself going back to read the facts, study the details and the diagrams etc. I wound up solving the Who and the Why, but certainly came nowhere near the How. That sh*t was INSANE.

I really enjoyed the challenge at the end, and I think others will, too. Especially fans of crime who like to put the puzzle together themselves and make their own guesses.

Highly recommend for fans of the genre. Be patient with the overwhelming amount of detail and you'll have fun working the case yourself at the end.

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