The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

Translator: Ho-Ling Wong

The story has some strange, unique features. It is an open comparison to Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then There Were None’. It begins with the villain of the piece informing us of their dastardly plans, and then we pan out to see the location where it is all set to occur.
The oddest thing about the storyline is the fact that all the characters who end up on the island are all referred to by the names of famous mystery writers. This took a while to get used to, but it added to the suspense. I was rather thrown by a random comment about the moon and Sanskrit, which I verified, and it was not true in the way the author meant it. This has no bearing on my reading, but I had to mention it since I noted it.
We have a group of people on an island being hunted, while on the mainland, a few people have set out to investigate strange letters sent to people who belonged to the same club. There is constant movement in the story, the theories as well as the deaths. I was initially trying to keep track of any possibilities that might lead me to the identity of the killer(s) but to no avail. I gave up halfway in, and I am glad because there was no way I could have arrived at the right solution.
I am also not a big fan of how the book ended, but the revelations themselves are the main reason I liked the book overall. I would recommend it to people who enjoy trying out different types of mystery stories.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.