Japanese YouTube star turned best-selling author Uketsu grabbed the attention of the literary world with his 2002 novel ‘Strange Pictures’, which was translated and released in the UK last year. A relatively quick read, ‘Strange Pictures’ used an usual combination of imagery and text to create an interlinking mystery that proved to be a real page-turner. Now Uketsu’s second book ‘Strange Houses’ has been translated into English by Jim Rion and it’s getting a UK release this week. Can lightning strike twice?
Those who read ‘Strange Pictures’ will find ‘Strange Houses’ immediately familiar. Written in the same style and full of imagery, the book is another quick read that unfolds a mystery across four chapters until the shocking conclusion is revealed. This time the story revolves around someone who is investigating an unusual house floorplan with a friend, Kurihara, after being asked by another friend who is considering buying the property. What’s so strange about the floorplan? There’s seemingly an area of inaccessible dead space and a child’s bedroom in the centre of the house with no windows.
That leads to much discussion about those two elements, with the two characters going back and forth with ideas. The theory they come up with, which I won’t reveal in this review, is outlandish and that’s one of the issues with the book. The conversation goes to a very dark place based off pretty much nothing, and that starts to quickly escalate when a young woman, Yuzuki, becomes involved believing her husband was killed in the house. What ensues is a complex story involving generations of the same family, as the characters push to unveil the secrets of not only the original floorplan but another one related to it.
What I will say is that Uketsu once again manages to keep you hooked. Even though I wasn’t particularly buying the story that was unfolding, I was interested to find out what the resolution was. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a bit of a let-down, becoming overly complicated and convoluted. I would hazard a guess and say that most readers would be wise to keep a pen and paper handy so they can plot out all the twists and turns. A lot of information comes quickly in the final chapter and it can be hard to remember who is who.
‘Strange Houses’ isn’t as a strong a book as ‘Strange Pictures’. Partly the gimmick of the writing style isn’t as fresh as it was in the previous book, and partly because there are too many convenient leaps in logic to propel the story to its horrifying, and baffling, conclusion. Uketsu clearly has a gift for the macabre but in trying so hard to deliver twists and turns, the story just becomes messy and a bit bloated. I admire that Uketsu is doing something different in the genre but I didn’t enjoy ‘Strange Houses’ as much as ‘Strange Pictures’.
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo Release date: 3rd July 2025 Buy ‘Strange Houses’ now
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