This has been on my TBR list for a while (I think because of Bookstagram? Or maybe I saw it in one of the blogs I follow? Maybe both?) so when I finally managed to go to the library earlier this month when they re-opened, I hunted (and found!) a copy to read! I was intrigued by this book because the premise of a mass-poisoning at a party really reminded me of Aibou: The Movie, which I would also recommend.

The Aosawa Murders is an unconventional mystery that looks at a never-solved fictional mass murders. One day, at a birthday party for a prominent local family, someone delivers poisoned sake and drinks. Seventeen people die, and the only Aosawa family member that lived is Hisako, the blind, beautiful and enigmatic daughter. Now, about two decades later, someone is talking to the people who are connected to the case and as they talk, the truth is gradually revealed.

This was a haunting and addictive read. The story is told as a series of interviews, interspersed with clippings, and the topic is not just the Aosawa murders, but also a book published about a decade after the murders: The Forgotten Festival. As it turns out, both the book about the murders and the murders are interlinked, and I was hooked because the truth about the murders and the connection between the event and the book constantly felt close yet out of reach.

This sense of elusiveness, by the way, continues all the way to the end of the book. If you need a tidy ending for the murder, you probably want to avoid this. While we know who the murder is (honestly I managed to guess pretty early on, probably because I watched Aibou a few years ago), the motive for the whole thing is suggested rather than explained. I think I understand, but if you asked me to explain what was going on, I probably wouldn’t be able to give you a good answer – which, come to think of it, is probably how a lot of the characters in this book feels.

And by the way, I was really impressed with the translator, Alison Watts. The Aosawa Murders is told in a very unconventional style, as a series of interviews (or monologues), but Watts manages to capture the atmosphere of the book brilliantly. Part of the novel talks about summer and I really felt the hot Japanese summer days during those sections. It brought me back to summers in Japan and made me very interested in reading the original version of this (and the other books too).

I’d recommend this to people who want an unconventional and evocative murder mystery. It’s an amazing novel that looks into the heart of a crime and though it doesn’t fully answer the questions it poses, I think it gives you a very real look into human nature.