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Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi

4 reviews

juliebeevs_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Definitely a very interesting read, and gives you insight into life in Japan immediately after WWII, especially with regards to people’s attitudes and daily life. The attitudes towards women really irked me, but then again this was written in the 1940s which explains a lot of the discourse in terms of gender roles at the time. 

Kenzo really annoyed me sometimes because he was very gullible and rash. The murder mystery in itself was intriguing to follow, even though I guessed as to where it was going. But I think I would still read this again - it’s like time travelling into 1940s Japan.
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james1star's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Haven’t done a bullet point review in ages so here’s one: 

  • The limbs of heavily tattooed woman, Kinue, are found by the young doctor Kenzo in her bathroom but the door and window is locked… from the inside
  • What ensures is the investigation by Kenzo as he assists his detective brother into who, why and how she was murdered and also why her torso was taken
  • It’s a classic murder mystery but that’s not all… 
  • Akimitsu weaves in a lot of Japanese culture too, it’s set post-WW2 with a country still coming to terms with being on the loosing side and having been hit with 2 nuclear bombs and so the country and her people are trying to rebuild and return to normal with many doing things they don’t want but need to do for survival which was probably the book’s best part
  • He also places a lot of love and admiration for traditional Japanese tattoos which was good, the contrasts and meaning in the different designs, mentioning folk and heritage elements too and this I really liked 
  • BUT it’s not supposed to be focus of the book… the mystery/investigation is and this part I did not like 
  • It’s very boring, convoluted and drags on and on, it’s like Akimitsu enjoys pulling the reader on this red herring-filled, long-winded and SLOW ride thought all the various people who might have killed Kinue and their reasons why 
  • The characters are all annoying tbh, I didn’t really like them and because of the dragging nature of the plot I was just wishing for it to end
  • Overall it was a mid book, I found the ending alright but not worth all the time it took to get there
  • I wouldn’t really recommend it but at the same time I do appreciate it so yh…
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uranaishi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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mal_eficent's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This is an incredibly detailed murder mystery, with a wealth of discussion about the culture of post war Japan and tattoo culture, and meticulous about how the crime was committed...Which made it almost too dry to be interesting at times. Listening to lists of information looses its charm after a while and Kinue was a...strong choice of perspective character. If not for the introduction of Kyosuke quite late in the book, it would have taken me a lot longer to finish. I still found a lot of the story very interesting, and was hooked again once things sped up later in the narrative. 

I'd definitely recommend this to any fans of a good old fashioned murder mystery, with a single third person perspective and an amateur detective that can hold his own against any Poirot or Sherlock. If you're squeamish about gore or not into lots of discussion about women in a sexual manner, though, this might not be one for you.
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