The Aosawa Murders set in Japan – Riku Onda

Submitted: 2nd March 2023

On a stormy summer day the Aosawas, owners of a prominent local hospital, host a large birthday party. The occasion turns into tragedy when 17 people die from cyanide in their drinks.

Now how is that for a premise?

BookTrail Travel to The Aosawa Murders

Boarding Pass Information: Japan

Author guide: Riku Onda

Genre: Japanese crime

Food and drink to accompany: nothing, it could be poisoned!

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BookTrail Travel to The Aosawa Murders

A new read from Bitter LemonI told myself. Something different that I have had on my TBR pile for ever. This beauty translated from the Japanese caught my eye with its punchy blurb of 17 people being poisoned at a birthdayparty. Only two people in the group survive, Now, I have just read a book about all the poisons that Agatha Christie used in her novels so this was right up my street!

First things first, this is no Agatha Christie. It reads more like a true crime documentary with interviews, notes and more besides. It’s a very unique format and it does takea bit of getting used to but I found the format worked very well with the content and plot. They say that everyone imvolved wth one crime will see I t differently and that was examined and explored to the hilt here. Very interesting way of reading as it keeps you on your toes, well it did me!

BookTrail Travel to The Aosawa Murders

“Every person spoke in the sincere belief that what they said was the absolute truth, but if one thinks about it, it’s difficult to describe an actual event in words exactly as one sees it. More like impossible, in my opinion.”

As you can imagine, this way of writing and of reading can fuzzle your brain. You do have to concentrate but the pay off is worth it. Kudos to the translator. I can only imagine how hard this must have been to translate.

The Japanese culture, sense of shame and honour were nicely explored and this for me was a real buffet of a novel – something for everyone.