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(4/5)しっかりとやばかったです..... 色んなレビューを読んで、最初からかなり期待してたからわかってたつもりだったけどやっぱりやばかった～ 最初の方はちょっとディテールが多すぎてどうかなって思ったけど、やっぱり推理小説だとそういう小さいところこそが謎に繋がっちゃうし、読んで損はない。情報が多くなるにつれ、後半で誰が犯人なのかを当てるのも楽しいです。 日本語的にも、そんな難しい本ではない。会話も多いし、方言とかがないので読みやすいし、結構おすすめできます。
ネタバラシ注意: あと個人的に最後まで読んでも気になってたことですがやっぱり１週間って結構長いじゃないですか。みんなで協力していれば、一人でも先に脱出して外の者に知らしていれば、誰も殺されずに済んだんじゃないかな。電気がなくても食べ物が十分にあったらもっと長く待てたはずだし、生き延びれたんじゃないかなって。わからないけど笑
Nine people (six college friends and a family of three) ended up spending the night at an underground building. At dawn, earthquake stroke and the rocks blocked the door to go back to the ground. Water is rising up, the underground building will be submerged in a week. A murder occured. The only way to escape is one person must sacrifice themselves. But out of the nine people, who should die? The murder culprit?
I wrote this review but to be honest, I’m aware I’m not good at analyzing nor praising literature, so I can only talk about my enjoyment while reading. Out of 39 books and 3 audiobooks I have read/listened in Japanese until now, this book is the best one! I finished this book today - Valentine day, and I can’t imagine a better way to spend this day. Whenever I read Mystery novels, I have a little concern, even if the majority of the book is great, will I be satisfied with the ending? For this book, it is a big YES, I LOVE it, I was shaking with excitement reading the last remaining pages. Might be a bit gory and dark, but exactly how I like it. I have 2 more books from the 本屋賞 2023 nominators to read, and I’m on the fence about the other 6 nominators… regardless of the award result, I will remember this book and its story for a long time.
My favourite chara? The 犯人 of course
My favourite quote: 映画でもあるよね。殺されそうな人が、自分には恋人がいるとか、家族がいるとかって命乞いするシーン。家族とか恋人がいなかったら殺していいのかって話だよね。世の中、みんなに人権があるって言ったって、その中から誰か犠牲者を選ぶってなったら、一番愛されていない人が選ばれるんでしょ？
Fair play, but with caveats
If you're coming into this with high expectations due to the amount of praise the book has received, you're probably going to be a bit disappointed. Without spoiling anything, the twist isn't nearly as mindblowing as people claim it is, and the emotions of the characters are—with only a few exceptions—so subdued that it's hard to care for any of them. The protagonist is more of a lens through which the reader gets to experience the story rather than a true character of his own, and personally this book left me rather cold.
However, it's still a very decent mystery that prides itself on being fair, as per Ronald Knox' definition, and as that in itself is hard enough to come by, I would recommend this to readers wanting to play a classic whodunnit game alongside the characters as they read on. If you're looking for a linguistic challenge or something with genuinely good prose and compelling characters, though, I'd look elsewhere.