Specs
Reviews
(4/5)Basic plot: There is a game on the internet (殺人ライセンス) which seems to be tied to real life murders and a strange voice is coming from the TV at night. Are these connected? Are the murders just coincidence or something more?
As a note, I listened to the audiobook, I do not own the text.
The grammar used in this book is pretty standard, plain to the point of being somewhat boring actually. I think this book may be more exciting if it's one of the first books you read in Japanese because the ease of it should let you rush through a bit compared to other writing styles, but if you're well seasoned maybe let this one pass.
Vocab wise you will need basic crime vocab and basic internet vocab. It doesn't go particularly wide on either of those. I rated this "about the same" as スマホを落としただけなのに but in pure vocab スマホ definitely edges this one out.
I felt like the plot developed very slowly and found the focus on character dynamics / relationships to be both unnecessary and quite flat. I love airport novels but this one didn't even manage to really maintain my interest - it just took too long to get anywhere and then the destination wasn't worth the wait.
Probably the only real redeeming factor for me with this book was the nostalgia of everything taking place on the early 2000s internet. What a difference 20 years makes!
Good Book
Been looking for another crime/ mystery novel in order to keep me more engaged with the reading. This book definitely helped me stay awake when I read very early in the mornings. The other review of this book said it was kind of boring for a crime novel and now that I think about it they are probably right, however I enjoyed it very much and wasn't hard to finish either. Definitely recommend if you are new to mystery novels, not a lot of hard vocabulary and will prep you for more difficult stories down the line.