受取人、不在につき―― (赤川次郎 ホラーの迷宮)

An introduction to the works of Jiro Akagawa

受取人、不在につき―― is a collection of four short stories by Jiro Akagawa. These stories were originally published in other books in the 90s, and are collected together here as a sort of introduction to his works for a younger (middle/high school) audience.

The first three stories are each subdivided into chapters about 5-15 pages each; the last story is short enough not to need chapters. Not every kanji has furigana, but the majority do; names have furigana only when they first appear. The font size is a bit larger than normal and there's lots of space between lines, so it's comfortable to read. There are some tricky sentences here and there (mainly sections where characters are thinking abstractly or reminiscing), but overall it's only a little more difficult than your average upper elementary kids' book.

The four stories in this volume are:

1. 受取人、不在につき――
2. 知らない私
3. 雨雲
4. 回想電車

The series is called "Horror Labyrinth," but only the first story qualifies as what an American reader would consider "horror" at all. According to the afterword, the theme of horror in this series is being rather loosely interpreted as anything puzzling, strange, sad, or simply out of the ordinary. So if you're reading this with the expectation of being frightened, you'll certainly be disappointed. That said, the stories aren't bad — I liked the first, third, and fourth stories, though the second one did absolutely nothing for me.

If children's stories have no appeal for you whatsoever but you're still not ready to read a full length adult novel, this book is a good option for you — so long as you're not disappointed by the lack of horror. And if you find you like the author's style, at the end of this book is a really useful section recommending and describing other Jiro Akagawa books you may want to try next.