Note: This copy of The Clock House Murders was provided by NetGalley.
The latest translation in the series that was catapulted to fame in the western world with the Decagon House Murders, The Clock House Murders follows a very similar template. It is, of course, a locked room murder mystery. While having heard a lot about the series, this would be my first book by this author. Thankfully, apart from a few passing references to some of the earlier books/cases, there wasn’t much that made the earlier books required reading for this book.
The book is centered on a unique house known for its peculiar construction as well as the innumerable clocks that adorn the inside. That, and the various stories about the deaths of several members of the family who resided in the house in the past. With the passing of the previous owner, and the only living relation being a fairly young heir and his caretakers, every request to visit and see this unique house has usually been summarily denied. That is until a seemingly random group of individuals, brought together by a tv show segment around the supernatural of all things, is granted permission to not only visit, but to stay locked in the house for a period of time with no contact with the outside world. The things people would do for entertainment.
The group consists of a psychic, the tv show producers, and a group of students who run a club devoted to the supernatural. There is something as being too random that it is immediately suspicious to the reader. While apart from the student group, there appears to be no other connection among the people in the group to the house or any of its members, but that notion soon starts to change once they are locked in. The ‘supposed’ main protagonist of the story is surprisingly not a part of the group but is stuck on the outside, when a member of the group, and friend, seems to have mentioned this excursion to the unique house built by the same person who also built some of the houses in the other books by the author.
The book follows the typical locked room plot but unlike the others, this book felt a lot more enjoyable? Most locked room murder mysteries end up revealing the antagonist in the end through some information reveal that isn’t available to the reader easily and meant to convey some surprise. This book on the other hand more or less gave us everything; for the most part. It did end up sticking to the trope in the end, but for 80% of the book I was constantly trying to figure out why these murders were taking place. The who seemed fairly obvious, which was disappointing, and the how also was quite evident.
Despite that, for me the biggest takeaway from the book was how I found myself a little unsettled at times during the book and was a little bit nervous when my own clock chimed at night. If anything, that should be an indicator as to the atmosphere the author has created within this book. Decent pacing, average murder-mystery, more enjoyable than the typical locked room I’ve read before as it was more of a why-dunnit than a who-dunnit. Recommended for fans of the genre.
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Links:
- Goodreads: The Clock House Murders – Yukito Ayatsuji