Strange Buildings by Uketsu

Calling all fans of Japanese crime and mystery fiction… Strange Buildings, the third novel by internet enigma, Uketsu, (and translated by Jim Rion) is now available.

A series of strange, seemingly ordinary buildings. A nagging sense that something isn’t quite right. In Strange Buildings, Uketsu invites you to look closer—and rewards you with a brilliantly unsettling, puzzle-like story. Told through interconnected cases, each location conceals a subtle flaw that gradually points to something far more disturbing beneath the surface and everything ultimately leads to a shocking, satisfying conclusion.

If, like me, you loved the uniquely twisty storytelling and psychological edge of Strange Pictures and Strange Houses, you’re going to enjoy this. Uketsu takes everything that worked so well in those books and pushes it even further—this feels like his most ambitious and inventive work yet. Uketsu transforms floor plans, layouts, and everyday spaces into clues, drawing you into the mystery so completely that you can’t help but start investigating alongside the narrator. It’s quietly eerie rather than overtly frightening, which makes the tension all the more effective.

Short, sharp, and lingeringly unsettling, it’s a perfect pick for readers who like their mysteries clever, original, and just a little bit strange.

Richard