Decagon House Murders will grip you till end

MyBookReview
THE DECAGON HOUSE MURDERS
By Yukito Ayutsuji, translated by Hong Li-Wong

A must-read for Agatha Christie fans, The Decagon House Murders, is based on one of Christie’s best known and most popular novels And Then There Were None.

Japanese author Yukito Ayatsuji pays apt homage to Dame Agatha with this gripping murder mystery set on a deserted island – much like the original – but in contemporary Japan of the 1980s. Published in 1987, the The Decagon House Murders succeeds in recreating the suspense and intrigue that made Christie’s novel an instant success. (First published in 1939, And Then There Were None is a perennial favourite among global mystery lovers the world over. In 1965, the novel was adapted into a Hindi film, Gumnaam, a runaway hit.)

The Decagon House Murders tells the story of a group of university students, members of a Mystery Club, who are to spend a week of their Spring break at the quaint outhouse of the Decagon (10-sided) House on a deserted island.

A year ago, the main house, home to architect Nakamura, was burnt down. The occupants – Nakamura, his wife, and a couple who looked after them – were found to have been killed before, and their bodies near destroyed by the fire. The gardener, the only other person on the island at that time, was missing. He was never found, and the murder remained unsolved.

Cut to the present…

The mystery-loving students who visit, all have nicknames of the famous Western mystery writers (including Agatha), and are excited to be on the island for their week-long sojourn. They are completely cut off from the mainland for the week till their boat is to come and fetch them.

The group of seven barely settle in when the murders begin. One by one, the students are mysteriously killed. The writer introduces several twists and turns in the narrative that leads the group to believe that the murderer is one of them. The suspense is played out dramatically against the backdrop of the gloomy outhouse.

Ayatsuji builds up each of the seven characters, giving the reader a glimpse of their back stories, all diverse and interesting and leading the reader into a maze of possibilities. And just as one decides, ‘this is the murderer!’, the next victim turns out to be just that person! The deserted island, the wild terrain, the burnt down remains of the Decagon House, the jagged cliffs looming over a dark restless sea, the grey weather and harsh winds, add to the atmosphere of fear and foreboding.

Detectives on the mainland

The author cleverly connects this narrative to a trio of amateur detectives on the mainland, who are led to suspect something is amiss in connection with the earlier unsolved deaths on the island, and the tragic death of Nakamura’s daughter, a few months before.

The narrative flits between what is happening on the island and the progress the ‘detectives’ are making on the case. As they inch closer to realising that the students are in danger, things come to a head…

The ending is unexpected, and a befitting tribute to Christie, the master of suspense.