"Ankokusei" by Edogawa Ranpo

2014-06-30 : previous : next : index : [books] [ranpo]


"Ankokusei" (Dark Star) by Edogawa Ranpo.  This was a typical mystery story involving the famous detective Akechi Kogorou, and people die left and right in this one (like most typical mysteries, but unlike the Shounen Tantei series).  It was fairly fun to read but also fairly unremarkable, relative to the other story in this book.

The other story included in this book was "Yami ni Ugomeku" (Writhing in Darkness).  The cover of the book only said "one extra story" and I didn't know what to expect.  Turns out this second story was far more intense, with some very eccentric characters presented in great detail.  It was especially unusual in how each person are described as glorious collections of muscles and meat.  It's possible to read this story with the mindset of admiring statues, at least for the first half of the story.  It's not possible for the latter half, which was full on cannibalism and necrophilia.  This story was sufficiently intense to rid readers any memories of the first story.

There are other stories similar to "Ankokusei", and it's not really worth reading this book just for that.  "Yami ni Ugomeku" really made this book worthwhile.  It's the kind of stuff that is more uniquely Edogawa Ranpo and less typical of other authors, but probably also the kind of stuff that not everyone will enjoy.


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