The Decagon House Murders Audiobook By Yukito Ayatsuji, Ho-Ling Wong - translator cover art

The Decagon House Murders

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The Decagon House Murders

By: Yukito Ayatsuji, Ho-Ling Wong - translator
Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
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A hugely enjoyable, must-listen murder mystery sure to appeal to fans of Elly Griffiths, Anthony Horowitz, and Agatha Christie, with one of the best and most satisfying conclusions you'll ever hear. A classic in Japan, available in English for the first time.

©2007 Yukito Auatsuji (P)2022 Tantor Amateur Sleuths International Mystery & Crime Mystery Psychological Thriller & Suspense Fiction Detective Crime Murder
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Okay so I had to reread the first chapter to understand everyone’s role . As you get deeper in the storyline it starts to get interesting. Now you’re guessing who is clever enough to to do all these murders without leaving clues of who might have done it. While pointing fingers and being divided they lose focus on what they are really there for. Great read

Guessing game

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The narrator constantly put the wrong emPHAsis on the wrong syLLAble in words. Lol. It was just weird and ruined the audio book.

Narrator ruined the book

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Downgraded rating from 4 to 3 stars. Accurate score would be *** 1/2.
Became aware of the novel after seeing it on the 2022 Esquire list of 'Top Mystery Novels of All-Time.' While I appreciate the inclusion of Japanese fiction in their list, ultimately, this novel falls short of what can be considered an excellent murder mystery. And while the story itself is relatively solid, the way in which the book's conclusion is told removes any possibility of giving it more than 3 stars. The guilty party(s) are revealed through the direct thoughts of the guilty. The level of 'telling' without 'showing' is excruciating and breaks a good number of the tenets in place for good mystery writing. And when the murders have ended, and you see another hour remains in the audiobook, you're almost guaranteed a painful end.
And regarding criticism of the narration - it's very much unwarranted. P.J. Ochlan is fine - not superb but certainly competent, with fine Japanese pronunciation.

On Esquire Top 50 Mystery list - falls far short

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Many reviewers have already commented about P.J. Ochlan's terrible narration and I couldn't agree more. He truly RUINED this book for me. Please read it instead.

Awful narration from P.J. Ochlan!

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There appear to be plenty of reviews about the narration, and it was definitely jarring whenever they missed the inflection for a word.

This book definitely takes some notes from "And Then There Were None" beyond the actual reference. I enjoyed the end reveal, and the ending. It didn't, however, leave me thinking the villain was an evil genius, which I was hoping for. Instead, it felt more that they were extraordinarily lucky (e.g. Uncle buys the property and tells me all about it, etc.). I also felt like some of the characters could've used a little more fleshing out. However, it was ultimately, despite my gripes and the narration, a thoroughly enjoyable story.

Good Story, Not Good Narration

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the story was alright but the reader was stiff and robotic. his reading was very strange. I have listened to some terrible audio recordings in the past but still loved the book because in the end it was still a great story. this was not one of those times unfortunately. the story was just alright and for a book I've seen on multiple lists for one of the best mysteries of all time I was disappointed. mind you, this is just my opinion and if someone was to ask me "should I give this book a read?" is say yes because it wasn't bad by any means. I just didn't love it.

3 out of 5

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Appreciated the mystery-for-mystery-nerds references and plotting, but for me, the paper-thin character development was a negative (and I’m a fan of this subgenre, so I’m willing to forgive a lot on that front). The denouement was somewhat unsatisfying for me since it felt like establishment of credible motivation had been sacrificed to “surprise” plot twists, with an internal monologue bad-guy-speech trying to paper over the holes at the end.

However, the biggest challenge for me was the narrator’s performance. He chose to deliver all the third-person narration in a strongly repetitive, lilting, and artificial cadence I associate with local news broadcasters. I found it quite grating, and it frankly ruined the more atmospheric moments for me.

For readers who might want to know: this novel does not rise above its origin time period and cultural milieu, so expect pervasive casual misogyny.

Clever enough, but marred by narration

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I thought it was fun. Kept me interested from start to finish. It was a new fun twist of a murder story.

It was a fun story!

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The story is great, the twist was brilliant, but the narration seemed.... awkward, almost " bot-like" until I played it at a slightly faster pace. This production decision to slow the voice down is confusing to me, and it likely wasn't the narrator's decision.

play it at x1.25 and it's great

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A loving homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" manages to supersede it's inspiration. Wow! Absolutely incredible!

I've finished this and I don't know what to do now

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