四〇一二号室

by Yukiko Mari

タワーマンションの最上階、四〇一二号室に暮らす人気作家、珠美は、人生の絶頂にいながら満たされずにいた。ある日、古本屋の老婆に古い写真を見せられるが、そこには見知らぬ赤ん坊が写っていて……。一方売れない作家、桜子は安マンションで珠美を妬ましく思う日々。しかし――1999年11月22日、大停電の日。珠美がマンションから転落。女たちの運命が逆転した――はずが、それは悲劇の始まりに過ぎなかった。著者が仕掛けた夥しい数の罠が、ラスト3ページで「こう来たか！」の大興奮に変わる長篇ミステリ。

349 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Jessica.M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always give an extra star for unforeseen plot twist as a prencple, so this is a four-star reading though reluctantly.

真梨幸子 has unique techniques of carving unlikeable female characters, in a way that makes them truly resentful and despicable, not the ‘super-cool-catwoman/Cersei Lannister-kind-of-cliche’. Their inner monstrosity is so real, especially when they showed the maximum amount of malevolence toward the smallest offense. Her way of describing their inner voices is superior.

Buuuuuuuut on the other hand, the story itself is not that interesting. It’s catching enough to make me finish it in one sitting, but won’t make me reread it. Sure, the suspense is there till the very end, but most (if not all) readers would have guessed the whole thing from the very beginning if the author hadn’t avoided mentioning the key character until the last few pages. By hiding the key character, anybody can make an ‘unpredictable plot twist’ in any book. It’s an effective but somewhat cheap technique.

[Bunnie]

和前一本一样，看完后立刻从头重新翻了一遍