What do you think?
Rate this book
赤い部屋
秘密クラブである「赤い部屋」には今夜も、異常な興奮を求める七人の男が集まっていた。
今宵の話し手は新入会員のT氏だ。彼は奇妙なからくり仕掛けの骸骨のように、がくがくと話し出した。
彼は人生に飽きていた。ありふれた刺激に満足できなくなった彼は、ある素晴らしい遊びを発見してからというもの、すっかりその虜になっていた。
しかし、その遊びも九十九を数えて楽しくなくなってしまい、もはや自らの命を絶つしかないと思っているが、その前に誰かに自分がこれまでやって来たことを打ち明けたかったのだという。
彼が発見した素晴らしい遊びとは、法によって裁かれることなく人の命を奪う事だった。彼はこれまでに九十九人の命を奪ってきたのであった……
＜江戸川乱歩（えどがわ・らんぽ）＞
日本の推理小説家。1894年10月21日生まれ、三重県生まれ。筆名は、19世紀の米国の小説家エドガー・アラン・ポーに由来する。数々の職業遍歴を経て作家デビューを果たす。本格的な推理小説と並行して『怪人二十面相』、『少年探偵団』などの少年向けの推理小説なども多数手がける。代表作は『人間椅子』、『黒蜥蜴』、『陰獣』など。1954年には乱歩の寄付を基金として、後進の推理小説作家育成のための「江戸川乱歩賞」が創設された。
今宵の話し手は新入会員のT氏だ。彼は奇妙なからくり仕掛けの骸骨のように、がくがくと話し出した。
彼は人生に飽きていた。ありふれた刺激に満足できなくなった彼は、ある素晴らしい遊びを発見してからというもの、すっかりその虜になっていた。
しかし、その遊びも九十九を数えて楽しくなくなってしまい、もはや自らの命を絶つしかないと思っているが、その前に誰かに自分がこれまでやって来たことを打ち明けたかったのだという。
彼が発見した素晴らしい遊びとは、法によって裁かれることなく人の命を奪う事だった。彼はこれまでに九十九人の命を奪ってきたのであった……
＜江戸川乱歩（えどがわ・らんぽ）＞
日本の推理小説家。1894年10月21日生まれ、三重県生まれ。筆名は、19世紀の米国の小説家エドガー・アラン・ポーに由来する。数々の職業遍歴を経て作家デビューを果たす。本格的な推理小説と並行して『怪人二十面相』、『少年探偵団』などの少年向けの推理小説なども多数手がける。代表作は『人間椅子』、『黒蜥蜴』、『陰獣』など。1954年には乱歩の寄付を基金として、後進の推理小説作家育成のための「江戸川乱歩賞」が創設された。
Audible Audio
Published June 22, 2018
1 person is currently reading
98 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 22, 2023
no one imagines that the law might overlook murder
bardzo krotkie, ale genialne
bardzo krotkie, ale genialne
October 2, 2025
Podobało mi się, ale chyba mam problem z wyższym ocenianiem krótkich książek:(
Plottwist na koniec był fajny tho, unexpected!
Plottwist na koniec był fajny tho, unexpected!
November 20, 2022
kinda cheating again but this was such a good story! probably one of my favorite edgar allan poe stories (not written by edgar allan poe). full of plot twists and turns of the screw and very cunning and witty. i'd definitely like to read some more edogawa rampo! best pen name ever
June 8, 2019
* too stunned to make a review *
January 2, 2025
3.5 💫
“Rather, I had a long-established, good friendship with him.
Nonetheless, I felt a peculiar desire to transform him into a corpse, smiling all the while and without him suspecting a thing”.
Ugh, that was spooky (｡>﹏<)
I liked the way the protagonist narrated the story. He had a sophisticated way with words, but still I felt he had this brutish side to him under the surface. At times there was even a kind of amusing, yet disturbing, nuance to his telling. I could find it funny even, what he’d done, along with him.
I think I liked this. The version I read had quite a lot of spelling errors and the grammar was a bit off in some places, but I tried to not let it cloud my judgement.
There was this bit where the child died, which was really tough on me, but that wasn’t really what brought my grade down. What I found less agreeable was the ending.
“Rather, I had a long-established, good friendship with him.
Nonetheless, I felt a peculiar desire to transform him into a corpse, smiling all the while and without him suspecting a thing”.
Ugh, that was spooky (｡>﹏<)
I liked the way the protagonist narrated the story. He had a sophisticated way with words, but still I felt he had this brutish side to him under the surface. At times there was even a kind of amusing, yet disturbing, nuance to his telling. I could find it funny even, what he’d done, along with him.
I think I liked this. The version I read had quite a lot of spelling errors and the grammar was a bit off in some places, but I tried to not let it cloud my judgement.
There was this bit where the child died, which was really tough on me, but that wasn’t really what brought my grade down. What I found less agreeable was the ending.
October 29, 2024
“come now my poor, bored friends. isn’t this precisely the sort of thing that you wanted all along? isn’t this exactly the kind of excitement that you sought?”
Read
May 14, 2025I enjoyed this a lot!
May 16, 2025
I read this short story as a part of a greater Edogawa Rampo short story collection Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination.
A secret society meets to tell tales - and one man recounts how he has killed 99 people and gotten away with it. These "murders" are easy for him to get away with as "accidents" - unfortunate incidents that just so happen to end poorly for the victim involved.
While this premise could have been interesting had there been more thought/written about the plotting and avoidance of being caught - it was all just rather dumb. Mostly little incidents that are actual unfortunate accidents that happened - whether or not he had actual malice in wanting these people dead.
That being said, I quite like the idea of the ending (even if - again - the execution of it wasn't done to my tastes). It really puts on display the foolishness of it all- taking into account how dumb all the previous incidents felt as well.
While I'm not sure this story was worth the read for me- it was entertaining enough thinking about the ending.
A secret society meets to tell tales - and one man recounts how he has killed 99 people and gotten away with it. These "murders" are easy for him to get away with as "accidents" - unfortunate incidents that just so happen to end poorly for the victim involved.
While this premise could have been interesting had there been more thought/written about the plotting and avoidance of being caught - it was all just rather dumb. Mostly little incidents that are actual unfortunate accidents that happened - whether or not he had actual malice in wanting these people dead.
That being said, I quite like the idea of the ending (even if - again - the execution of it wasn't done to my tastes). It really puts on display the foolishness of it all- taking into account how dumb all the previous incidents felt as well.
While I'm not sure this story was worth the read for me- it was entertaining enough thinking about the ending.
November 30, 2024
This Ranpo fella is really tricky! This story is one of those few cases where I even liked how the author cheated multiple times as this ‘fiction in fiction’ / ‘illusions in illusions’ kind of narration was carried out constantly. I did figure out some of the plot twists though, but in the end the whole plot managed to trick me.
December 3, 2024
This is a tale about a secret society that functions as a leisure getaway for bored adults to tell enticing horror stories to cure their boredom and that of the other members. The character telling the story in this book frightened me to the core. It's absolutely incredible.
July 27, 2023
Hilarious honestly
January 5, 2025
Such a wild narrative. Definitely worth reading.
January 27, 2026
⭐️⭐️ OKAY, BUT NOT FOR ME
Centers on a confession framed as intellectual provocation, the book draws the reader into a claustrophobic space of obsession and self justification. The premise promises psychological depth, but the execution remains narrowly focused on the speaker’s fascination with his own transgression.
The narration leans heavily on shock as substance and interior reflection circles the same ideas without developing them. What is presented as insight often reads as fixation which limits the emotional and philosophical range of the story.
Its treatment of morality feels underexamined. The text gestures toward questions of guilt, responsibility, and desire, yet avoids engaging them beyond surface provocation. As a result, the disturbing elements linger without gaining clarity or meaning.
Overall, the story feels more interested in unsettling the reader than in exploring its implications.
Centers on a confession framed as intellectual provocation, the book draws the reader into a claustrophobic space of obsession and self justification. The premise promises psychological depth, but the execution remains narrowly focused on the speaker’s fascination with his own transgression.
The narration leans heavily on shock as substance and interior reflection circles the same ideas without developing them. What is presented as insight often reads as fixation which limits the emotional and philosophical range of the story.
Its treatment of morality feels underexamined. The text gestures toward questions of guilt, responsibility, and desire, yet avoids engaging them beyond surface provocation. As a result, the disturbing elements linger without gaining clarity or meaning.
Overall, the story feels more interested in unsettling the reader than in exploring its implications.
May 25, 2018
YEET
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews