The Complete Ring Trilogy: Ring, Spiral, Loop

リング [Ring] #1-3

by Kōji Suzuki

Together for the first time, in ebook form, the stunning, cutting-edge thrillers with a chilling supernatural twist from the Japanese master of suspense. THE RING is the famous novel that spawned the big-budget blockbuster US horror movie of the same name.

Asakawa is a hardworking journalist who has climbed his way up from local-news beat reporter to writer for his newspaper’s weekly magazine. A chronic workaholic, he doesn’t take much notice when his seventeen-year-old niece dies suddenly – until a chance conversation reveals that another healthy teenager died at exactly the same time, in chillingly similar circumstances.

Sensing a story, Asakawa begins to investigate, and soon discovers that this strange simultaneous sudden-death syndrome also affected another two teenagers. Exactly one week before their mysterious deaths the four teenagers all spent the night at a leisure resort in the same log cabin.

When Asakawa visits the resort, the mystery only deepens. A comment made in the guest book by one of the teenagers leads him to a particular vidoetape with a portentous message at the end: those who have viewed these images are fated to die at this exact hour one week from now.

Asakawa soon finds himself in a race against time – he has only seven days to find the cause of the teenagers’ deaths before it finds him. The hunt puts him on the trail of an apocalytpic power that will force Asakawa to choose between saving his family and saving civilization.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Science Fiction, Ebooks

865 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Suzuki Kōji (鈴木光司) was a Japanese writer, who was born in Hamamatsu and lived in Tokyo. Suzuki was the author of the Ring novels, which has been adapted into a manga series. He has written several books on the subject of fatherhood. He was on the selection committee for the Japan Fantasy Novel Award.

Koji Suzuki died in Tokyo.

Bio updated with details of the author's death from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Nicoletta Furnari]

Libro completamente al di fuori della mia comfort-zone, “RING” si è rivelato una lettura da divorare!
Pur essendo classificato come horror, a causa della presenza misteriosa che incarna la pura malvagità, io l’ho vissuto come un thriller estremamente coinvolgente, dal quale non sono riuscita a staccarmi finché non sono arrivata in fondo.
Ambientato in Giappone, il protagonista è Asakawa, un giornalista trentenne attirato da tutto ciò che è occulto e tendente al paranormale che, per caso, viene a sapere che nella data e nell’ora in cui è morta la nipote di sua moglie, è deceduto anche un ragazzo mentre, in sella alla sua moto, era fermo ad un semaforo. Causa della morte per entrambi si rivela essere un arresto cardiaco improvviso. Sarà una coincidenza?
Per Asakawa diventa un chiodo fisso e decide così di investigare sulla faccenda: scopre che anche altri due ragazzi sono morti inaspettatamente in circostanze anomale, sempre nello stesso momento. Ormai è una certezza: non può essere un caso. Ecco così che le indagini si intensificano per riuscire ad individuare cosa accomuna i quattro giovani: una settimana prima del decesso hanno trascorso una notte al Pacific Land Club di Hakone Sud, ma cosa potrà mai essere accaduto laggiù da provocarne il trapasso? Asakawa si reca sul posto per cercare ulteriori indizi, ma trova solo un’inquietante videocassetta apparentemente senza senso, contenente però una oscura maledizione, che ne predice la morte entro una settimana a meno che… Accidenti! Il finale è tagliato!!!
Ora Asakawa deve per forza risolvere il mistero se non vuole morire e abbandonare così la moglie e la figlioletta. Si farà aiutare dal suo strano amico Takayama, in una disperata corsa contro il tempo per trovare la soluzione ad un enigma apparentemente senza capo né coda e, pertanto, insolubile.
Koji Suzuki ha ideato un romanzo dalla trama davvero intrigante ma, ciò che mi ha colpito di più, è stato lo stile: non mi aspettavo delle descrizioni così dettagliate ed evocative, in grado di risucchiare ancora di più il lettore in un vortice dal ritmo serrato ed ansiogeno.
Non credo che avrò mai il coraggio di vedere il film, ma il libro è stato un’esperienza esaltante!

[Steven Feldman]

There are really four books in the series, as far as English translations go: Ring, Spiral, Loop and Birthday. The last is more important than you'd think. There are only three stories in it, but each pertains specifically to one of the first three books. The first explains in excruciating detail what happened to Mai Takano in Spiral. The second is a prequel to Ring detailing Sadako's power pre-videotape, and was adapted for the movie Ring 0: Birthday. The third is a direct sequel to Loop and is an absolute must for anyone who liked that book. This is not just a collection of stories. Read them in order and you'll find that each story refers to the previous, as well as to the entire series. They are all thoroughly resonant and worth your time.

The fifth book in the series, S, is scheduled for release in English translation in the USA on October 24, 2017. The movie Sadako 3D is (very) loosely based on S. The sixth book in the series is Tides. One hopes that it will be translated into English at some point after S is released.

[—lisbeth 🦢]

WAAAAAAR IS OVEEEEER !!

Non sérieusement je ne m'attendais pas à ce que ça prenne un tournant super scientifique comme ça ? Moi je m'attendais à une meuf qui sort de la télé du GLAUQUE de l'HORREUR mais non j'ai eu un cours de SVT mélangé à de la psychologie et philosophie.
Mais le livre est super intéressant, même en n'étant pas friande de la science et des maths j'ai réussi à m'intéresser à certains passages que l'on peut trouver longs et chiants...
Si vous voulez réfléchir sur l'humanité et Dieu faut lire ce livre !
bisous

[Fokion]

This must have been pretty mind-blowing when it was first released. I mean, it starts off as a juvenile (yet memorable and rather exotic) ghost story, and then it keeps expanding in the realm of science fiction until it encompasses a whole universe, theological issues and all. In fact, the premise is so engrossing, that you don't really notice the constant repetition and the generally good, but rather workmanlike translation. It's very much a product of its time, when technology had a rather metaphysical aspect to it, but it's still a fascinating read for the most part.

[Jason]

Sadako Yamamura never tops in any of the three books despite having perfectly formed male genitalia. That totally ruined the Horror-Fantasy for me.

[Octavia Cade]

I watched the Ring movie years ago and liked it, so when I found the library had the series I thought I'd give it a go. The books aren't as good. The first two are alright, decent enough reads, but Loop is a bit of a self-indulgent mess and it was a drag to finish. It also seems to veer much closer to science fiction, eschewing the horror of the first two books.

I think that for me the primary tension here is between idea and presentation. For the most part, I find the ideas mildly interesting (except, as I said, in Loop) and the exploration of infection and replication is something that appeals. The characters, however, tend to be somewhat bland and the women are never more than supporting pieces of cardboard, mostly there as backdrop while the men pontificate to themselves about their own cleverness.

The film was better.

[SadafKhan]

By the end of this trilogy Ring had transformed from horror to science fiction but it always remained a fascinating and often thrilling journey. There are a couple of things I still don’t understand which may have been revealed in the sequels which I’ll have to read but if anyone knows they can reply here. The first is why did Asakawa die even though he lived past the deadline if copying the tape and showing someone else does not break the curse? And secondly in Loop, when Kaoru was watching the kids play the original tape in the virtual reality, why didn’t he see what the original instructions for breaking the curse were before they were deleted?

[Jackie Hinton]

Unexpected

SO different from the Ring movies and much, much better. I can't wait to read the other two books in this series ~ and the third one when it gets translated into English.

This trilogy took my imagination places it hasn't been in such a long time and without doubt i will read it again and again and again.

So sad that Mr. Suzuki died a few months ago but i will read his other books too. I'm also very pleased with the translation into English.

[Sri]

I enjoyed reading Ring and Spiral, but Loop was so out-of-loop that I couldn't get far into reading.

And yes, they are very different from the movies. This could be an unpopular opinion, but I loved the books (first two) more than their movie adaptations.

[Alex Marie]

Incroyable

[Darshik]

you may not like it if you're expecting it to be something like the hollywood version. let's say it's not sort of supernatural and haunting like that. it has an independent plot.

[Jacob Hinte]

just read the first 2 books the 3rd is not worth the read

[J. S.]

an interesting series that holds surprises even to those who have seen the movie.

[Cookie]

Reviewing this as a trilogy - the story started off strong and engaging with its paranormal vibes, turned into a mystery midway through, and ended as a draggy slog of a science fiction. The story’s conclusion is unsatisfying, needlessly complex and the dry prose coupled with the unnecessary details makes for an unmemorable ending - the author should stick to writing horror as he excels in this area.

[Cindy]

very loooooooooooooong to read but enjoyable =D

at the end, i was O__O

this makes me want to watch again the movies.