Status Updates From Чудовище во мраке

Okay, so while I give ‘Beast in the Shadows’ its fairly-earned 5*, ‘Flag in the Fog’ was so lackluster and disappointing story that made me relate to the ‘anti-hero’ way more than to the actual protagonist, I can’t give it more than 1*. 1.5*, maybe, only because of Abe. I feel that it’s not exactly fair to combine the ratings for such different stories to evaluate the book as a whole, but it’s middling 3* for it.

I could have applauded the clever way with which Kiriko destroyed Otsuka’s career and public image, if it were only Otsuka who suffered for his misdeeds. But in the name of her revenge, Kiriko condemned an innocent person to prison and allowed a double murderer to walk away free, even though she could have stopped him and cleared her brother’s name. At this point, I feel nothing but disgust for Kiriko.

The plot relies so much on happenstance and coincidences! It would’ve made sense if Kiriko was actively planning her revenge and digging up info on Otsuka, but instead she: a. by chance gets a job in a bar whose owner is connected to Otsuka; b. by chance learns of this connection; c. by pure chance stumbles on a murder scene and gets evidence that gives her power over Otsuka.

I’m a little awed by Mitiko Kono. This woman is rich, so she’s definitely not with Otsuka because of his money; she is young and beautiful, so she wouldn’t have any problems finding a younger and more attractive suitor, so all of that can only mean that she’s sincerely in love with Otsuka.

Otsuka proves himself a more complicated person instead of a heartless monster that he may seem to be from Kiriko’s perspective – he feels guilty for refusing to help Kiriko’s brother, but at the same time he’s too proud to admit that he was wrong, and these emotions make him human, and because of that I can’t really hate him as much as Kiriko does.

The foreword warns that ‘Flag in the Fog’ is a novel with no positive characters, but what about Abe? While Otsuka has questionable morals and Kiriko is too detached for me to sympathize with, Abe is a real sweetheart – in any other story he would’ve been a perfect romantic hero. Well, the foreword to ‘Beast in the Shadows’ had already taught me not to trust them too much…

‘Beast in the Shadows’ is a solid 5*, but ‘Flag in the Fog’ is rather meh so far – I even thought of splitting the book in two and rating each of the stories separately. Still, I rather like the way we investigate the murder through medical reports and police protocols instead of seeing it with our own eyes. Yet there are still too much ‘water’ for me, as the pace is slow and we don’t see much progress on the case.

‘Flag in the Fog’ provides an interesting perspective because the ‘villain’ of the story is not a murderer or a criminal of any sort, but a lawyer who refused a moneyless client, which caused the suspect to die in prison. In the eyes of law, the lawyer did nothing wrong, and even I cannot honestly blame him for not jumping to every poor man’s defense, though this is certainly a flaw in judicial system to be explored.

Just like the narrator, I find myself questioning everything he deduced. What if the villain’s ultimate revenge plan was to frame Sidzuko for her husband’s murder? Then this diabolically complex plan would’ve had to be put into action five years prior, with every detail plotted scrupulously, up to the villain finding an accomplice resembling Sidzuko. Is it contrived and improbable? Yes. But is it impossible? Heck no.

What makes ‘Beast in the Shadows’ a unique detective story is that the hero’s deductions are neither confirmed nor refuted in the final. On the one hand, he crafts a complex theory that makes perfect sense and where every little detail fits into a puzzle, but on the other hand he admits that there’s no hard proof to his deductions, and eventually there’s no way to learn if he’s right or wrong.

I love how the author crafts an intricate and 100% believable theory of Rokuro Koyamada’s death only to completely shoot it down later due to the revelation of a single detail.

In the foreword, the classical mystery of the locked room was presented as having a supernatural element, as there’s no possible way for Sidzuko’s stalker to spy on her inside her own home… and then it turns out that the wall around Sidzuko’s supposedly impenetrable home is high but not impossible to climb, and that the servants always leave the back door unlocked.

It's mentioned on several occasions that there's a strip of red welted skin running from the back of Sidzuko's head down her neck that can be either a scar or some kind of birthmark. I have a feeling that this detail is going to be important – and right now I’m wondering if it’s the mark of abuse Sidzuko experienced, either from her husband or her ex-lover.

I definitely like the creepy mood of this story. Being stalked by your ex is scary enough, but knowing that this stalker may be watching your every move, knowing that you are not safe even in your own home and knowing that your loved ones are threatened is even more creepy.

I'm surprised how short the title story, 'Beast in the Shadows', actually is - just 80 pages not counting the foreword, and the formatting is pretty small. Also, I’d really want to know who exactly thought that it would be a brilliant idea to reveal the story’s central twist in the blurb… and then to write a foreword that confirms that yes, this is indeed the main twist and not an attempt to mislead the reader.