Uketsu is a phenomenon on social media, with over 1.5 million followers, his real identity unknown. His “sketch mysteries” – where readers try to puzzle out the clues to the mystery from strange drawings, are a massive hit in Japan.

This was an interesting read, full of strange sketches that the reader needs to interpret or manipulate in order to reveal clues and solve the mystery. These appear in a series of overlapping stories, moving backwards and forwards in the timeline. While I didn’t hate it, I felt some of the clues and the way the story developed was a bit of a stretch. The idea that people would leave enigmatic drawings to help identify their murderer? Yeah, not really. The interpretation of the mountain drawings was wild, and there was a lot of exposition required to wrap things up. Not a bad read, but I don’t think I’m the target audience.

This book is on loan from the Summit County Library.