[Editorial] J-Horror Book Recommendations

In addition to all the content and movie talk during this month’s focus on J-Horror, here are five book recommendations to add to your reading list.

Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination

by Edogawa Rampo

If you think this author’s name sounds a bit like Edgar Allan Poe you’d be right and it’s a very fitting pen name for the creator of these tales of mystery and imagination. But the title alone of one of these stories, The Human Chair, should conjure up an idea that these are not your run-of-the-mill mystery stories. While some of them fit more neatly into the mystery and crime genres, some of them are straight up horror and the characters get up to some truly bizarre and disturbing things guaranteed to leave you unsettled. 

The Graveyard Apartment

by Mariko Koike

A financially strapped 

couple and their young daughter move into a wonderful apartment that they find at a cheap price but there’s a catch (because there’s always a catch!) which is that the view from their new home overlooks a graveyard. They experience some strange goings-on in the building which tests the relationships between the family members while the scepticism of others furthers their isolation. The combination of supernatural and psychological horror makes for a tense read with very effective creepiness, offering a unique spin on the classic haunted house tale.

Now You're One of Us

by Asa Nonami

Noriko marries an eligible young bachelor and moves in with her husband’s family where multiple generations live in the same home overseen by the enigmatic matriarch ‘Great Granny’. Married life isn’t quite what she envisioned and instead of wedded bliss her life is filled with paranoia and unease which culminates in the discovery of the family’s dark secret. Drawing comparisons to Rebecca and Rosemary’s Baby, this is a wonderfully atmospheric mix of gothic and psychological horror with some seriously twisted surprises.

---

HAVE YOU LISTENED TO OUR PODCAST YET?

---

Revenge

by Yōko Ogawa

Strawberry shortcake, bizarrely shaped carrots and torture devices are just a few of the things you will find within these short stories, each one cleverly linked to the next. There is a macabre streak that runs through the collection, luring the curious reader in until they can’t look away when confronted with the horrifying things that these characters experience or are capable of, the impact of which will continue to haunt long after closing the book. A brilliantly written and fascinating look at the dark and the strange.

Goth

by Otsuichi

Two students form an odd friendship over their mutual obsession with true crime, specifically local cases which give them the opportunity to visit crime scenes and undertake their own investigations. But even when they come face to face with serial killers they prefer to act as impartial observers rather than reporting their findings to the police. Murder, kidnapping and suicide are all part of their research into what makes these people tick. This is a disturbing yet mesmerising study of emotionally detached teens and the grisly crimes they are infatuated with. 

RELATED ARTICLES

---

---

EXPLORE

---

MORE ARTICLES

---

---