This is it. One of the best reads in this year so far! I am talking about Strange Pictures by Uketsu. You might think Who is he? Yeah, it was my question too. Never heard of him before this book. Uketsu is a mysterious Japanese author, but his journey began with a YouTube channel where he has 1.7 million subscribers. Uketsu always appears in videos wearing a black bodysuit and a white paper mask. His voice is digitally altered, so we have no idea of his true persona. This anonymity only fuels people’s curiosity and makes them talk about him more. He remains a captivating enigma, leaving his fans hungry for every strange, haunting and mysterious creation on his channel.
So what is this debut novel about? As we can read on Goodreads:
A pregnant woman’s sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning.
A child’s picture of his home contains a dark secret message.
A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbit hole that will reveal a horrifying reality.
Structured around these nine childlike drawings, each holding a disturbing clue, Uketsu invites readers to piece together the mystery behind each and the overarching backstory that connects them all.
Strange Pictures is a masterclass in creating tension. Every chapter is like a ticking bomb that keeps you on the edge of sanity. There are four chapters in this book, each of which looks like a standalone story.
At the beginning, we have a brief explanation and an introduction to what you can expect in this book. There are sketches made by people who were affected by trauma.
This book makes you a part of the story. I was part of the team that tried to delve into the profound truth of this story.
Altogether, it creates this web that sucks you more and more page after page. I had so much fun with this book. It makes you a part of this story. You are put into the seat of a detective who has to find answers, and every person in the book is giving you so much information that you have to process and find what the hell is going on. Just keep in mind it is a mystery. I could see people tagging it as a horror, but it wasn’t scary for me.
The first chapter starts with two students who find this weird, disturbing blog.
The last post read:
‘To the one I love most’ 28/11/2012
I am going to stop updating this blog today.
I’ve finally figured out the secret of those three drawings.
I can’t imagine what kind of pain you must have been suffering.
Nor can I understand the depths of whatever sin you committed.
I cannot forgive you. But even so, I will always love you.
Raku
You have to say it is eerie and disturbing. Who is this Raku talks about? What kind of sin did this person commit? What do these drawings have in common? There are a lot of questions and no answers at the beginning of the course. As you dive deeper into this maze, you might or might not find these answers, and I am sure you don’t expect this kind of ending. Do you have the guts to read this?
Perfect read for a chilly autumn day. It is a 5 stars for me!