Death on Gokumon Island

Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news – the son of one of the island’s most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger – with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters’ lives would now be in danger. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophesy, and to protect the three women if he can.

…

As Kosuke Kindaichi attempts to unravel the island’s secrets, a series of gruesome murders begins. He investigates, but soon finds himself in mortal danger from both the unknown killer and the clannish locals, who resent this outsider meddling in their affairs.

Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the fiendish Death on Gokumon Island is perhaps the most highly regarded of all the great Seishi Yokomizo’s classic Japanese mysteries.

2 editions

Paperback, 320 pages

English language

Published Jan. 5, 2022 by Pushkin Vertigo.

ISBN:: 978-1-78227-741-5
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Reviews

Sean Bala reviewed Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo

Small (Island) Japanese Murder Mystery

4 stars

Content warning Analysis of Author's Writing Over Multiple Novels

After returning home from World War II, Detective Kosuke Kindaichi fulfills his comrade's dying wish to go to Gokumon Island in order to save his sisters from being murdered. The setting (an insular fishing island) was a nice twist on a small town murder mystery. It plays with our perceptions of the insularity of small places and the power dynamics at play throughout. Yokomizo's novels are part of a genre of "fair play" mysteries where the author tries to give the reader all they need to figure out the solution. I genuinely did not expect the solution though it makes sense once you go back through.

This is my fourth Kindaichi novel and it is definitely one of the better ones. It is just the right length and just believable enough. I am beginning to see some of the author's stylistic flourishes. The use of the fourth wall to forshadow, elements of thriller and action to keep the plot going forward, stylistically gruesome murders. One that I'm starting to notice (SPOILER) is that out of the four novels, this is the third one where a psychologically dominant character overtaking a weaker-willed one is a central aspect of the plot. I am curious if that is going to continue.

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