Strange Houses

When a writer with a fascination for the macabre is approached by an acquaintance about a seemingly perfect first home in Tokyo, he begins what will become a deeply unsettling investigation. The house appears bright and spacious at first glance, but closer examination of its floor plans reveals a mysterious “dead space” hidden between the walls—a peculiar anomaly that shouldn’t exist in proper architectural design. Seeking expert insight, the writer consults his architect friend Kurihara, who uncovers even more disturbing irregularities throughout the building’s layout.

As they delve deeper into the house’s strange design features—including windowless children’s rooms and inexplicable double doors—the pair begins to suspect something sinister behind its construction. Their investigation takes a dramatic turn when a body suddenly appears, and a young woman contacts them about a second house with similarly disturbing architectural elements. What was initially a curious architectural puzzle transforms into a dangerous mystery that threatens to consume them both.

Structured uniquely around a series of chilling floor plans that serve as both evidence and puzzle pieces, Strange Houses invites readers to participate actively in the investigation. The novel casts you in the role of detective alongside the protagonists, challenging you to decipher the hidden meanings within the house’s warped and unsettling blueprints. Each architectural anomaly presents a new clue, drawing you further into a conspiracy that spans generations and defies logical explanation.

This innovative mystery-horror work comes from Uketsu, a phenomenon in Japan known for creating unnerving layouts, trap doors, and impossible spaces that conceal dark secrets. Translated expertly by Jim Rion, who has extensive experience with Japanese cultural and literary works, the novel maintains the precise, unsettling atmosphere that made Uketsu a sensation in his home country. The translation captures both the clinical precision of architectural description and the creeping dread that permeates the narrative.

From the bestselling author of Strange Pictures, this novel has been praised as “deliciously unsettling and refreshingly unique” by New York Times bestselling author Kristen Perrin. With its clever integration of visual elements and narrative, Strange Houses offers readers an immersive experience unlike traditional mysteries, where the physical structure of the book itself becomes part of the puzzle to be solved. The result is a compact but deeply layered work that lingers in the mind long after the final page.