When Art Becomes Creepy

Strange Pictures by Uketsu

Pages: 236 Genre: horror, mystery

Rating: 3 Star

This book features four stories, interconnected by their strange happenings and even stranger images that are central to the investigation. By exploring and unpacking the drawings, a haunting story begins to unfold.

Strange Pictures was recommended as being a very unique way to tell a story, using the drawings as the main way to solve the mystery. While it is an interesting way to frame the story, I don't think it was really that unique. Sure, it was a more inventive way to frame it all, but the narrative basically just walks you through the stories.

I kind of don't know how to feel about this book. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. At the same time, though, I am interested in reading the other book by this author, Strange Houses. Ultimately it was just fine, and probably way overhyped.

The main story was good, and I liked watching it unfold across each individual section (all of which stood on their own pretty well, too). This is really just not an interactive book, though, which isn't inherently bad; some mystery books are Solving mysteries and some are Along For The Ride mysteries. This was the latter, and that's fine, but the framing of the pictures really made it seem like it would be the former. Therefore, it was a bit disappointing for the book to really just be holding my hand as we unpack the clues together.

It's also just not a horror book. Creepy and unsettling? Sure. I'd go so far as to say it was gross sometimes. But it wasn't really scary. As a mystery it was still good, but if you're looking for a horror book you shouldn't stop here.

The writing style was odd. I don't know if I'm just not used to it or if it's a translation issue or what, but it felt really rigid. Again, it was as if the author was holding my hand and leading me through everything, and that was the entire plot. There wasn't much else outside of that. By the end, this didn't bother me much, though.

I think I liked this book overall, even if it really ended up being a typical mystery. I can see why people like it, and if you're interested in a mystery that embraces multiple mediums, it's definitely worth checking out.