While browsing in Foyles book shop, I saw a table display dedicated to Strange Houses by Uketsu, a book (and author) I hadn’t heard of before. Translated from its original Japanese by Jim Rion, Strange Houses is described on the cover as a ‘chilling Japanese mystery sensation’. Sold. I also love its graphic cover which, it turns out, is very representative of the story inside.
Opening sentence: This is the floor plan of a certain house.
Let’s be detectives
Our lead character is a journalist, whose friend almost buys a house, but is put off by the creepy floorplan. He consults his architect friend and they do a little bit of detective work, all through floorplans, which is the interesting format of Strange Houses that has people hooked.
We’re taken on a detailed journey of the intricacies of the house (houses, actually) and just why they have been built in this unusual way.
Have you ever looked up ‘unsolved murders’ on the internet? There are loads of them out there, and plenty that rival the most frightening horror novel. Crimes are twisted beyond imagination, happening in real life.
The story takes a dark and sinister turn, as you would expect from a book like this, involving a family steeped in superstition and secrets, along with a little murder, of course.
Who is Uketsu?
It turns out the author, Uketsu, is a YouTuber who never shows his face, as this creepy image in the back of the book confirms (discover more about him in this interview):
He expanded his unsettling content style from YouTube into fiction and had huge hits. I can absolutely see why. I found Strange Houses very entertaining and enticing overall with clever elements, but I also felt it relied a little too much on coincidence and just random assumptions to make the plot truly flow and have that wow-element for me.
Uketsu has a previous book, Strange Pictures, which comes with rave reviews, so I’m going to give that a read too as I did enjoy the overall premise and reading experience of Strange Houses.
What do you think? Have you read these books?
- Get your copy of Strange Houses here;
- Published by Pushkin Press 2025;
- 197 pages;
- Book review rating:
Books on the 7:47 
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