Spoiler Alert: This post may reveal key details from the story. ::: One day you’re hunting for jobs as a college senior, and the next you’re knee-deep in a decades-old, chilling mystery buried in an abandoned blog. Strange Pictures by Uketsu, released in 2022, is a gripping Japanese horror novel that pulls you into a psychological maze, pieced together through online footprints, unsettling art, and a harrowing generational tragedy.

Plot Summary

The story follows two college students, Saseki and Kurihara, who stumble across a blog that hasn’t been updated in years. It starts innocently enough—daily posts by a man documenting his life with his pregnant wife. But after a brief hiatus, the blog returns with a devastating update: his wife has died during childbirth, and he’s left to raise their newborn son alone.

Beneath this emotional announcement, the students begin to sense something off. There are vague mentions of a third person. The complications of pregnancy, casually brushed aside by the author, seem suspicious in hindsight. And most disturbing of all: a set of strange illustrations drawn by the wife shortly before her death—depicting a woman, a child with a Santa hat, an old woman, a man, and another child.

Nothing makes sense—until the students begin to apply artistic principles known to illustrators, like the wife, Yuki

In a completely different timeline, a journalist investigates the brutal murder of his former high school mentor, who was found stabbed and bludgeoned atop a mountain. The reporter attempts to retrace the mentor’s steps, only to be murdered the exact same way—supposedly by the same killer.

These two threads intertwine around the story of Naomi Konno, a woman who grew up abused by her mother after her father’s death. After killing her mother in an act of desperation, Naomi was cleared by a psychologist who believed her violent instincts were rooted in a twisted sense of justice. She later becomes a midwife, marries Miura Yoshiharu, and has a son, Haruto Konno.

As Haruto grows, his father subjects him to increasingly cruel treatment for being a quiet, introverted boy. Naomi, haunted by her past, murders her husband to “protect” Haruto—just as she once “protected” herself and her bird, Cheepy.

Years later, Haruto marries Yuki. When Yuki becomes pregnant, Naomi’s obsessive desire to reclaim motherhood returns. She handles Yuki’s pregnancy herself and secretly sabotages it using salt tablets, aggravating Yuki’s hypertension. Yuki dies giving birth to a son, Yuta Konno. But before her death, she leaves behind cryptic drawings foretelling her fate.

Haruto, long blinded by loyalty to his mother, eventually decodes the drawings. He realizes the truth, posts a final blog entry confronting Naomi’s sins, and takes his own life.

As the story nears its end, Mr. Kumai, a veteran journalist who once worked the Yoshiharu case, revisits the murders after the death of his colleague, Iwata. With the police’s help, he sets a trap and catches Naomi in the act of attempting another attack.

The book closes with a haunting conversation between Mr. Kumai and one of the college students who started the investigation.

Analysis

Uketsu blends reality and time masterfully in such a way that key details and hints hide in plain sight. The timeline isn’t straight, time seems to warp throughout the book. The Main Character of the book is not apparent until atleast after more than half of the book is done. The multiple perspectives makes it seem like they are different individual stories and not just part of the same one. It all clicks together in one devastating moment.

The story is a direct reflection of Yuki’s drawings. You may try to make sense of them in whatever ways, but when you finally find the layers of truth, it reveals a terrifying truth- the tale of Naomi Konno’s serial killing.

Final Thoughts

I give this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I finished this book in about 5 hours, I simply couldn’t put it down. Every page was dripping with mystery and I wanted to figure it out. It was addictive, chilling and simply mind-blowing. Can’t wait to dive into “Strange Houses”, released on June 3rd, looking forward to read it!