I am a huge fan of all things horror. I have been captivated by the creepy and the macabre ever since I watched Stephen King’s ‘Pet Semetary’ as a young child. As I grew older, my interests in anything that could be described as occult and eerie grew alongside me.

I remember watching the American movie The Ring in the cinema with my friends as a teenager. I didn’t find it particularly scary but I was curious about how it had attempted to make an unavoidable everyday item, a television, so creepy. I later learned that this movie was originally a Japanese idea. I began searching for the original Japanese Ring (or ‘Ringu’ as it’s known), I had to see it. I eventually stumbled across it one evening as it was being aired on a low budget horror channel. I can clearly remember my glee when watching that movie, my eyes glued to the screen, soaking up every moment. It was far more disturbing than its American sibling, although it was almost identical. Maybe it was due to there being no special effects, or maybe it was due to it not being quite as polished and having a sort of vintage feel too it, I’m not quite sure, but whatever it was gave it a more sinister quality, and I loved every minute of it.

Years later I discover the novel on which the movies were based in my local library. Upon seeing the book I immediately felt curious, the same curiosity I experienced when discovering the existence of the movie that would be the beginning to my dark love affair with Japanese horror. I snatched the tome from the shelves, brought it home and immediately dived in.

For those who have seen the movies (or even just one movie), you’ll know the basic story. The book follows the story of a journalist named Asakawa as he investigates the deaths of four students who died from a heart attack on the same day, in the same district of Tokyo. This case is of special interest to Asakawa as one of the students was his wife’s niece. Asakawa begins his investigation and finds a mysterious video tape that claims to curse any who watch it, and promises their demise in exactly one week unless…. Unfortunately for Asakawa someone has recorded over the part of the tape that tells the viewer how to remove the curse. Asakawa enlists the help of his friend Ryuji to help him investigate this curse further and, hopefully, reverse it before seven days have passed.

This book has many differences when compared to the movies, so it is not boring to read even when you think you know what is going to happen. I absolutely loved this book, its darkness, the writing style, and its cliffhanger ending.

What I liked:

• Different to the movies – still an enjoyable read and the ending was not spoiled by the movies

• Well written but still easy to read – descriptive and clear without using complicated and unusual words or phrases

• A good sense of horror and suspense created by encapsulating the sense of hopelessness the protagonists feel

• A true Japanese horror – no heroes, just people battling to survive a hopeless situation for as long as they can

What I didn’t like:

• Rambling at times – protagonists would oftentimes go from point A to point B with no transition, which made certain sections confusing and resulted in re-reading

• Some strange transphobia which seemed to be only mentioned for the sake of it

• Some mentions of topics which some may have difficulty reading about such as rape, which is accepted too easily by the protagonists. For example, it is mentioned early in the story that someone raped a girl, this is just something that is accepted almost as a “character quirk” and does not seem to disgust or upset anyone

Overall I would highly recommend this book to fans of horror, Japanese or otherwise. Despite my glaring list of what I didn’t like I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and I cannot wait to read the next one in the series.

I would rate this 4/5 stars.

Thanks for reading my review!