This book is the sequel to Ring, but it is designed to be able to be read as a stand alone novel. However, this review will contain some spoilers for those who haven’t read Ring so if you wish to read that book first then do not continue reading this review.

This book starts off where Ring ended. The protagonist in this book is a pathologist named Ando who is haunted by the death of his young son who drowned two years prior. Ando works in a morgue conducting autopsies and is tasked with the autopsy of Ryuji, who was one of the protagonists in Ring. Ryuji and Ando were friends throughout college so naturally Ando is saddened to learn of Ryujis death, especially at such a young age. After finishing the autopsy Ando stuffs Ryujis body with newspapers to replace the space of his removed organs.

After sewing the cadaver back up, a piece of newspaper manages to find a way to protrude from a gap. Ando inspects the page and sees a series of numbers on it. He remembers how, during college, his classmates used to create codes and enjoy seeing who could solve the code first. Ryuji was always the best at this and he was also the one who could always make the codes that could never be cracked. Ando is convinced that the numbers on the newspaper must be a code of some sort, and Ryuji is trying to communicate with him from beyond the grave.

Ando solves this code in a coffee shop later that day. The numbers spell out one word – R I N G. Is it a coincidence that these numbers spelled a word, or is his old college pal really trying to tell him something?

I enjoyed this book entry bit as much as Ring, with one exception – I hated the Epilogue. It was a short chapter, and in my opinion it just was not needed. It felt like a quick way to wrap everything up but I felt that if the chapter before that was the end then it would have been much better. At times the medical jargon was a bit too much and I found myself skimming, but it didn’t detract from the story as everything is explained in layman’s terms too.

I also felt that this book would have been a bit confusing to read without reading Ring first, although out was designed to be able to be enjoyed that way. I felt that it didn’t explain enough of Ring to show why certain things were important or relevant, but as I read Ring first it is difficult for me to judge this.

This book had far more creepy parts to it than Ring. My favourite part is when Ando visits Mai’s apartment. I’m sure most people who have read the book will agree with me when I say that chapter will be the cause of many nightmares for years to come.

Overall I loved this book and would highly recommend it to fans of Ring, or other supernatural Japanese horror.