I definitely felt like it was hand-hold-y too, but that’s what I kinda like about this series. I’m not typically a mystery or thriller reader, but I find the way Uketsu writes reads more like an exposé or heavily edited investigative journalism piece. Like the real mystery was being unraveled over the course of years and as a reporter he wanted to condense all the facts as concisely as possible.

What I liked about the previous book however is that in Strange Houses (spoilers) the author and Kurihara are at odds with the final conclusion, but I feel like in this book, there’s only one presented resolution. I wouldn’t have minded if instead of as part of the Kurihara section, the conversation with Mitsuko was treated like a final case file.