I think the cover of this book is a little misleading, it calls itself a mystery horror sensation. And while there are elements of mystery to it, it’s not what I would call traditional horror in any sense. It does have some cool ideas and I like how they are presented.

A quick, short read, the book has four main drawings that chapters are built around. Each chapter focuses on a single drawing and the story around it, or the one it tells from deductions made by the characters in the tale.

We learn about murders, abuse, and as each chapter reveals more, we learn that despite feeling like separate stories they are all connected, and lead to a troubling reveal by tale’s end.

I like the ideas behind the book. Uketsu is a huge Japanese internet sensation. They keep their identity a secret by appearing masked online, and the pictures they share, or use in the book, are meant to inspire investigation, to discover sinister truths.

The chapters can be enjoyed independently, but seeing they way they are all drawn together through the course of the story layers the truths and the hurts that have a fantastic impact by the end of the book.

It’s also fascinating to delve into what works as a mystery and horror in other cultures. North American culture tends to be more scares, more violence, more blood and big spooky ideas. here’s a subtlety to the story that is unnerving, because it feels so grounded in everyday reality.

Strange Pictures is a fast, enjoyable read, but I was hoping for a little more from the pictures. I thought there would be the idea of hidden images, or something like that in the images. But it’s all in the interpretation, some of it may be different from way things would be interpreted by a western culture.

Still, I found it to be a fascinating read, I like how it was presented and executed and I’m already looking forward to digging into Uketsu’s other book, Strange Houses. We’ll see what they do with that one. I do like the idea of mysteries hiding in images, and deductions to bring a unseen truth out of them.

It’s a little unnerving, and the mystery is fairly engaging, but I wanted a little more from it. I was hoping for a bigger horror mystery aspect to it. Let’s see what happens in the second book.