Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Murder and time travel collide in Nishizawa's charming English-language debut. On New Year's Eve, Reijiro Fuchigama gathers his descendants at his home, where he plans to reveal who will inherit his fortune. At dinner, he invites two servants to join the pool of potential successors, which he will choose on a whim. Among the hopefuls is narrator Hisataro, Fuchigama's teenage grandson, who has a condition that forces him to relive random days of his life nine times. As the only person experiencing any given loop, Hisataro "can deliberately alter the course of reality" before the loop ends. When someone kills Fuchigama after his announcement, Hisataro gets caught in one such loop, but his efforts to save the day become complicated when a different culprit kills his grandfather during each repeated day. Nishizawa stitches elements from Clue, Groundhog Day, and Toshikazu Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold into a mischievous tale that stands on its own two feet. This lighthearted whodunit will please anyone who likes their murder mysteries with a dash of whimsy. (Aug.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In Japanese novelist Nishizawa's English-language debut, a teenager tries to prevent the murder of his grandfather in an unusual way. Hisataro has a mysterious affliction he cannot control. Without warning, he can wake up in a time-loop that requires him to relive the same day nine times. On New Year's Day, he travels to his grandfather's house with his mother and brothers to learn who will inherit the sizeable family fortune. Other relatives with a vested interest in the announcement show up as well, but Hisataro's grandfather is murdered before he can name his heir. When Hisataro wakes up the next morning, he realizes that he is reliving the day of the murder. As the events repeat over and over, he learns that plenty of people who were at the scene of the crime would do just about anything to receive the fortune. Hisataro gathers more evidence with each time-loop, but will what he learns be enough to change the outcome of the day? VERDICT Nishizawa mixes Groundhog Day with a classic locked-room mystery. For fans of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton and those who enjoy some speculative elements in their crime fiction.--Jean King
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather's murder. Nishizawa's compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami's youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa's clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies--never leaving his grandfather's side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all--fall frustratingly short. Hisataro's comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It's only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa's novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: "Time's spiral never ends." A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
