Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!
Spoiler Courtesy
Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.
Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags
Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).
Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:
Example
This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.
The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.
This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.
Posting Advice
When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.
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It was a very absorbing read, more so than book 1 I think (being shorter helped). I complained about the shorter chapters squeezing things together a bit, but it did make it easier to keep my attentiion and I think I prefer it to the long drawn-out style of book 1.
This chapter was a bit more police-procedural than hotel goodiness unfortunately, but of course there were hotel-bits in there, even if it was mostly the start. It was obvious from when 畑山 came in that she was the type of person to be pulling strings in the background (harking back to 田所 in chapter 2 with the Lady-Macbeth style) so the husband doing it on her behalf made sense as a way to tie it up, even if it wasn’t what I originally predicted.
I liked 穂積 as the kind of foil to 新田, and thanks to her, we did indeed manage to get some 嗅ぐ! Although it was, I guess you’d say, 間接嗅ぐ, but I’m counting it as close enough to what Akashelia said in spirit.
And of course, a nice way to end it, with 新田 being smitten with 山岸 several years before they meet, and not being able to meet her. I’m sure given a few books they’ll end up with some kind of deeper relationship.
More so than book 1 I can see why 東野圭吾 is so popular. Just earlier I was talking to some coworkers about him when they saw me コッソリ読んでいる and they were talking about how they always end up getting sucked in and reading 50 pages when they meant to read 20.
Regardless, I have so many dozens of books I need to get around to reading that I’ll put the next one on hold till other people are ready to do it (assuming the rest of you liked it enough to keep on going!). Although hopefully not a year like last time!
Agreed! 2 of the short story cases not being murders helped freshen it up too imo. I liked the short hotel chapters much better than I usually like his short stories.
The last story was great! A shame the hotel played such a minor role (on paper at least; it was a very important player behind the scenes :D) but, same as you, I got sucked in pretty effectively.
The confessions at the end with this one were also very understandable, which I had some trouble with in story 2 with the cooking teacher lady.
In the end it was Naomi who did the smelling, though!
I thought the segueing into the previous part at the end was [spoiler]skillfully done, too. Makes me think part 3 will play after the first book and maybe feature the both of them meeting again, finally]
Speaking of which… I don’t remember if Nitta found out he’d heard of Naomi before in Masquerade Hotel.
Is this series your first Higashino Keigo? Another point I appreciate on days like this is that I can read him no problem even when I’m tired.
I’m pretty sure that he didn’t, but maybe they’ll end up figuring it out in a later book or something
Well I guess Nitta didn’t actually end up smelling the 薔薇 scent iirc, but he still tried to, so that’s close enough for me
Yeah, it’s my first, and after finishing this I’ve spent a couple days doing all my reading while tired and not at full focus, where this would have been perfect! Oh well..
Finished too read a bit more than 100 pages today lol.
Comments and replies
Haha yes I totally called it, there would be a nice smell somewhere! Love the 間接嗅ぐ term.
Will be funny to see if that’s an element in the story again in book 3!
It was cute in the end, how 新田 said he really wished he’d met the hotel lady, and 穂積 to wish them to meet one day.
Haha, I was just going to say, see you next year, same time same place for the next book?? Or do people want to read the next book soon? I don’t want to read it just now but I can be convinced to start in say January already…
I’d maybe like to finish it before late March before I probably get quite busy, but can finish it quickly and leave comments, so starting anywhere in the range from jan-early march would be good.
But no problem leaving it a couple months longer too, depends on how everyone else feels
I also finished earlier this week, but was a bit too busy to post. I really liked this last story, though I somehow regret that the previous three didn’t link to this one. I wonder if in later books 新田 will make the connexion between 尚美 at the ホテル・コルテシア東京 and the ホテル・コルテシア大阪 where he once send his underling. The cross-murder plot was very welle conceived, and that could very well have been a perfect murder. And I really fell for the possible affair, until the reveal !
Part 4: マスカレード・イブ
congrats! I’ll read your comment in 2-3 weeks ^^
