In any case, the story here is good, though somewhat complicated and even confusing at times, and I love Suzuki's writing style. Then around 170-180 pages in, he does a somewhat lengthy recap of everything that happened in Ring? I thought this was a bit clunky and would have made a lot more sense as some sort of introduction at the beginning of the book. One thing I thought was incredibly bizarre was that Suzuki made references for the first 170 or so pages to characters and events in Ring and didn't provide much context, making the story up to that point reliant on the reader having read Ring. That being said, Ring ends on a cliffhanger and that is not only resolved but becomes somewhat of a focal point of the story in Spiral.

In this vein the story is somewhat derivative. Similar to the last book with Asakawa and Ryuji, these new characters form a duo who try to uncover the truth behind the mysterious deaths that occurred in Ring. We meet some new characters in Spiral, mainly Ando, a coroner, and his colleague Miyashita. I thought it was a slight step down, but still a good book. I wasn't as impressed with Spiral as I was with Ring. I felt like saying, 'd'uh man, pay attention.'Ĭertainly that fax reveal pails in comparison to this fax reveal. When Ando receives the fax and figures out the woman he's been shtupping is in fact Sadako, his terror and bewilderment is way out of proportion to the reader's.

And it also seemed fairly obvious to me that the only way she could be walking and talking is if she's the 'thing' Mai gave birth to (because we know Mai gives birth to something). One more thing: is the identity of the young woman coming out of Mai's apartment supposed to be a 'big reveal' moment towards the end of the novel? I assumed immediately this is vengeful Sadako in the flesh. But I'm willing to give Suzuki a chance and see what he can pull off in the final installment of the trilogy - Loop. It seems overly ambitious to me at this point, without the 'meat' to sustain it in a satisfying, credible way. Just go with it.įor fans familiar with the Ring movies, this is a pretty wild *evolution* of the original premise and curse. This is j-horror, not a medical thriller nor Isaac Asimov. There's some crazy ass theories going on in these pages and if you don't commit to just sit back and enjoy the ride you will not.

But two things chipped away at the star rating: 1) not enough creee-py (though a few scenes work incredibly well) and 2) waaaaay too much solving of codes and clues and shop-talk about genetics and DNA (oh, and these biological aspects are much more strap on your suspension of disbelief fantastical than this guy's done his research science fiction with the emphasis on science).

Kōji suzuki's ring