The Graveyard Apartment
by Mariko Koike Pub Date 11 Oct 2016 I received a copy of The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike from Netgallery in exchange for an honest review. It was a totally different ghost, horror, haunted house (building) story than I have ever read. It takes place in Japan in the Tokyo area. I know that I probably missed some clues because I am not familiar with Japanese culture. Never the less, it scared the crap out of me. Elevators and basements are out for the foreseeable future. The novel revolves around a family that buys an apartment. It is a new building, close to mass transit, across the street from a good school, large rooms and a very reasonable price. It is almost too good to be true. The building i surrounded on three sides by a cemetery, a temple (I am assuming it has some type of mortuary purpose) and a crematorium. So a quiet neighborhood! Within a short period of time everyone has moved from the building including the building managers, leaving the family all alone in the eight story, sixteen apartment building. The words to Hotel California definitely ran a loop as I read this book. The sense of foreboding was tactile. The evil slowly envelopes the plot and the characters to the point that it is truly menacing. I really, really liked this novel. If you are familiar with Japanese culture it is probably even more horrifying. There are probably things that I did not realize represented something really bad because of my own ignorance. If you are looking for a good horror novel but not the norm, The Graveyard Apartment is perfect. Except I would not live there. I probably will not go in my own basement for a week.
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