From the bestselling author of Strange Houses and Strange Pictures comes a mesmerizing novel of eleven strange buildings and one terrible secret.
A lonely hut in the woods.
A murder house.
A hidden chamber.
A mysterious shrine.
A home in flames.
A nightmarish prison. . . .
Each of the buildings in this book tells a chilling story. Each one is part of a puzzle. Look closely . . . and you'll see that everything is connected. All leading to a revelation so horrifying you won't want to believe it.
Millions of readers have become addicted to solving Uketsu's dark mysteries. Strange Buildings is the strangest, and darkest, of them all.
Translated from the Japanese by Jim Rion
Release date:
March 3, 2026
Publisher:
HarperCollins
Print pages:
384
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On a cold, windy day, I walked through the streets of Umegaoka towards my friend the draughtsman’s flat. I was carrying eleven files.
y book Strange Houses came out a while back.
It exposed the stories behind some strange floor plans that my friend, an architectural draughtsman, and I investigated. Together, we uncovered the chilling reason that the houses had been built and the terrifying things that happened there.
I am happy to say that Strange Houses was well received and read by a great number of people, with the result that many of those same readers began sending me their own ‘house’ stories:
‘I read your book. The fact is, my house has a strange floor plan, too . . .’
‘Once, when I went to play at my grandmother’s house, I heard odd noises coming from an empty room . . .’
‘There was this weird pillar at a bed and breakfast I once stayed at . . .’
It turns out there are far more ‘strange houses’ around Japan than I could have ever imagined.
This second book consists of my research into eleven of those many, many strange buildings.
At first glance, their stories seem totally unrelated. But on careful reading, they begin to intertwine, telling one incredible tale.
I encourage you to try to spot the connections yourself as you read.
Record of research and interview with Yayoi Negishi
I was sitting in a café in Toyama Prefecture, with a woman across the table from me.
Her name was Yayoi Negishi. She was a part-time worker in her thirties, living in Toyama City. She and I were meeting because she said she had some long-standing worries about her childhood home.
Her son, Kazuki, would soon be turning seven. She told me that one day, he had brought home a copy of Strange Houses from his elementary school library. Apparently, the floor plan on the cover had caught his eye.
However, he’d struggled with the decidedly adult book and couldn’t read many of the words, so he asked his mum to read it to him. Negishi promised to do just that, but for only ten minutes a day, just before bed.
She told me that as they progressed through the book, though, it started to stir up old memories. Slightly unsettling memories that had been buried deep in her subconscious.
NEGISHI: There was something odd about the house I grew up in. But the place was torn down ages ago, and things are so busy now that I just stopped thinking about it. I suppose I had actually buried those memories. But as I read that book, little by little, they came back to me. Memories of that house and my mum.
Negishi’s expression darkened at the mention of her mother.
NEGISHI: Ever since, it’s all I can think about. While I’m doing the dishes, while I’m at work, all the time. I thought talking to whoever wrote that book might help me feel better, so I contacted your publisher.
It’s not like I’m expecting you to uncover some hidden truth. I think I’m just hoping that telling someone will help free me from the burden of my own past. But really, I’m just putting you out. I’m sorry.
AUTHOR: No, not at all. I’ve been talking to lots of people about all kinds of houses and floor plans ever since my book came out. It seems that collecting stories about strange floor plans is becoming my life’s work.
And it sounds like your story certainly falls within that field, so it’s no trouble at all. In fact, I like the idea that your taking part in my little hobby like this might also help bring you some peace. Two birds with one stone, and all that.
NEGISHI: I’m glad to hear you say so.
Negishi took out a notebook and opened it on the table between us, revealing a house floor plan drawn in pencil. There were obvious traces of lines erased and sections scribbled over. It seemed clear that she had been slowly dredging up faint memories as she drew, erasing and redrawing over and over as
new details emerged. ...
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