Book Review
Title: Jukai (The Torihada Files Book 2)
Author: Tara A Devlin
Genre: Horror
Rating: ****
Review: While this book is technically book 2 in a series they can be read as standalone novels set within the same universe. So, I knew nothing about this book going into it other than it is based on a Japanese legend and it is horror, we are introduced to Mako who works at a tea shop with Sayumi who left one night and hasn’t contacted her for weeks and she is starting to get worried. We also learn that Mako is a finder, a person who can find things and people who are missing or lost.
One day Yasu comes to Mako’s tea shop for help. He knows of her side job; the one is hidden from public view and he wants Mako to find his missing girlfriend. Mako tells him that they no longer offer the finding service as it was Sayumi that dealt with these customers but when she realises that 3 girls; Sayumi, Akiko and Yasu’s fiancée Keiko have all gone missing she decides to help him.
As Mako tries to locate Keiko she realises that she is in the Kurohana Forest and that she wasn’t alone as in her vision there are other bodies hanging from the trees. For those of you that don’t know this forest seems to be based on the real-life Aokigahara Suicide Forest. However, in trying to locate Keiko, Mako has unknowingly invited something into her home and Sayumi isn’t here to help her get rid of them.
As Mako works to locate Keiko she realises that she has to travel to the forest herself, but she is dealing with spirits and a possible stalker as well which isn’t doing great things for Mako’s nerves. She does travel to the forest, but she is determined not to fall under the forest allure and the first person she looks for is Sayumi. On her first trip into the forest, she finds the young girl Akiko’s body and it looks like she was hung but a 10-year-old school girl has no reason for killing herself and Mako also finds Sayumi’s brooch, so she knows her friends is also in the forest somewhere and possibly Keiko as well. Something is strange about the forest as Mako believes she was in there for a long time, but she was only there 10 minutes and she knows she has to return but can she stays composed enough to enter the forest again especially when something sinister seems to be following her.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, things are getting darker and darker but using her powers on a regular basis is giving Mako some clarity as she now has an idea about why all these girls are going missing and why the spirits of the dead are angry, and she intends to save her friend and set the spirits free. The conclusion of this story in itself was interesting and slightly haunting but I wish there was some more history on the forest and the multiple spirits we are introduced to earlier on but highly recommended for fans of Japanese horror and folklore.
Buy it here:
Paperback: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from Booksprout.
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