Strange Pictures: A Novel

A BARNES AND NOBLE BEST BOOK OF 2025

"Uketsu's strange riddles are chilling and addictive - I couldn't put it down." --R. F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface

"Delightfully macabre and fiendishly clever. Seemingly unconnected stories tie themselves into a complicated knot, which Uketsu masterfully unravels."--G. T. Karber, author of the national bestseller Murdle

"Wonderfully complex and carefully crafted . . . Uketsu keeps readers guessing until the very end." --New York Times Book Review

The spine-tingling "triumphant international debut" (Publishers Weekly starred review) that has taken Japan by storm--an eerie and fiendishly clever Japanese puzzle mystery in which a series of seemingly innocent pictures draws you into a disturbing web of unsolved mysteries and shattered psyches.

This psychological thriller is an exploration of the macabre, where the seemingly mundane takes on a terrifying significance. . . .

A pregnant woman's sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning.

A child's picture of his home contains a dark secret message.

A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbithole that will reveal a horrifying reality.

Structured around these nine childlike drawings, each holding a disturbing clue, Uketsu invites readers to piece together the interconnected mysteries behind each and the over-arching backstory that connects them all. Strange Pictures is the internationally bestselling debut from mystery horror YouTube sensation Uketsu--an enigmatic masked figure who has become one of Japan's most talked about contemporary authors.

• A great read for spooky-season nights
• A perfect addition to any Halloween reading list

Translated from the Japanese by Jim Rion.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.