Ju-On

Ju-On

Ju-On novel by Kei Ohishi published in 2003

Based off of a very large franchise in Japan spanning two manga adaptions and 5 Japanese movie tittles and three American re-makes with a tba 4th this year , a game for the Wii and two shorts.  More commonly known as 'The Grudge'

So unlike RING or DARK WATER the book did not come first and then the movies but the book is a going into the plot more. And let me tell you what a fantastic read this book is.

The style is pretty different from alot of things I have read, the start of every piece will have someones name and it'll be third person on them, this also means there is alot of the same scene but from another person's angle each time and there is ALOT that gets re-told over and over with just a few things changed each time.

There is also some very lazy writing inside, it looks like he used copy paste alot to achieve this book but it still seems to work, it's cool seeing something from an attackers POV followed by the victims POV all the different thoughts and feelings that go through that persons head as it happens.

The gore is fantastically described and again unlike some other Asian horror's I have read the action starts pretty much on the second page of the book! and it doesn't seem to lapse, the pacing is amazing and I finished the book under a week where I was so gripped with the story telling and could not put it down! there are some bits that stay in your mind after and you can't help but feel nervous in dark.

Our main lady Kayako who all the bad shit happens too, you feel sorry for her at the start and by the end you just think she is a selfish bitch, that sort of character switch from thinking poor girl to fucking fruit cake is good writing. The book even explains the Japanese suffix's used in the book and each chapter tends to have a neat ghost story referenced from other people's work before it.

All in all this has been my favourite horror book to date. Kei Ohishi needs to do more, I liked his lazy but on edge writing.

Scares: 5/5

Gore: 5/5

Pacing: 5/5

Style: 3.5/5

Overall score 5/5

Off to re-watch all the Japanese and piss poor American versions now!

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