Death on Gokumon Island / 獄門島

I’ve read several Kindaichi stories that I just haven’t reviewed because they’ve all been bad, but not quite as bad as It Walks By Night, so it felt difficult to muster the energy to write when I’d just be making the same points as in that review, but with less gusto. However, Death on Gokumon Island may by the best Yokomizo book I’ve read so far. Don’t interpret that as me liking it, because I don’t, but it’s not a steaming pile of problematic trash, which is a nice change of pace for Yokomizo.

Gokumon Island takes place in 1946 after the end of World War II, with Kindaichi returning from deployment in New Guinea. His brother-in-arms Chimata Kitou passes away from malaria during the boat ride back to Japan, and on his deathbed Chimata tells Kindaichi that if he dies, his three sisters will be murdered, and begs Kindaichi to protect them. Kindaichi travels to Chimata’s home on Gokumon Island in the Seto Inland Sea, ostensibly to inform Chimata’s family of Chimata’s passing but in truth to protect Chimata’s three sisters.

He fails horribly. All three die by the end. While Kindaichi is odd and has his faults his skill as a great detective is constantly praised, which makes no sense considering how many murders happen on his watch. No matter how clearly a murderer broadcasts their intent to kill Kindaichi is never able to help anyone. This happens in multiple books, but is particularly egregious here since Kindaichi knows the three targets from the beginning! Kindaichi never explains his mission, and a compelling reason for this is never given.

Nevertheless, this is probably the best Kindaichi mystery I’ve read, for two reasons. First, the murders actually have some thought behind them! In a lot of Yokomizo stories, the weirdness turns out to be some combination of contrivance and coincidence rather than the workings of anything clever. Gokumon’s murders involve tricks… mostly. The sketchiest murder is mostly glossed over, but it’s still a massive improvement from Yokomizo’s other works. I’m also not sure how fair Gokumon really is, since a lot hinges on information Kindaichi obtains either in the last chapter or off-screen.

In addition to being (relatively) good, Gokumon isn’t bad! Which is to say that it generally escapes Yokomizo’s worst tendencies. There are still a lot of crazy people running around, but there’s no abnormally beautiful teenage girl that every male character attempts to rape, so I’ll count it as a win for Yokomizo. The women aren’t great, but one is competent, and although one character is extremely misogynistic, considering what it gets them I wouldn’t call Gokumon and endorsement of that viewpoint. The cast as a whole is frustratingly cruel and stupid, so as I said, this isn’t about being good, but not being terrible.

The motive—and way the characters act in general—is also ridiculous, and such an extreme overreaction to the situation with an incredibly simple alternative solution. On the other hand, considering how the book ends, perhaps the stupidity of the murders is part of the point, but I don’t really want to give Yokomizo credit that his books could potentially contain societal commentary so we’ll skip over that.

Death on Gokumon Island is a Yokomizo that I can say positive things about, which makes it quite the rare specimen. Obviously I still have plenty of complaints, but they aren’t nearly as severe as normal for Yokomizo. So if you’re going to read a Yokomizo, I guess it should be this one (but if possible I’d still recommend that instead you read something that’s, y’know, good).