Black Paradox

Starred review from October 1, 2022

A group of strangers brought together on Black Paradox, a social media site for people interested in ending their own lives, travel into the forest determined never to return. En route to their final destination, they reveal why they want to die--Taburo is haunted by visions of a doppelganger, Baracchi is despondent due to a facial disfigurement, Maruso can't stand living with overwhelming anxiety any longer, and Pii-Tan feels inadequate to a cutting-edge android created in his image. But wait--is it possible this person calling himself Pii-Tan might, in fact, be an android in disguise? The answer to that question is perhaps the easiest twist to predict in this wildly entertaining tale of continuously escalating strangeness. Various attempts to harvest luminous jewels from a dimension that can only be accessed through portals that grow inside the bodies of those who have died and come back to life drive the story; if that summary makes this one sound a little far out, know that it's more far out than anyone but Ito could possibly imagine. VERDICT Ito (The Liminal Zone) combines macabre horror and absurd humor in his most successfully disturbing long-form work in recent years.

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December 16, 2022
Four strangers--Taburo, Pii-tan, Baracchi, Maruso--gather for the first time and embark on their "journey to paradise": "We met on the suicide site Black Paradox, and now we're each other's final companions." The quartet's reasons for seeking death suggest strange parallels: "So the theme of our suicide is . . . 'another me.'" Taburo wants to escape his doppelg�nger; Pii-tan his "mechanical twin"; and Baracchi her own reflection. Only Maburo seems "real." Two attempts fail, but then Pii-tan vomits a mysterious orb of perfection that inspires the foursome to live--at least until they get some answers about the stone's promise of a "dazzling world full of light." Originally published in 2009, Japanese horror master Ito's latest--as with most of his U.S. released titles--is again smoothly brought to English speakers by prodigious translator Allen. Once more, Ito presents humanity's most disturbing traits, including unbridled greed swaying even the most trenchant death wish. His deft show-don't-tell, crisply black-and-white exposition ensures a creepy single-sitting read, likely with repeats to follow. The ending, unrelated bonus story, "Strange Pavilion," appears in full color for a vivid, final "EEE . . . EEEEEEE!!"

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