The Fiend with Twenty Faces

I'm Japanese and I used to read this Fiend of Twenty Faces series over and over again when I was a kid. (Zen's comment is right - This story was originally written for kids, mostly Grade 3-7 kids.) I am so excited to find this translation, for just recently I read this story to my kids in Japanese and my bilingual daughter wanted to re-read it in English. I like this translation, which precisely follows the original story. However, I do not like the illustrations.... First, as I understand it, the Fiend with Twenty Faces is a sort of gentleman who does not like violence -- he never kills or injures anyone. He is a young handsome man, who is super-smart. So he should not be depicted as an apparently vicious villain like the man on the cover page. Second, in one illustration in which a boy named Kobayashi is supposed to disguise himself as a statue of buddha, he doesn't look like a Buddha at all. Third, in the story Kobayashi is depicted as a cute smart boy who looks like a pretty chipmunk, but he doesn't look that cute in those illustrations. . . Fourth, the cover page may suggest that this book is a Manga, but it's originally a classical juvenile chapter book. I sincerely wish that its revised version will come with new illustrations.

It's great to see this piece of classic children's detective literature published in English. Be aware that it's very much aimed at kids: the story itself almost teaches kids how to read and think through detective fiction, so it would be especially good for young readers (no serious violence, death, or gore). My main complaint is about the illustrations. They're not at all as good as they should be.

An entertaining read if you want an easy to digest crime fiction novel from the 1930s.

This is an entertaining and fun mystery for teens and adults. The author brings the Intrepid Reader right into the story with his comments to the reader. It was hard to wait to see what happened next. Some translated books are hard to read and follow. This one is smoothly done and very easy to get involved in. This author has written more books in this series. I hope we can see #2 translated very soon!

I am normally a fan of detective/crime novels, thus when there were rave reviews on the works of Edogawa Rampo I was intrigued by it and felt compelled to read at least one novel. So this is the one I picked to read but I felt that compared to the other novels like Sherlock Holmes, the mysteries are more trivial and easy to deduce and the props that the boy detective has is just a way out of a pinch which the writer has written himself into.As a whole I won't recommend it to adults who like detective novels (Sherlock Holmes is still way better). It might appeal to younger readers.

This is the softer side of Edogawa Ranpo.....the Boy Detective Club is a rightfully a beloved series in Japan where many ,many generations of children have grown up with these delightful books...they are constantly being remade as TV series manga, anime,and movies and when not be adapted for media are constantly being homaged in other works ( Gosho Aoyama's manga and anime mystery juggernaut Meitantei Conan is the most obvious example)...translator Dan Luffey does an excellent job of translation that makes the book very readable to all ages especially the intended audience....I'm looking forward to Kurodahan Press translating more books in this series and more Edogawa Ranpo period....so we probably should deal with the billion ton gorilla in the room...when I said that these books are Edogawa Ranpo's "softer" side I meant it...Ranpo's work for adults explores very, very dark themes...abnormal behavior, lust murders, twisted mad science, monstrous abominations wrought by science, dual identities, sexual obsession, and serial killers are just some of his favorite themes that he wrote about in his many novels and short stories for adults....none of which you will find here though...it's nice to see just how complex, nuanced, and diverse Ranpo could be in that he could write the Boy Detective Club books for children and write works as mesmerizing and disturbing as"The Walker In the Attic" , Inju, and The Strange Tale of Panorama Island for adults.

Japanese mystery/thriller genre. Appropriate for all age groups, youth to adult. Delightful fast read that is hard to put down. Written as if author is personally telling you the story. Full of mystery, drama, peril with touch of humor in between the lines. Good role models, builds vocabulary in younger age set. Set in magical 1930's Tokyo complete with fun to pronounce Japanese names and places. Thoroughly enjoyed story, style, prose. Hope to read 2nd book in this series ASAP!