Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. The novel unfolds through 11 distinct “files” that piece together a larger puzzle. How did this fragmented format affect your reading experience? Did you feel like you were an active investigator solving the mystery alongside the Author and Kurihara?

2. How did reading Strange Buildings compare to your experience with classic Western mysteries, like Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie or The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe? Did you find the “fair play” puzzle aspect of the honkaku genre, with its reliance on floor plans and diagrams, to be a familiar or a new kind of challenge?

3. The final revelation that Yaeko’s daughter was the true mastermind behind the Rebirth Congregation recasts the entire narrative. What was your reaction to this last-minute twist? How did it change your understanding of Yaeko’s suffering and the motivations driving the other characters?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. The story is deeply rooted in the concept of jiko bukken, or properties stigmatized by a dark history. Have you ever considered the hidden past of a place you’ve lived in or visited? How does this book resonate with the way you think about the relationship between a physical space and the human stories it contains?

2. Parental guilt is a powerful force in the novel, driving characters like Mr. Kasahara and the Irumas to join a dangerous cult. Have you ever seen someone go to an extreme length to alleviate their guilt over something they did? Do you feel that the person’s extreme actions were justified, or could they have sought absolution in another way?

3. Mitsuko Hikura ultimately rejects her family’s wealth and legacy, choosing a life of service as a caregiver to atone for her role in her grandmother’s death. Can you compare this to a personal experience where you felt it necessary to turn something down in order to preserve your integrity and principles?

4. Shiori Hayasaka’s theory about the “mousetrap house” is shaped by her feelings of being a social outcast among her wealthy classmates. Think about a time when your own perspective or feelings might have colored your interpretation of an event. How do your experience and Shiori’s story suggest the effect that our personal biases have on our search for the truth?

5. The Author is drawn to investigate these cases out of a fascination with strange floor plans and unsettling stories. Have you ever been drawn to investigate something unsettling out of curiosity? What was the result of that impulse, and how do you relate it to the characters’ reactions to their respective revelations in this novel?

6. Several characters, like Akemi Nishiharu, have kept destructive secrets to shield their loved ones from pain. Do you think it’s necessary to protect your loved ones from painful truths? If not, how do you justify revealing those truths to them?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The Rebirth Congregation’s methods and the public’s fear of it are informed by the real-world history of cults in Japan, particularly the Aum Shinrikyo attack. How did knowing this historical context add to the story’s sense of plausibility or horror for you? In what ways do the dynamics of belief, control, and exploitation seen in the novel resonate with groups or movements today?

2. What does the concept of jiko bukken and the popularity of an app like Dark Spots Japan reveal about a culture’s relationship with history, death, and memory? Are there similar ways that other societies track or acknowledge the “haunted” histories of physical places?

3. Masahiko Hikura expertly merged his corrupt construction business with the predatory ideology of the Rebirth Congregation. What does this connection between Hikura Homes and the cult suggest about the ways that corporate greed can intersect with and exploit deeply personal vulnerabilities?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The motif of hidden rooms appears throughout the novel, from the watermill’s secret chamber to the “vanishing room” in the Iruma house. How do these architectural secrets function as physical manifestations of the characters’ psychological burdens and suppressed family histories?

2. Yaeko is portrayed as a tragic victim for most of the novel, but the final twist reveals that her daughter saw her as a complicit party in her abuse. How does the book use these conflicting viewpoints to challenge simple definitions of survival? Can a character simultaneously be a survivor and a perpetrator of another’s suffering?

3. What significance does the amputee doll hold as a recurring symbol? How does it transform from a peculiar personal belonging in Yayoi Negishi’s home to the central icon of the Rebirth Congregation’s twisted ideology?

4. The theme of architecture enforcing psychological control is central to the story. Which building’s design did you find to be the most effective and chilling instrument of control: the lethal “mousetrap house,” the conflict-breeding Hikura Homes models, or the surveillance-based prison of the okito?

5. Why do you think the author chose to tell this story through a fragmented collection of files, interviews, and journal entries rather than a straightforward, linear plot? What effect did this narrative structure have on the story’s pacing and the impact of the final reveals?

6. This guide notes that Edogawa Ranpo, a key figure in the honkaku genre, explored grotesque and psychological themes. In what ways does Strange Buildings seem to draw from a literary tradition that’s interested in the bizarre, the unsettling, and the darkest corners of the human psyche?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Imagine you’re an architect tasked with redesigning one of the novel’s toxic spaces to promote healing. Which building would you choose to renovate, such as the “mousetrap house” or one of the Hikura Homes models, and what specific changes would you make to its floor plan to counteract its dark history?

2. If you had the chance to add a 12th file to the Author’s investigation, what kind of “strange building” would it feature? What architectural puzzle would it present, and how might its story connect to the larger conspiracy of the Rebirth Congregation?

3. The novel closes with Mitsuko beginning her life of atonement. Picture a scene taking place 10 years later. If the Author were to interview her again, what do you imagine her life would be like? What new perspectives might she have gained on her family’s legacy and her own path forward?