In an old abandoned manor, a shocking discovery is made. The majority of the police seems to want to take the easy way out, but one officer a little too close to the investigation decides he must get to the bottom of things on his own.
You can check out a sample of this series for yourself below!
Author
Genre & Tropes
Info about this series (ongoing)
There are currently 12 volumes in Japanese, and two in English.
You can take a peek at the TV drama here!
TL;DR thoughts
This volume mixes telling the backstories of the potential suspects through flashbacks and showing the current ongoing police investigation beautifully. The constant threat that one of the victims may actually be the perpetrator gives for a very thrilling read.
What’s this series about? Official Synopsis (K-Manga)
The shocking, gritty new seinen crime thriller from the team behind bestselling manga My Dearest Self with Malice Aforethought. A unique blend of cinematic art and realistic storytelling undergird the terrifying mysteries and wild reversals of this dark police procedural, which will appeal to older readers of crime novels and graphic fiction far beyond the usual manga audience. Detective Jin Saeki of the Fujiyama South police precinct heads to a mansion in the hills after receiving an innocuous report of a burglary…but as the investigation unfolds, a horrific discovery sends shockwaves through the department and beyond. Thus begins a dark, heady suspense manga unlike any other, pulsing with raw emotion, as Detective Saeki is forced to confront the blood-soaked face of true madness
My thoughts on this volume (Slight Spoilers!)
Typically with a crime drama, I need fantasy or horror elements to really keep me engaged. Think Your Forma or Smile!, for example. Until I read Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow, the only crime drama media I was able to genuinely enjoy was Criminal Minds. Perhaps it’s because the human drama aspect of it is so compelling, or perhaps it’s because I quickly grew invested in the “who done it” nature of the story, I suddenly found myself desperately needing to know where the story went.
Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow heavily focuses on elements of child abuse and justice, making for a heavy read at times. The majority of character motivations stem from some form of abuse sustained in childhood—be it physical, mental, or both. We see just how much of an impact a hard upbringing can have on a person, with many characters with similar backgrounds ending up in wildly different positions in adulthood.
Do rules exist to be followed? Or is their real purpose to serve as guideposts to help us do the right thing?
The major crime that initiates the events of this volume happen in a large manor that used to operate similarly to a foster home for troubled youths. Once upon a time, a somewhat eccentric man named Juzo used to take in troubled youths from abusive households. I refer to him as eccentric, as we’re first introduced to him as he teaches a young girl how to steal food from a grocery store. This unique introduction quickly paints a picture of him: he cares about children more than the law.
His thought process is very clear, though he himself remains something of a mystery throughout most of this volume. In a world where the justice system allows for children to suffer abuse for years with little promise of salvation, why should a starving child care about the consequences of steals a loaf of bread?
Though he is depicted as trying his best to help the children he took in, there is only so much one person can do. In many of the children’s cases, they clearly required more mental assistance than he could provide. So, while some of the children who grew up in the manor were able to quickly become self-sufficient upon adulthood, others gave into destructive tendencies and ended up in jail.
Of course none of this is the man’s fault, as he was clearly attempting to help out the troubled children that he came across.
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