Ring

I've been waiting get my hands on an English translation this novel, since it's the one that launched Japan's Ringu and pretty much the entire 2005 onslaught of Asian horror movies. As expected, the book and movie is quite different, but this book is different enough for me not to know what to make if it yet.

In the movie, a female reporter investigates the mysterious death of her niece, which leads her to a killer video tape and seven days to unravel the mystery, which cumulated in this long-haired spook climbing out of the TV.

In the book, the protagonist is a man names Asakawa, also a reporter, who noticed that three other teens died around the same time as his niece. He tracks down the tape and watches it. There was nothing coherent in it, just some abstract images, and a message:

“Those who have viewed these images are fated to die at this exact hour one week from now. If you do not wish to die, you must follow this instructions exactly...“

The tape then cuts to static.

The race throughout the book is to find out what it said, which sends him on a long chase over Japan trying to discover its origins.

Joining in the hunt is his professor friend Ryuji Takayama, who provokes even less sympathy by being both male and a sexual predator. Ryuji thinks it's a virus, and he's not too far from wrong.

What they both find is references to the beautiful Sadako Yamamura, daughter of a famous Japanese psychic who became a laughing stock. Sadako had something to do with creation the tape and could possibly holds the answer to their salvation.

The structure of the story is similar to the movie but the plot is different. It's like two people writing their own take using the same characters and back story. One might say that the movie version was vastly over-dramatised for cinema audiences. That classic moment when Sadako climbs out of the TV is not even part of the original novel.

Ring the novel reads more like paranormal detective fiction rather than a horror story. It's creepy, but neither horrific nor nightmare-inducing. If you're looking to relive the movie, you'll be disappointed, but if you want to see where it came from, this is for you.

Ring is the first of the hugely successful thriller trilogy. The other two books are Spiral and Loop, both also filmed as cult movies.

(2006)