Strange Houses
by Uketsu
A Japanese mystery bestseller from YouTube sensation Uketsu, built around a series of unsettling floorplans where the reader plays the detective. A windowless room on one plan hints at something hideous.
Best for: Mystery readers who like puzzles and a different kind of whodunit.
Strange Houses is #29 on BookWard's Rising chart for October 2026: the hottest new books published in the past two years.
What Strange Houses is about
A writer is handed the floor plan of a house and asked what he makes of it. The layout is odd, and with the help of a man named Kurihara he begins picking out the features that don't add up, including spaces hidden away inside the walls. The more they study it, the more it looks as though the house was designed with a crime in mind.
Their curiosity carries them on to other properties, earlier incidents and a widening circle of people, all pointing toward a darker connection. A windowless room on the plan hints at something terrible.
The book is built around its floor plans, so the reader gets to play detective alongside the narrator. Its mood is eerie and puzzle-like, a good fit for anyone who enjoys a quiet, unsettling mystery.
Why Strange Houses is on the Rising chart
Its Wikipedia page had 2,802 views last month; 153 readers have shelved it on Open Library since 2025. The Rising score blends six public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 against the other new books and weighted as shown.
| Signal | This book | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reader pace | 72 | 28% |
| Buzz | 45 | 24% |
| Growth | 6 | 18% |
| Being read right now | 55 | 12% |
| Reader love | 6 | 10% |
| Newness | 70 | 8% |
Holding strong Wikipedia attention is steady (within -20% to +25% of the two months before).
The numbers behind it
- Wikipedia: 2,802 page views last month, against an average of 3,399 in the two months before (down 18%). Read the article.
- Open Library readers: 145 want to read, 1 reading now, 7 have read it.
- Ratings: 3 out of 5 from 4 Open Library ratings.
Strange Houses on the Rising chart: history
First on the chart this month. The history grows with every monthly update.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | #29 | 45 |
Questions about Strange Houses
Is Strange Houses a new book?
Yes. Strange Houses by Uketsu was first published in 2025, and BookWard's Rising chart only includes books published in the past two years.
Why is Strange Houses on the Rising chart?
Its Wikipedia page had 2,802 views last month; 153 readers have shelved it on Open Library since 2025.
More new books readers are finding
- The Secret of Secrets Dan Brown
- Dear Debbie Freida McFadden
- The Teacher Freida McFadden
Prefer proven favorites? See the Top 100, or all Rising books.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views. The description is paraphrased from real source text (Open Library or Wikipedia). A book is on the Rising chart only if it was published in 2025 or 2026 and its readers are active and its interest is not falling. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales. Read the full methodology.
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