The Man Who Died Seven Times

De: Yasuhiko Nishizawa, Jesse Kirkwood -translator

Narrado por: Kaipo Schwab

A subversively cozy Japanese crime novel with an ingenious Groundhog Day twist: a teenager’s time-loop race to solve—and possibly prevent—his grandfather’s murder!

Contemporary Japanese legend Yasuhiko Nishizawa makes his English-language debut with this slick, funny murder mystery that adds a sci-fi twist to an age-old setup: a murder in a wealthy family with an inheritance at stake.

Hisataro, a young member of the wealthy Fuchigami family, has a mysterious ability. Every now and then, against his will, he falls into a time-loop in which he is obliged to re-live the same day a total of 9 times. Little does he know how useful this ability will be, until one day, his grandfather mysteriously dies....

As he returns to the day of the murder time and again, Hisataro begins to unravel its secrets. With a sizeable inheritance up for grabs, motives abound, and everyone is a suspect. Can Hisataro solve the mystery of his grandfather’s death before his powers run out?

Written in a witty, lighthearted voice, this clever and playful book will appeal to fans of both traditional murder mysteries as well as listeners of cozy mysteries. It's a delightful treat for fans of the intricate plotting of Agatha Christie, the gentle humor of Richard Osman, and the audacious inventiveness of Stuart Turton.

©2017 Yasuhiko Nishizawa; English translation copyright 2025 by Jesse Kirkwood (P)2025 Dreamscape Media

excellent performance-play at 1.2

the narrator was superb. the repeats on the time loop got a bit boring at times but i was propelled to find out who did it. ,Mostly I liked the flawed characters. i could have done without the one creepy character towards the end. but all in all a good story for thise that like japanese mysteries

A great mystery

Loved the story. I couldn’t figure out what was going to end up playing out.

Very solid it until the ending

The premise of the story was very interesting and compelling. I kept making my own little theories about “ who done it”. However, I found the ending a little lacking. Overall it’s still a good mystery and I would recommend giving it a go.

Kept me guessing.

It was a very solid listen, it kept me engaged enough I binged it over 2 days while doing yard work. I was constantly guessing what the twists would be. I recommend the listen.

I feel some of the chapter names are a bit confusing and part of the ending was a little lackluster but overall it was great.

The story line was interesting and was a new approach but had severe drawbacks in the story

Well, the idea of Groundhog Day type events are not new, there was a novel approach through the character’s eyes and experiences. The drop packs, however, included an incestuous relationship that was not only known, but encouraged between first cousins, their their mothers or sisters. I found this to be repulsive and greatly distracted from the story. Also not having a good understanding of the culture lead to a difficulty of picturing and understanding some content. The authentic description of people, places and things using the Asian vocabulary made it difficult to follow at times. The ending was not satisfactory.