S by Koji Suzuki

 

(pb; 2012 – English translation release: 2017: fifth book in the Ring Cycle. Translated from Japanese to English by Greg Gencorello.)

 

From the back cover

“Takanori Ando, son of Spiral protagonist Mitsuo, works at a small CGI production company and hopes to become a filmmaker one day despite coming from a family of doctors. When he’s tasked by his boss to examine a putatively live-streamed video of a suicide that’s been floating around the internet, the aspiring director takes on more than he bargained for. His lover Akane, an orphan who grew up at a foster-care facility and is now a rookie high-school teacher, ends up watching the clip. She is pregnant, and she is. . . triggered.

“Sinking hooks into our unconscious from its very first pages with its creepy imagery and rewarding curious fans of the series with clever self-references, here is a fitting sequel renown for its ongoing mutations.”

 

 

Review

S, whose storyline plays out, template-wise, like that of Ring, is truly a “mutation” (Suzuki’s word) of its source novel. This time, though, it’s not Sadako—at least not directly—whose will births a variable and updated cycle of strange deaths (in this case “suicides”). Eerie and compelling (again) like Ring, S ably mixes science fiction and horror as well, imbuing its reader-resonant vibe with a sense of societal sin(s) and history. This is a great read, worthy to be called a sequel to the landmark Ring. Followed by Tide (2013).