Dark Water (book)

Dark Water ( German Dark Water ) is a collection of short stories from the genre of psychological horror of the Japanese author Koji Suzuki ( Heyne Verlag, December 1, 2004, ISBN 3453565002 ). A total of seven independent short stories are included in the book, the only connection between them is the use of the element of water.

Short stories ( content )

The mentally unstable Yoshimi Matsubara lives with her daughter Ikuko recently in a tenement. First, it gives the strange taste of the tap water no attention, but after strange events, such as the emergence of a child's hand bag on the roof and the apparent life of its own of the elevator, she realizes that was the lost years ago, the daughter of a former tenant seems still to exist.

The teacher Kensuke Sueshiro given the opportunity to participate in an expedition to an island in the Bay of Tokyo, which we should not enter. He dreamed of it for a long time to get there because a friend called Aso had claimed that he had left his unloved girlfriend there. A short time later, he died of cancer, which Kensuke could never verify that there is actually a girl lives. On the island he and his companions find the living proof of the truth of the story.

Hiroyuki, a fisherman who is prone to outbursts of violence against his family, looking for his wife, who disappeared without a trace since the previous night. When he goes to the lake again, he discovers on his ship something that he has forgotten and is in mortal danger. The sea can no longer be rid of him.

Masayuki Enoyoshi received by a wealthy couple's invitation to ride on their luxury yacht. However, he discovers that it 's more of a sales tour as a joint voyage when driving. Just before the three can create in port, the ship gets caught in the middle of the fairway. When they check the propeller, they find it as a children's shoe. Since the yacht is not moving from the spot, combines the owner, pin them somewhere firm and dive under to free them. But when he shows up he is totally distraught because a lonely spirit will not let the people and the ship pull.

Kazuo Shiraishi, a worker on a fishing ship that is at sea for seven months, looking forward to his homecoming when he discovers at sea a leaderless luxury yacht. His captain decides to take the vessel in tow and Kazuo volunteered to go on board to take control in an emergency. But as he spends the first night on board the yacht, he begins to wonder what happened to the crew. He finds out that they opened a bottle containing murderous hatred.

During a theatrical performance in a former disco suddenly water dripping from the ceiling. The highly ordered employees is a completely flooded upstairs ladies' room and sees in his eagerness, that he has some interested spectators.

1975: The cavers Sakakibara alone is trapped in an underground cave. When he finds no escape after four days, he brings to all his will, to convey a message to his son. 1995: Said son returns to the cave in which his father died, in order to process the images of his nightmares to where ever darkness and water play a role.

German translations

• From the English by Katrin Marburger. Munich: . Heyne, 2004 302 pages. € 8,95.
• From the Japanese by Burkhard Höfler. Berlin:. Egmont, 2005 126 pages. € 6,50. ( Manga-Ausgabe. )

Films

The cover story of Dark Water was filmed in Japan in 2002 under the title of Dark Water. An American remake came in 2005 under the title of Dark Water - Dark water in the German cinemas.

Review

An employee of the site Fantasy Couch writes: ""; Genuine "; spook makes way more rare in Suzuki's stories than "; dreamboat, "and ", The Bottle ", can expect guests from beyond the grave, which, however. play only a minor role, virtually appear only in the corner of the eye and thus act more emphatically, because if you get involved with this game. ", water theater "; simply presenting a grotesque story, whose "; resolution " the main reason for surprise, because they is told through the means of fantasy. "; underground lake ", is pure psychological horror Here Suzuki converts in fact in the footsteps of Stephen King and his shoes are certainly not him too big ... ".