Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow Volume 2 Review

The first volume of Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow introduced us to a grim murder mystery where 13 children were found dead. And as Detective Jin Saeki soon discovered, this is anything but a simple case. With Volume 2 in hand, let’s find out what lays in store for us.

Toward the end of Volume 1, the prime suspect in the case, Juzo Haikawa, was arrested, and the police are confident they’ve got their man. But our protagonist is unconvinced; after all, why would someone who managed to keep these murders hidden for so long allow themselves to be caught so easily?

Jin’s doubts continue to mount when Kanon Hasumi (one of the six surviving children who had lived with Haikawa previously) is pushed onto the train tracks while waiting at the station. Thankfully, she survives, but Jin and Kanon are convinced that the culprit behind the murders must be someone else who is now targeting those who know Haikawa. Fearing for her life, Kanon begs Jin to continue the investigation himself and either prove Haikawa is innocent or find out who he’s working with.

The first point of call is finding out if the other five people who grew up with Kanon have alibis for when she was attacked. Kanon takes it upon herself to reach out to most of the group herself, given their connection, but Jin seeks out his half-brother Sosuke himself, and what he learns from his stepmother leaves him very concerned. Could it be that Sosuke has been involved in these terrible crimes?

This second volume spends most of its time introducing us to more of Haikawa’s adoptive children and exploring where they are in their lives now. The one recurring theme is that all of them are still struggling with the trauma of their childhoods, and while they might seem to have become perfectly adjusted members of society now, the truth is they haven’t all overcome their past. It’s not hard to imagine that one or more of them could have been helping Haikawa or indeed the actual culprit.

And the mysteries behind Haikawa continue to pile up. Even after seeing more of him this volume, it’s clear we’re nowhere close to getting the full picture. But I’m not so convinced he’s the one behind the children’s murders either. It’s possible something happened that caused him to snap mentally, but my working theory right now is that he’s putting on a façade in order to protect someone else. And knowing how well he looked after the surviving children, I can certainly imagine him going to such lengths to protect someone he loved who has gotten in too deep.

Since I reviewed Volume 1, it has been announced that Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow will end with its 13th volume. And knowing that, I feel reassured that the story hasn’t taken forever to make it to the end, but also that there’s plenty of time to unravel the mysteries we’re faced with. Because if nothing else, this second volume has shown that the author intends to take their time. There are plenty of twists and turns presented (mostly for shock value), but in terms of actually advancing the plot, it doesn’t feel like we’ve made very large strides.

And at the same time, I don’t feel this instalment has done a whole lot to alleviate my concerns from Volume 1, where I worried that the whole thing would become overwhelming. The one saving grace is that we don’t take a deep dive into everyone’s backstories. Well, in some ways I feel that’s because the author is waiting until further in, but being eased in is no bad thing. But there’s still a lot of graphic imagery and events, such as Haikawa gouging out someone’s eyeball while in prison, which felt like it was for the purpose of shocking the reader rather than serving a narrative purpose. I’m not a fan of that approach, but this is somewhat toned down from Volume 1, so I’m hoping we’ll continue to see a shift in how Hajime Inoryu and Shota Ito choose to present this story going forward.

Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow Volume 2 comes to the West thanks to Kodansha under the Vertical imprint. It continues to be translated by Mark Streer with lettering by Madeleine Jose. The release reads well, like the first volume, and again sadly doesn’t include any extras.

Volume 3 is currently scheduled for an English release in July, with #4 following in September and #5 in November, so we’re sticking to a bimonthly schedule. Which is always reassuring with these longer series!

Overall, if you were on the fence about continuing with Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow after the first release, I don’t think this release will do a whole lot to change your mind even though it is a slight improvement. However, I do still find myself curious about where the story is going, and if you’re a mystery fan like me, this may well keep its claws in you long-term with its many twists.

Our review copy from Kodansha (Vertical) was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).