I was first introduced to Otsuichi's story むかし夕日の公園で and was amazed that a 4 page story could be so intense. His imagination really shows through and his style, while quite simple (actually makes his books great for those learning Japanese who want to transition into reading novels), really helps the story shine through. Plus, the twists and turns in his stories are quite fun.

ZOO2 contains the following stories.

1）血液を探せ！(Find the Blood!)
2）冷たい森の白い家 (The White House in the Cold Forest)
3）Closet (Wardrobe)
4）神の言葉 (Words of God)
5）落ちる飛行機の中で (In a Falling Airplane)
6）むかし夕日の公園で (In a Park at Twilight, a Long Time Ago)

Each and everyone was enchanting in its own way and really had me turning the page.

1）血液を探せ！(Find the Blood!)
A man and his children go to a secluded mountain cottage as per tradition but when he suddenly wakes up and realizes he's been stabbed, he tries to figure out who has the greatest motive to kill him.

2）冷たい森の白い家 (The White House in the Cold Forest)
An aunt decides to kick out her sister's son, who now has to figure out how to survive in the forest. He starts to build himself a home but his use of material, human bodies, leads to a fascinating look at his mindset and leads us to quite the twist!

3）Closet (Wardrobe)
This is probably one of the weaker stories although still a fun twist. A woman and her husband go to the house of her husband's brother when the brother turns up dead, possibly at the hand of the woman. Did she really kill him?

4）神の言葉 (Words of God)
Two words: weird and creepy!
A boy discovers he has the power to command people's actions with a command. But as he seeks to separate himself from those around him, his commands become more and more frightening.

5）落ちる飛行機の中で (In a Falling Airplane)
This probably ended up being my favorite. A plane is hijacked but two passengers, instead of being scared, start haggling over the price of a drug that will let one passenger die peacefully instead of dying in a terrible plane crash. Quite an amount of dark humor in this one. Fun story.

6）むかし夕日の公園で (In a Park at Twilight, a Long Time Ago)
A young child plays in a park in Japan when he feels something frightening under the sand. This four page story packs quite the punch.

So I really enjoyed this. Page-turning, full of dark humor and fun twists. I compared the book to the English translation and while the translation leaves out a few sentences here and there, the translation is fluid. Otsuichi's style is straightforward making this a really easy read. ( )