A quick reminder for everyone to please remember to mention up to what part you’ve read (or you’re referring to), or we won’t know which spoilers are safe to open and which aren’t. 
I only just started reading, but I can say I like the writing so far. I’m just surprised there’s furigana for 身体 but not for a person’s name? How? Why?
maybe because you have more than 1 way of reading it? 
Is there only one possible reading for the name though?
The reading of からだ for 身体 falls outside of the 常用漢字 reading (the standard is しんたい) so it always comes with furigana.
From my experience reading, if a name is more common + the most common reading is the one being used, the author won’t necessarily use furigana for it.
Also started the first chapter this evening and I’m enjoying the creepy vibes from the very first page already! 
Makes sense, thanks. I’m bad with names though, so I had no idea how to read it, and my dictionary offered several alternatives. Googling was helpful though (I guess because the book/movie is so famous): おおいし・ともこ.
I feel that 
sometimes you can’t be sure even after you’ve googled.
If you use anki at all I could really recommend this deck for learning name readings. It was pretty 
life changing:sparkles: for me and now I feel really confident and comfortable reading and guessing names! I’ve done 2-3 new cards a day for a few years now and it adds up really quickly.
Now back to our regularly scheduled horror programming 
I finished this week’s section (第一章 1-3). Nice and creepy start, I thought.
Writing-wise, I was surprised in part 2 that we got to see the thought processes of both people at the same time. Even in third-person, we’re usually inside one person’s head at a time. Or maybe it’s just been a while since I came across this, so I’ve kind of forgotten?
Why is the term 心臓麻痺 not used any more? I didn’t know that.
Little plot summary so far: Two young people die ten minutes apart, one in Yokohama and one in Tokyo, while apparently trying to pull their scalps off. One is a reporter’s niece, so when he hears about the other case he connects the two. Two years ago though he had some major professional failure (by writing something about the occult right about when a huge sudden wave of occult-related letters to the press was finally about to die down?), so his editor is not enthusiastic.
Here are all the names we’ve come across so far. None of them had furigana, so please correct my suggested readings if you know better:
大石智子 おおいし・ともこ （私立女子高三年生、１７）
秀一 しゅういち
木村幹夫 きむら・みきお （運転手）
浅川和幸 あさかわ・かずゆき（記者）
小栗 おぐり （編集長）
影山輝方 かげやま・てるかた （教祖）
Finished the reading for this week!
Chapter 1 thoughts:
I really like that the book starts building tension and an unsettling atmosphere right from the very beginning so that’s it’s easy to jump into the story as the reader. I’m not a fan of when it takes ages for the action to begin, so this was appreciated.
I also enjoyed the sweaty summer night vibes contributing to the Japanese horror feeling!
Chapter 3 thoughts:
Now we find out what happened with 智子! But we still don’t know what or why! Same story with the biker. We also have the intrigue of what the reporter did two years ago that impacted his career so much. I want to find out what it all means!!
I’m enjoying this a lot so far. The writing is really straightforward and easy to read but atmospheric and unsettling at the same time.
I asked a native and got approval for all your readings 
Thank you! 
Finished this week’s reading. I think it’s a smooth read.
I was surprised to find ties to 予言の島 regarding the spookiness craze 
I like when this happens. Contents-wise it was pleasantly creepy (part 1 at least), and I like the author‘s writing style, e.g. building suspense around what the „second case“ was referring to. Unfortunately the author has a pet phrase (他ない) but I hope it will not become too obnoxious…
I think because it basically means „died“? I skimmed the related Wikipedia article 心臓麻痺 - Wikipedia which also states that it’s not a medical term and that its meaning is quite broad, so you shouldn’t find this word in a medical report, I guess.
Isn’t it kind of the same in English? Like cardiac arrest is a very broad term, and a coroner would be more specific. We all die because eventually the heart stops.
Finished part 2 of chapter 1.
So we have a journalist investigating the deaths? I wonder what his background motivation is. 
You are probably right, but the thing is, the sentence made me think that it was a term that was used before, but not nowadays, for some reason:
最近ではもう心臓麻痺だなんて言葉は使わないはずだ。
(I feel there’s no reason for spoiler tags, let me know if you think I should add them)
ah, see, I interpreted it as “people are learning about correct medical lingo”. This book was released in 1991 and I just thought, they might simply have been pushing for usage of more accurate medical terms. 
I.e. even lay people now know this is not the correct term, so surely the coroner wouldn’t have used it. It reminded me of AIDS vs. HIV.
chapter 1, part 3:
Had a question at end of part 2, that got answered in part 3. Nice. Me like.
So far, I am genuinely enjoying this. Is such an easy read - I did not expect it. And it’s intriguing and creepy. I am tempted to read on, but I will hold myself back. 
Just to correct the reporter’s name - it’s 浅川, rather than 朝川.
Oops, thanks. Indeed, it is! Corrected.
Um I hate to add this but it’s 小栗 (I think おぐり).
Thanks again!
what’s wrong with me 
