Let me start off by saying this is the 5th book in the Ring universe, and the first one that I have read. I have however watched all the American Ring movies. I don't know how closely they follow the books but there you go.

This book can be read as a stand alone but it does make some references to past events. The main characters in this one are Takanori and his fiancé Akane. Weird things start to happen to them both after watching a video of an execution. What struck me the most was even with the amount of weirdness going on around them, they both still try to pretend everything is normal. Why aren't they freaking out?

So many coincidences occur, and the story of both Takanori and Akane begins to have connections to events dating back to the first book. It was pretty crazy and a lot of changes to the Ring mythos take place. I felt the book was ok, but not as good as I had hoped. The cover art, however, is awesome.

Interesting book for fans of the Ring. ( )

You would think that a series would be played out by this point but Suzuki keeps adding fresh and fascinating new twists to his mythology ( )