This book is probably one of the most nail-biting mystery novels I read in recent years. This is not your typical mystery novel. The book is very fast paced and definitely put me on the edge of my seat. The story built up its story from a mellow start until the explosive ending. The book is filled with a lot of twists and turns that it kept me guessing how the book will end.
Here we are again with Japanese authors. If you’ve been a long time follower of my blog, you must have noticed how I always am fan of Japanese authors, my favorite being Haruki Murakami. I have yet to read a novel by a Japanese author that I have yet to enjoy. Japanese authors have this way of making me entranced. They make it easier for me to connect to the characters and live the world they created in their stories.
“Sometimes, all you had to do was exist in order to be someone’s saviour.”
― Keigo Higashino, The Devotion of Suspect X
The book follows the story as to how detective Kusanagi with his assistant Yukawa, who is a physicist, solves a murder whose mastermind is high school math teacher, Ishigami, to help his next door neighbor, Yasuko. If you think that that’s a spoiler, you probably are right but that is just the tip of the iceberg. The storyline was immediately established at the start of the novel, as the murder happened during the first and second chapters and we already know who the culprit is. What follows is a cat and mouse story of chasing and catching with the officers proving who the real culprits are. The book lead me to the viewpoints of the police investigators and the perpetrators. I really enjoyed how the author created two characters that intelligently outwit each other. It became a game of cat and mouse. One always at the trail of the other and the other avoiding the chance to be caught. It became a test of how strong the alibis of the culprits stood and how the alibi got refuted.
This is the third book in the series, which I only learned after finishing the book. That did not in any way affected my reading experience. I did not feel like I was missing something from the two earlier books. I believe the book was also marketed also become a standalone although a part of the series.
I also like how the story is so plot and character driven. Two of the characters here are geniuses and I enjoyed how the author employed math and science concepts in the story line which made the story even more exciting. The characters were made established which made me appreciate the characters even more. Their back stories were exquisitely told to connect it to their actions. There are no side antics or banters and unnecessary story lines which made the story not dragging. The book was able to keep the eerie and serious feel to it all throughout.
I was actually quite worried how the ending will go, thinking that it might ruin the run of how the book went so far but no, I was wrong. The ending was a chef’s kiss. I would not have chosen another ending. The ending made me even more appreciate the execution of the story. I like how it all tied up.
Now, I guess I have a new author that I’ll be on the lookout for.
“Which is harder: devising an unsolvable problem, or solving that problem?”
― Keigo Higashino, The Devotion of Suspect X
5 Stars out of 5.
BOOK SPECIFICATIONS:
Author: Keigo Higashino
Translation: Alexander O. Smith with Elye J. Alexander
Format: Hardbound
Source: Bought
Release Year: February 2011
Publisher: Minotaur Books
No. of Pages: 298 pages
About the Author:
Keigo Higashino is one of the most popular and biggest selling fiction authors in Japan—as well known as James Patterson, Dean Koontz or Tom Clancy are in the USA.
Born in Osaka, he started writing novels while still working as an engineer at Nippon Denso Co. (presently DENSO). He won the Edogawa Rampo Prize, which is awarded annually to the finest mystery work, in 1985 for the novel Hōkago (After School) at age 27. Subsequently, he quit his job and started a career as a writer in Tokyo.
In 1999, he won the Mystery Writers of Japan Inc award for the novel Himitsu (The Secret), which was translated into English by Kerim Yasar and published by Vertical under the title of Naoko in 2004. In 2006, he won the 134th Naoki Prize for Yōgisha X no Kenshin. His novels had been nominated five times before winning with this novel.
The Devotion of Suspect X was the second highest selling book in all of Japan— fiction or nonfiction—the year it was published, with over 800,000 copies sold. It won the prestigious Naoki Prize for Best Novel— the Japanese equivalent of the National Book Award and the Man Booker Prize. Made into a motion picture in Japan, The Devotion of Suspect X spent 4 weeks at the top of the box office and was the third highest‐grossing film of the year.
Higashino’s novels have more movie and TV series adaptations than Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum, and as many as Michael Crichton. (Goodreads)
BONGBONGBOOKS 