Reviews

恶意 by Keigo Higashino, 东野圭吾

jjthejets's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ruthwik's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

readinginmaine's review against another edition

4.0

Finally a murder mystery where the murder victim isn’t an attractive young woman!

This mystery by a Japanese author, set in Japan was unusual and creative. I likely will read more by this author.

moonchildshine's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Objectively speaking? This is good. Trust higashino-sense to write a compelling character-driven mystery that focus on the 'why' rather than 'who' or 'how'. And I usually love it so much, it's my favorite thing of his works! But... the actual revelation is honestly underwhelming. I think it's because I always expect his character to hold some kind of emotional attachment to my heart, so to finally face with my first unlikeable character... I don't know what to think of it (that black showman book doesn't count because it's not good from the start while this is promising).

PS. There's also two actual typos in the Indonesian translation, help 😭✋

tararoi_'s review against another edition

3.0

this is my first murder mystery in a while.

it was a quick read- it demanded my attention, but it didn't keep me guessing and coming up with my theories.
fast paced and riddled with facts, most of the story is from Kaga's perspective which was too predictable to me.
i was hoping for suspense, but it turned out to be a neatly wrapped parcel of a case.
Overall, the informal tone and the brisk pace worked well... Higashino may just have kick-started my interest in mystery novels.

agirlnamedv's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

3.5

lattemommyreads's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

agmaynard's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Tour de force class of mystery!  Slight deduction for the overall coldness and distance that made the story purely a puzzler of unpeeling layers, discovering motives, rethinking theories as the reader progressed.

raskoulnikov's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.25

It’s not a whodunit. It’s a whole whydunit. I like how the killer has already been revealed in the beginning but we don’t know what the real motive for the murder is and we keep on not knowing until almost the end. The way Detective Kaga explain his analysis itself is a page-turner for sure.

noelrk's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0