Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Selama baca buku ini, aku hampir lupa kalo kita sedang memecahkan suatu kejadian pembunuhan. Soalnya malah menikmati satu per satu cerita tiap saksi yang terlibat. Malah menikmati bahwa setiap keluarga, setiap individu di dunia ini pasti punya masalah. Nah, kan, jadi malah ikut-ikutan keliling kota bareng Detektif Kaga haha.
Seperti buku Keigo lainnya, buku ini alurnya nggak mudah ditebak. Atau lebih tepatnya nggak akan ketebak. Soalnya semua tokoh yang disebutkan di awal, setiap kisah yang diceritakan sampai hampir 3/4 buku ini, ternyata sama sekali bukan jawaban (ups, spoiler bukan sih ini?!).
Detektif Kaga tuh baik banget, ya. Beliau detektif yang hangat, tiap datang buat ngulik informasi ke siapapun, pasti beliau membawakan makanan. Beberapa emang berguna buat sarana menyelidiki alibi tiap tokoh, tapi beberapa lainnya emang karena beliau baik hati. Tanpa diduga juga beliau ini selama penyelidikan berhasil memperbaiki hubungan beberapa keluarga, atau ngasih nasihat-nasihat hidup ke tiap tokoh.
Dan sama seperti Uesugi di akhir cerita, semua kisah di buku ini juga membuatku bertanya, "Kaga-san, siapa kau sebenarnya?" :)
Seperti buku Keigo lainnya, buku ini alurnya nggak mudah ditebak. Atau lebih tepatnya nggak akan ketebak. Soalnya semua tokoh yang disebutkan di awal, setiap kisah yang diceritakan sampai hampir 3/4 buku ini, ternyata sama sekali bukan jawaban (ups, spoiler bukan sih ini?!).
Detektif Kaga tuh baik banget, ya. Beliau detektif yang hangat, tiap datang buat ngulik informasi ke siapapun, pasti beliau membawakan makanan. Beberapa emang berguna buat sarana menyelidiki alibi tiap tokoh, tapi beberapa lainnya emang karena beliau baik hati. Tanpa diduga juga beliau ini selama penyelidikan berhasil memperbaiki hubungan beberapa keluarga, atau ngasih nasihat-nasihat hidup ke tiap tokoh.
Dan sama seperti Uesugi di akhir cerita, semua kisah di buku ini juga membuatku bertanya, "Kaga-san, siapa kau sebenarnya?" :)
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
As always, Higashino writes a clever, somewhat opaque, who-dunnit with relatable, mundane characters caught up in an extraordinary web.
This book was written as a series of mini-novellas that don't come together until the very end, so it felt like an abrupt start-and-stop story with hard to keep track of characters. It didn't capture my attention like other books of his because of this, but the ending was satisfying enough to be worth the time. Kaga is, as always, a character you can't get enough of, and for a dark topic (murder!) Higashino keeps the silver lining in view, redeeming many of the plotlines with heartwarming touches.
This book was written as a series of mini-novellas that don't come together until the very end, so it felt like an abrupt start-and-stop story with hard to keep track of characters. It didn't capture my attention like other books of his because of this, but the ending was satisfying enough to be worth the time. Kaga is, as always, a character you can't get enough of, and for a dark topic (murder!) Higashino keeps the silver lining in view, redeeming many of the plotlines with heartwarming touches.
-------------Bengali ----------------
আমার মতে, পৃথিবীর যাবতীয় এখনো-জীবিত গোয়েন্দা গল্প লেখকদের মধ্যে, জাপানের হিগাশিনো হয়তো প্রথম বা দ্বিতীয় জায়গায় থাকবেন (কানাডার লুইস পেনি -র সাথে ) . হিগাশিনোর 'ডিটেকটিভ গ্যালিলিও ' সিরিজ খুবই বিখ্যাত, কিন্তু তার থেকেও আমার বেশি প্রিয় 'সার্জেন্ট কিয়োইচিরো কাগা ' সিরিজ। এর প্রথম উপন্যাস, Malice আমার অসাধারণ লেগেছিলো। Newcomer ও তার থেকে কোনমাত্রায় কম নয়.
---- Detailed English review to follow later, with a bit of distance -------
This, standalone, is an excellent book of mystery fiction.
As a part of the Kyoichiro Kaga canon, this is a fine second story. Quite like, say, The Lady in the Lake, a clean-as-a-whistle mystery story, that entertains and regales in spades, but does not have the devastating impact and staying power of The Long Goodbye', or in this case, Malice.
A salient point, though, is that unlike A Midsummer's Equation, where Higashino writes a really weak last chapter, here, another last-chapter twists somehow works out reasonably well.
And I like that I am getting to know Sergeant Kaga. He is observant and not brilliant. And he is likable. Detective Galileo is decidedly brilliant, and is also an excruciating curmudgeon.
Will write a detailed review later.
Ratings? Maybe a strong 4.4(ish) on 5. Almost a 5, basically.
আমার মতে, পৃথিবীর যাবতীয় এখনো-জীবিত গোয়েন্দা গল্প লেখকদের মধ্যে, জাপানের হিগাশিনো হয়তো প্রথম বা দ্বিতীয় জায়গায় থাকবেন (কানাডার লুইস পেনি -র সাথে ) . হিগাশিনোর 'ডিটেকটিভ গ্যালিলিও ' সিরিজ খুবই বিখ্যাত, কিন্তু তার থেকেও আমার বেশি প্রিয় 'সার্জেন্ট কিয়োইচিরো কাগা ' সিরিজ। এর প্রথম উপন্যাস, Malice আমার অসাধারণ লেগেছিলো। Newcomer ও তার থেকে কোনমাত্রায় কম নয়.
---- Detailed English review to follow later, with a bit of distance -------
This, standalone, is an excellent book of mystery fiction.
As a part of the Kyoichiro Kaga canon, this is a fine second story. Quite like, say, The Lady in the Lake, a clean-as-a-whistle mystery story, that entertains and regales in spades, but does not have the devastating impact and staying power of The Long Goodbye', or in this case, Malice.
A salient point, though, is that unlike A Midsummer's Equation, where Higashino writes a really weak last chapter, here, another last-chapter twists somehow works out reasonably well.
And I like that I am getting to know Sergeant Kaga. He is observant and not brilliant. And he is likable. Detective Galileo is decidedly brilliant, and is also an excruciating curmudgeon.
Will write a detailed review later.
Ratings? Maybe a strong 4.4(ish) on 5. Almost a 5, basically.
After finishing Malice, I felt like reading more, so I decided to continue with Newcomer, the second book in the Detective Kaga series.
In Newcomer, a woman has been found murdered in her apartment, and finding the killer turns out to be complicated: the woman visited many places that day and was seen by a lot of people, but no one has any idea who could have hurt her. To discover the killer, Detective Kaga has to look into the many local businesses and their statements about that day, which turns out to be more troublesome than he could have expected.
I think this was an interesting read, it was also quite different from Malice, which had two different POVs in the story and was quite dark in the end. Newcomer switches perspective with every chapter, as each chapter highlights a different shop or person that the victim visited that day, and even more interesting, Detective Kaga has no POV chapter in this book. Despite this, we get a very strong sense of his character, through the way he interacts with people. I also thought this book was a lot lighter content-wise. In every chapter, Kaga gets involved in people’s business, gathering information on the crime while also helping people with their personal problems and resolving miscommunications, resulting in some rather sweet moments. This goes on quite a bit, only in the later chapters we get closer to the killer.
While I mostly enjoyed the book, and Kaga’s interactions with different people, I felt a bit underwhelmed with the conclusion to the murder. I thought the chapters with all the different businesses and people were a great way to get to know the victim, as well as the detective. There are many interesting details and connections in these chapters, so when I got to the reveal, I was a bit disappointed. It wasn’t bad, I just was expecting more. I did like that we got a final chapter from the perspective of the detective that Kaga was working with, but the motive for the crime and the reveal were a bit anticlimactic. Even so, I thought the book was enjoyable.
In the end, I think it’s a good book, I really liked Kaga dealing with the people’s smaller issues. I just found the solution to the crime not very satisfying. I’m stuck between 3 and 4 stars for this, so I’m rating this a 3.5 (rounded up to 4 because I liked the earlier chapters so much).
In Newcomer, a woman has been found murdered in her apartment, and finding the killer turns out to be complicated: the woman visited many places that day and was seen by a lot of people, but no one has any idea who could have hurt her. To discover the killer, Detective Kaga has to look into the many local businesses and their statements about that day, which turns out to be more troublesome than he could have expected.
I think this was an interesting read, it was also quite different from Malice, which had two different POVs in the story and was quite dark in the end. Newcomer switches perspective with every chapter, as each chapter highlights a different shop or person that the victim visited that day, and even more interesting, Detective Kaga has no POV chapter in this book. Despite this, we get a very strong sense of his character, through the way he interacts with people. I also thought this book was a lot lighter content-wise. In every chapter, Kaga gets involved in people’s business, gathering information on the crime while also helping people with their personal problems and resolving miscommunications, resulting in some rather sweet moments. This goes on quite a bit, only in the later chapters we get closer to the killer.
While I mostly enjoyed the book, and Kaga’s interactions with different people, I felt a bit underwhelmed with the conclusion to the murder. I thought the chapters with all the different businesses and people were a great way to get to know the victim, as well as the detective. There are many interesting details and connections in these chapters, so when I got to the reveal, I was a bit disappointed. It wasn’t bad, I just was expecting more. I did like that we got a final chapter from the perspective of the detective that Kaga was working with, but the motive for the crime and the reveal were a bit anticlimactic. Even so, I thought the book was enjoyable.
In the end, I think it’s a good book, I really liked Kaga dealing with the people’s smaller issues. I just found the solution to the crime not very satisfying. I’m stuck between 3 and 4 stars for this, so I’m rating this a 3.5 (rounded up to 4 because I liked the earlier chapters so much).