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A review by brandonpytel
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
4.0
Probably more of a 3.5. Initially what I thought of as an anti-mystery, The Devotion of Suspect X becomes an entangled web of slowly uncovering a murder — first at the hands of detectives, and eventually by the physics professor, Yakuwa, aka Detective Galileo.
The book starts interestingly, unveiling the true murderer in the first pages: When the single-mother Yasuko and her daughter Misato kill Yasuko’s ex-husband, Togashi, by strangulation.
From there we’re introduced to the recluse mathematicians, whose logical and rational decision making seems to lead to the perfect cover-up. As Ishigami orchestrates the most direct, simplistic solution with a mathematician's proficiency, we have detectives hot on the trail, trying to poke holes in the alibis that Ishigami invented.
Meanwhile, friends of the detective, Yakuwa, an assistant professor of physics at a local university and former classmate of Ishigami, ponders the true nature of the cover-up, and slowly unveils a much more complicated web of lies and deceit at the heart of this mystery — which slowly becomes one of morality, on top of everything else.
As we learn of the true nature of the crime, while going on many deadend roads along the way, we learn more of the dark, analytical nature that blurs the lines between science and fiction, humans and animals, that defines Ishigami’s character and gives us a chilling and satisfying conclusion.
I read in a review that Keigo Higashino is the James Patterson of Japan, and I can’t get that out of my head. Not a master of prose, but a connoisseur of suspense, Higashino isn’t going to win any literary awards for character depth or arcs; however, his twisty plotlines are interesting enough to be page-turning, as I popcorned my way through this book in a weekend.
The book starts interestingly, unveiling the true murderer in the first pages: When the single-mother Yasuko and her daughter Misato kill Yasuko’s ex-husband, Togashi, by strangulation.
From there we’re introduced to the recluse mathematicians, whose logical and rational decision making seems to lead to the perfect cover-up. As Ishigami orchestrates the most direct, simplistic solution with a mathematician's proficiency, we have detectives hot on the trail, trying to poke holes in the alibis that Ishigami invented.
Meanwhile, friends of the detective, Yakuwa, an assistant professor of physics at a local university and former classmate of Ishigami, ponders the true nature of the cover-up, and slowly unveils a much more complicated web of lies and deceit at the heart of this mystery — which slowly becomes one of morality, on top of everything else.
As we learn of the true nature of the crime, while going on many deadend roads along the way, we learn more of the dark, analytical nature that blurs the lines between science and fiction, humans and animals, that defines Ishigami’s character and gives us a chilling and satisfying conclusion.
I read in a review that Keigo Higashino is the James Patterson of Japan, and I can’t get that out of my head. Not a master of prose, but a connoisseur of suspense, Higashino isn’t going to win any literary awards for character depth or arcs; however, his twisty plotlines are interesting enough to be page-turning, as I popcorned my way through this book in a weekend.