A review by readingtheend
Malice by Keigo Higashino

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed this! Rather than being a whodunnit, it's a story of a police inspector trying to work out a motive for WHY their chief/only suspect would do this murder. While I didn't necessarily find it plausible that a cop would expend this much effort to understand a crime they had already solved, I did find the twists and turns of possible motives and stories to be really interesting. I definitely want to read more by this author!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape

I didn't love how the book talked about rape! There was a very gross throwaway comment about rape, and then one of the clues that leads to the final resolution involves a girl being raped at school, which is not really given much weight as a thing that happened to her. it felt very 1996, which makes sense as that's when this book as originally published in Japanese.