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A review by chrysalis11
The Name of the Game Is a Kidnapping by Keigo Higashino
3.0
I picked up this book with a lot of hesitation because I had read in a lot of early reviews that this is not a very good translation. Now I've enjoyed most of the Higashino works that I've read, so I was worried this would ruin it for me.
Now I'm no expert in Japanese translation so I have no opinion about the translation itself. However, from the very beginning, it reads a little different from the familiar Higashino style of writing. There is very awkward phrasing at many places, like it was not even touched by an editor. Some sentences just make your eyes bleed.
Surprisingly though, the second half read fine. Either it got a good pair of eyes or mine had gotten too used to the clunky language. Nevertheless, the pace was good, there was enough happening to make me want to keep reading, and I was also enjoying it thoroughly.
The ending, however, was kind of a letdown. It was pretty predictable to start with, but beyond that, it was also not too satisfactory. But then it could be just that I was expecting my mind to be blown by the reveal but when that didn't happen, I couldn't digest the disappointment.
Definitely not his best, but if you get beyond the first few chapters, the book is a fairly decent read.
Now I'm no expert in Japanese translation so I have no opinion about the translation itself. However, from the very beginning, it reads a little different from the familiar Higashino style of writing. There is very awkward phrasing at many places, like it was not even touched by an editor. Some sentences just make your eyes bleed.
Surprisingly though, the second half read fine. Either it got a good pair of eyes or mine had gotten too used to the clunky language. Nevertheless, the pace was good, there was enough happening to make me want to keep reading, and I was also enjoying it thoroughly.
The ending, however, was kind of a letdown. It was pretty predictable to start with, but beyond that, it was also not too satisfactory. But then it could be just that I was expecting my mind to be blown by the reveal but when that didn't happen, I couldn't digest the disappointment.
Definitely not his best, but if you get beyond the first few chapters, the book is a fairly decent read.