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A review by bingiebongie
A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Going to preface this review by saying that I did not read this series in order - I'm not sure if you need to, other than to familiarize yourself with the characters.
My biggest regret for this book being exactly that - the characterization of detective Kaga and Matusyima get lost in the plot line, and as a reader, I get an iv-drip of their characters, motivations, and personalities. As a reader, I'm thrust into Detective Kaga's mourning (or lack of) of his father's death anniversary, without a picture of who Kaga or his father is as a person.
Throughout the book I learn his quirks. He's passionate, he wants the murder to be solved instead of bending to police-politics, he has an unconventional way of seeing and doing things. But he himself as a character doesn't shine, rather he's dry as graham cracker. The main character sits in the background of this book, and other characters are instead put into light that you wouldn't see in many other books: the family of the victim, the suspect's family, the surrounding mystery of what the victim was doing before the murder. And that's what makes the novel so interesting, because the main character takes the back seat, you cannot help but see the true nature of murder (as the book calls it): cancer. It's ugly results and how it affects the families and bystanders involved in it.
The plot does feel like an iv drip - it's slow and purposeful. I don't feel like there is any wasted lines, but I cannot help but regret that Kaga & Matsuyima is in the back seat of this. I would have wanted more of his motivations rather than a simple "kaga is doing X and you can follow him if you want, but trust that Kaga will know what he's doing." As a reader I didn't really get a sense of why I should be trusting him, and why we are going along with Kaga's supposed whims, but I think that might lay in the fault of me not reading this in order.
I'll go ahead and read the first in the series and see how the main character develops.
My biggest regret for this book being exactly that - the characterization of detective Kaga and Matusyima get lost in the plot line, and as a reader, I get an iv-drip of their characters, motivations, and personalities. As a reader, I'm thrust into Detective Kaga's mourning (or lack of) of his father's death anniversary, without a picture of who Kaga or his father is as a person.
Throughout the book I learn his quirks. He's passionate, he wants the murder to be solved instead of bending to police-politics, he has an unconventional way of seeing and doing things. But he himself as a character doesn't shine, rather he's dry as graham cracker. The main character sits in the background of this book, and other characters are instead put into light that you wouldn't see in many other books: the family of the victim, the suspect's family, the surrounding mystery of what the victim was doing before the murder. And that's what makes the novel so interesting, because the main character takes the back seat, you cannot help but see the true nature of murder (as the book calls it): cancer. It's ugly results and how it affects the families and bystanders involved in it.
The plot does feel like an iv drip - it's slow and purposeful. I don't feel like there is any wasted lines, but I cannot help but regret that Kaga & Matsuyima is in the back seat of this. I would have wanted more of his motivations rather than a simple "kaga is doing X and you can follow him if you want, but trust that Kaga will know what he's doing." As a reader I didn't really get a sense of why I should be trusting him, and why we are going along with Kaga's supposed whims, but I think that might lay in the fault of me not reading this in order.
I'll go ahead and read the first in the series and see how the main character develops.