A review by paul_cornelius
The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping by Keigo Higashino

2.0

Disappointing. Very early on when Sakuma, the narcissistic advertising executive, meets Juri, the daughter of his firm's most important client, from almost that first moment, it's clear how this story will play out. (Hint: it's all there in the title.) Of course, Keigo Higashino provides plenty of intuitive clues that let you know this. And that's not always bad. Sometimes, it's a pleasure to realize how a crime thriller will end and simply watch the process unfold. But Kidnapping isn't one of those times. Process is often enjoyable and deserving of focus in Higashino's writing. For this story, however, process is cluttered with the details of a techno thriller as well. And, for a novel published in 2002, you get all the cultural markers of the time: cell phones, fax machines, email dead drops, online message boards, the works. It all serves to date the story and also reduce it to its dependency on those items. Personally, I dislike these sorts of efforts, and it's really not worth saying anything more. Higashino is a prolific author who usually hits all the right buttons. Not in this case. I guess he's due a missfire every now and then.