This book's got it all: Suspense, death, romance, friendship, high-school life, teenage ego... you name it. Although the characters and settings are nothing out of the ordinary, the author managed to weave a thrilling tale into an incredibly normal world, somehow making the story all the more gripping. Throughout the book, readers get to delve deep into the main character's internal self and experience his struggles and thought processes in exceptional detail. So many times, his internal struggles just tore my heart apart.
I have to say that Higashino is not content with just a simple protagonist versus antagonist, even to the end it is hard to point out who is to blame. In fact, the story suggested that nobody meant for all these tragic events to happen, yet at the same time, everyone's actions and choices potentially contributed to the build-up of this tragedy, thus, in a way, all are responsible.
Finally, I love how the author also incorporated, at a broader scale, certain social issues, such as teenage pregnancies, flawed education systems and health problems caused by unethical companies.
Yet despite all the chaos, the author still managed to wrap it all up in a warm and satisfying way.