Keigo Higashino (東野 圭吾) is one of the most popular and biggest selling fiction authors in Japan—as well known as James Patterson, Dean Koontz or Tom Clancy are in the USA.
Born in Osaka, he started writing novels while still working as an engineer at Nippon Denso Co. (presently DENSO). He won the Edogawa Rampo Prize, which is awarded annually to the finest mystery work, in 1985 for the novel Hōkago (After School) at age 27. Subsequently, he quit his job and started a career as a writer in Tokyo.
In 1999, he won the Mystery Writers of Japan Inc award for the novel Himitsu (The Secret), which was translated into English by Kerim Yasar and published by Vertical under the title of Naoko in 2004. In 2006, he won the 134th Naoki Prize for Yōgisha X no Kenshin. His novels had been nominated five times before winning with this novel.
The Devotion of Suspect X was the second highest selling book in all of Japan— fiction or nonfiction—the year it was published, with over 800,000 copies sold. It won the prestigious Naoki Prize for Best Novel— the Japanese equivalent of the National Book Award and the Man Booker Prize. Made into a motion picture in Japan, The Devotion of Suspect X spent 4 weeks at the top of the box office and was the third highest‐grossing film of the year.
Higashino’s novels have more movie and TV series adaptations than Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum, and as many as Michael Crichton.
A pretty complicated murder mystery solved by a brilliant detective. The work dealing with evidence gathered from modern technology such as cellphones and tablets, even after they were destroyed in fire, was interesting. Also interesting was data gathered by certain apps like trace of precise locations over time. The story spans over two generations which led to a murder. A politician and a former actress couple died in a house fire. It was determined that they were murdered and then the house set on fire by the murderer after the crime. It turns out it’s only half true. Detective Godai and an assistant detective from another unit, Mochizuki, were assigned on the case. Immediately Godai notices that something does not “add up” with Mochizuki. It turns out the murdered couple and Mochizuki went all the way back to the same high school; the husband, now a politician, was a teacher; the wife and Mochizuki were students. Godai focuses on this, and eventually uncovers a rather complicated relationship of the three and a motive for the murder. It is not Mochizuki who committed the crime, however. He led the detectives to suspect him, in order to protect the real murderer, as he believed the murderer to be his own daughter with the female victim. He was confident that there would not be enough evidence for his indictment, but the detectives will waste enough time chasing the wrong lead, and hopefully the real murderer will never be caught. But the twist of the story is that the female victim had manipulated to have these two men believe the girl she gave birth to the year she graduated from high school was his, by telling one that she was born one month prematurely, so the timeline works out for each. So, they each acted to cover up the truth of the murder to protect their daughter. It is a highly emotional plot (I imagine most murder crimes are!), going back to complicated family lives of three high school students, a respected teacher, and their paths, leading to a murder 40 years later! I am not sure if I can say it is a best murder mystery I’ve read, but how he put this complicated story spanning 40 plus years to weave and make sense, and explains it all in a story form is impressive.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Follows the same style as other detective mysteries from Higashino Keigo--an unexplained murder, false suspects, a few twists. The recurring characters are two detectives who are lifeless except when moving along the plot. The book's biggest plot twist is basically recycled from another (better) Higashino mystery--I will refrain from saying which one, so as to avoid spoiling it--yet it is still a strong twist in the moment. And I did like the ambiguity he left us with at the end, especially a character's reaction to it.
🔍The mystery felt a little repetitive from the past works🔍
As a huge fan of Higashino Keigo's fantasy works such as 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘺𝘢 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦 and 𝘓𝘢𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦'𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩, I came to the conclusion that I might need a break from his recent mystery writing. Instead, I will welcomingly wait for my favorite genre by him. This one simply didn't deliver the originality I was hoping for, and it felt very dry, which is the opposite of what I favor in mystery (high suspense, highly-detailed action, and surprising twists.)