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.
4.5/5. A friend recommended this to me and I’m so happy he did. This has been my favorite/preferred genre over the past 1-2 years and Higashino doesn’t disappoint. If you like Japanese murder mysteries a la Sherlock Holmes vibes, you should read this.
My favorite authors of this genre is Seishi Yokomizo and then Soji Shimada….and Higashino definitely swings more closely to Yokomizo who is the best. This is the kind of book that sucks you into the mystery without injecting too much emotion into the plot to muddle with the story. You’re in it for the twists and turns of the who why and how. I find these kinds of books pleasant and easy to read (despite the inevitable murder), and I always speed through them quickly.
If you haven’t read this genre yet, you should, and you should probably start with Higashino or Yokomizo.
I liked the concept of us—the readers—watching both sides (the “bad guys” as well as the “good guys”), not really being able to decide who do we want to win. It didn't really matter that we knew from the start what had happened (or did we?). However, even if the book was a nice read, to say Keigo Higashino is the “Japanese Stieg Larsson” is—I think—a bit too bold.
Felt like a distinctly different murder mystery/thriller. I enjoyed the interplay between the characters and really felt for the main people. However the ending hurt.
The Devotion of Suspect X is a detective fiction book by Keigo Higashino. I like this book because it is different from the other detective fiction book. The normal detective fiction books are the reader read the story about the person who follows the suspect or the suspect, but this book is the reader read the story about the person close to the suspect. The story is focused on the suspect's side. The three reasons why I can focus on the book more than the other books that I read before are the simile, mood, and foreshadowing that the author used in the book. The first thing that I like about this book is the simile. The author use simile to create mood, which the second thing that I like about in the book. In the book, “The man looked around the shop, both hands thrust into the pockets of his dark navy windbreaker, like a prospective customer trying to figure out what he should buy”. In this sentence, the author use simile to create the mood of the man. Example for the foreshadowing is this, “She had only recently learned that he taught math when she happened to notice outside his apartment door a bundle of old math textbooks, wrapped in string and awaiting disposal”. This means that Ishigami is smart enough to teach math and this will go to affect her. I recommend this book to the young adult age people and adults because this book is complicated for the young age. Or I recommend this book to the people who want to try another style of detective noble.
Letting the reader learn everything about the muder -- the why, who, and how -- in the first couple of chapters isn't new. Yasuko and her daughter, Misato, killed the husband/father. Then, their neighbor, Ishigami, calls and offers to help them bury the body. How'd he know? Well, it's Ishigami’s brilliant cover-up that drives the story forward! OMGosh! Brilliant writing! Anyway, Detective Kusanagi of the Edogawa police and his friend, Yukawa, a friend and a genius who sometimes helps the police, battle to find the truth surrounding Togashi’s murder. The truth they try to prove is that Yasuko's story is a lie. We readers see fragments of Ishigami’s plan... At first it seems simplistic; even sort of careless. However, we discover all too soon it's actually quite a deceptive plan and it's pretty complex. Oh, yeah, Ishigami is a mathematical genius and he's a logical thinker and even tells mother and daughter that logic will get them through everything... yes, he actually applies math ideas to their problem like in that TV series "Numb3rs". I totally, 110% recommend this book to those who love mysteries.
After reading this book, I have a complicated feeling that I can't explain at first. Just a wow moment and then I realized that how deep is a love of someone like Ishigami. For love, he could do anything, even killed a men that was a crime to cover another serious crime. Maybe it will make you a little boring when you reach the middle of the book because of some unrelevant details, but just keep reading.
I like the storyline. The author knows how to direct the reader into a situation though the situation was overwhelmed and complicated. Initially, mysterious then complicated in the middle and solved by the end. Not only that, I appreciate each value in each situation that the author describes. Thank you! I love this
that's how love is, sometimes beyond reason. love can make us do anything even the most vile thing though. and do anything for the people we love even though we know those people don't love us.
Impressive. A very short and contained story with a few major characters. It develops slowly and takes the reader completely in the world of one murder which the police is trying hard to solve. Only in the end - everything makes sense. And that is how mystery thrillers should be. An absolute master piece.