<비밀>, <백야행>, <용의자 X의 헌신>의 작가 히가시노 게이고의 장편소설. 한 여성이 병원 창문에서 뛰어내려 숨진다. 그리고 20년 후 묘지에서 독화살 살인사건이 발생한다. 이 사건은 이야기의 중심에 놓이는 것이 아니라, 두 주인공의 거짓말 같은 운명을 밝히기 위한 하나의 장치가 된다.
전두엽 절제수술인 '로보토미(la lobotomie)'를 소재로 삼은 이 소설은, 본격 추리물의 기능에 충실하면서도 대립적인 관계에 놓인 등장인물들의 내면 묘사에 치중한다. 작가는 뇌의학과 왜곡된 자본주의에 대한 성찰, 3대에 걸쳐 등장하는 수십 명의 인물들, 그리고 거미줄처럼 얽힌 그들의 아슬아슬한 심리전을 하나의 이야기로 엮어낸다.
한 재벌 기업의 사장이 독화살로 살해된다. 사건을 조사하게 된 형사 유사쿠. 그가 가장 유력한 용의자로 지목한 의사는 알고 보니 학창 시절 내내 그의 라이벌이었던 아키히코. 게다가 그는 유사쿠의 첫사랑 미사코와 결혼까지 한 인물이다. 유사코는 이 사건을 맡에 된 것이 운명이라고 생각하는데...
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.
Fated (it is my own translation, I'm not sure it is correct) is a disappointing melodrama by Keigo Higashino. I got so bored in the middle of the story that I skimmed to read the ending...and then I was like "Oh, that's it. That's the ending. It is not bad, but it is not very exciting neither. No point in reading any further."
This novel still carries plenty of Keigo Higashino's trademark problems when characters, story and writing is considered. I feel nothing for any of the characters--not saying that these characters are badly written, but they are just not...interesting. The murder mystery is half-baked as best, and the story itself is............as flat and as tasteless as reading a piece of news from a newspaper.
*sighs* I just need to rant about Keigo Higashino's tone whenever he is writing his novels: he inserts too much Big Talk about fate and destiny and human nature and the dark side of the society and whatnot in order to impress his audience---and it works because everyone and their mother is praising Keigo Higashino for being such a master novelist but I am not buying any of these, I hate being lectured by this guy and I think most of his novels are overrated and freaking boring.
If I had better books to read, I won't pick Higashino's books up. Case closed.
Dark, calm, mysterious, and sad. I always like reading novels by Higashino Keigo. Just like other ones this one was also dark but in a very slow - quiet kind of a way. The plot was sort of like "Lemon" (or 分身) also by the same author.
At the end of the story, the detective, the main character of this book, figures out that his old enemy is his twin brother. They were adopted by different families when they were babies. In addition to that, the detective heard that his brother changed a plain arrow to a poisonous one, so the killer could definitely kill the target. That means his brother must be arrested for aiding a murder!
But the detective does nothing. He just has a chit-chat with his brother, asking, "Who's the elder one?"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.