Book review- Devotion of suspect X by Keigo Higashino
Friday, March 8, 2013
Devotion of suspect X is a mystery/thriller novel by Keigo Higashino featuring the genius physicist and detective, Yukawa Manabu and inspector Kusanagi. It is part of the Galileo series. This novel has caused a lot of buzz recently so I decided to give it a try. Also, since I have watched the drama Galileo and loved it (You can find the review on this blog as well), I really wanted to read the book.
The book starts off pretty unsually for a mystery where so much hinges on how the murder was committed. It shows exactly how the murder happened and the events surrounding it. This tricks the reader into complacency as they feel they already know how it was done, but this is not a good assumption (as the book subsequently shows, assumptions are the biggest barrier to cracking a case). An interesting character featured right from the start is that of Ishigami, a maths teacher who lives next to the victim's wife's house.
The writing style was what really captured me, apart from the very interesting plot. The style is so simple that even a middle schooler could easily read. It doesn't feature any vocabulary of high level. I don't know whether the credit for this goes to the translator or the writer himself. Because of its simplicity, it is even more addictive.
The plot features a brilliant twist at the end as well as throughout. This is a mystery novel along the lines of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie mysteries which feature impossible to guess, startling endings in which all the threads are tied together.
The characterisation was quite well done, and one easily gets a sense of the characters, who are not stereotyped but real people. Even though it is a plot focused novel, the personality of characters still manages to shine through.
Overall, this was a great novel. The writing style, plot, characterisation were all good and the ending was the icing on the cake. I couldn't wait to read the next page. Thsi novel will keep you hooked.
Ratings
Plot-4.7/5
Characters-4.5/5
Style-5/5
Story-4.3/5
Pros
Addictive and a racy read
Full of surprises and a great ending
Does not lose out on emotion even though it is a mystery novel
Clear and simpel writing style which works well for the book
Cons
Is wholely focused on the mystery; characters or other things are not explored in detail.
The ending page could have been better
Overall, I will definitely be looking foward to reading The Salvation of a Saint, the next in this series.
NOTE- Images taken from google image search