The blurb on the cover of this thriller by the Japanese author Keigo Higashino describes him as ‘The Japanese Stieg Larsson’ but don’t let that put you off. As with a Larsson’s book it’s very well written with well drawn characters and faultless translation, but here the likeness ends.
Here is a thriller with no gratuitous violence, no bad guys with guns, no underworld, car chases, damsels in dire danger or renegade cops. Here we have a mystery thriller based on changing circumstances and deceit which draw the reader into the story as though actually being one of the detective team.
Opening with a person found murdered by poisoning the story follows the work of Tokyo police detective Kusanagi and his assistants picking their way through a seemingly unrelated sequence of events. Kusanagi is no super sleuth but rather an intelligent hard working detective.
All clues point to the murdered man’s wife who immediately falls under suspicion as being the logical suspect. However she was hundreds of miles away visiting her parents when the crime was committed. Added to this Kusanagi’s assistant’s become concerned that his judgement seems to become clouded by one of the attractive suspects.
It eventually requires the assistance of an old friend to unravel the web of clues and counter clues. See if you can do it, I didn’t. At 376 pages this is quite a substantial book which starts off slowly which is just as well as it gives the reader a chance to get to grips with the Japanese character’s names. However the story soon picks up to a page turning pace. Highly recommended
