Malice

Keigo Higashino's Malice is a whydunit page-turner we read in one night. Short, breezy yet very suspenseful, this murder mystery focuses entirely on motive. It's pretty clear who the culprit is in this story, but understanding his motives for killing Hidaka becomes a mystery in itself. The culprit has constructed a series of lies and planted evidence about why he committed the deed. In uncovering the truth of this case, our sleuth, Kyoichiro Kaga must confront his own demons from his stint as a teacher and explore the theme of bullying and pure "malice" that accompanied it in the childhood of the victim and killer. Like the other novel by this author that we've read, we suspect that a keen interest in the emotional and psychological state of murderers is a key part of the writer's interest in the genre. It allows him to deconstruct the murder mystery and focus on other elements like the "why" of it all. In this case, it largely succeeded, despite our initial reservations. The story is full of just enough misdirects, intrigue, suspense, and emotionally-charged episodes to retain our interest.