The Devotion of Suspect X

Keigo Higashino's The Devotion of Suspect X has kindled our interest in his Detective Galileo series. After reading the somewhat depressing last Kaga mystery, this series promises some interesting twists on the mystery genre. Like Malice, the reader quickly learns who is the killer, but the twist at the end about how the crime's true nature was hidden was quite ingenious. Careful attention to details from the beginning of the novel, of course, would make it rather obvious what transpired. But as a character study and intriguing investigation, The Devotion of Suspect X is full of suspense and intriguing turns. One only wishes Yukawa, the physicist friend of the lead detective and the titular Detective Galileo, was a stronger presence. We prefer mystery novels with the sleuth more foregrounded. Nonetheless, the novel succeeded overall, even if the ending was rather predictable. As usual, its prose is rather straight-forward, the narrative is engaging, and the city of Tokyo or its various wards feels like another character in the story. The only problem was the typos in the English translation, although none were enough to mar understanding. There may also be an inconsistency with Ishigami's character. We swear that in one of the early chapters, he said that he did not have a cellular phone. But in the second half of the novel, he uses a cell phone to make a call while on the campus of the high school he teaches at...