Tag Archives: Keigo Higashino

Keigo Higashino’s Devotion of Suspect X was a finalist for the MWA Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2012.  I liked it, but ranked it in the middle of the pack and ultimately the Edgar went to Mo Hayder’s Gone (also my pick).  He’s penned a couple since then which have been translated into English, most recently the just-released  Under the Midnight Sun.

The book is lengthier than the usual crime novel, but needs the pages for the sheer sweep of story.  The murder of an adulterous pawnbroker followed by the apparent suicide of the pawnbroker’s lover brings together two children.  Ryo Kirihara is the pawnbroker’s son.  And Yukiho Nishimoto is the woman’s daughter.  Determining what really happened and why is Detective Sasagaki’s lifelong quest.

The book unfolds at a leisurely pace, although it soon becomes clear that there is more, much more, simmering beneath the surface.  Why do bad things happen to those who stand between Yukiho and something she wants?  How does the clever Ryo accomplish so much, just to disappear abruptly and resurface with a different name?

Sasagaki spends decades plumbing the depths of the mystery of the pair’s relationship.  He suspects that Ryo and Yukiho offer the human equivalent of the symbiotic relationship between the goby and the shrimp, with Ryo as the goby.  “One cannot live without the other,” says Sasagaki.  

Under the Midnight Sun offers plenty of suspense as the plot twists along, incorporating characters and perspectives.  Some are unsuspecting victims, others are suspicious.  All are of interest.

My previous review of Higashino’s Salvation of a Saint said it was a cerebral puzzler with minimal drama.   I have to echo that for Under the Midnight Sun.  Some will read a chapter or two, then set it aside and instead pick up the latest Lee Child or John Sanford.  But the patient reader with a penchant for the slow reveal will enjoy how well Higashino weaves the story that leads to a big – understated, but satisfying – finish.