The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo HigashinoMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Keigo Higashino is a first-rate bestseller author in Japan and other Asian countries. I have a hearty dislike of so-called bestsellers as these are usually mediocre (after all, they have to please the crowd according to the most common denominator), but there are several things that win me over for Higashino, who at present is probably the most important living author of mysteries and detective stories in Japan. The first of these is that Higashino doesn’t write overblown thrillers with loads of violence and cruelty, but his mysteries center on quiet detection – they are almost serene (in the U.S. his type of work is apparently so rare that in some reviews it is compared to Columbo – which is not very helpful as Columbo is the sort of strong character you won't find in these Japanese stories).
Higashino mostly writes about ordinary people in ordinary situations and recognizable Japanese locations. Although he is sometimes mentioned together with the Shin Honkaku writers who tried to revive the 1920's Anglophone puzzle detective in 1980's Japan (and won the Honkaku Mystery Award of 2006 with the present novel), nothing could be farther from the truth. Except in a number of short stories, puzzles are not central to Higashino's books, but he focuses on human beings. He doesn't need the trappings of weird mansions or deserted islands for his mysteries, which is a definite plus. In fact, the false idea that he writes traditional puzzle mysteries and should be judged according to the rules laid down by S.S. Van Dine for such books, has led to annoying misunderstandings – I saw at least one foreign reviewer who blamed Higashino for not being “fair” to the reader by giving enough facts to be able to solve the mystery, something which is wholly beside the mark as Higashino writes a different kind of books. On top of that, the present novel is an inverted detective story: we know the murderer from the start and the emphasis is on the battle of wits with the police. Higashino has said himself that his greatest example is Matsumoto Seicho, who also wrote about the lives of normal people.
Higashino has written more than 80 novels and short story collections, and many of his books have been filmed. His most famous novel is the present “The Devotion of Suspect X,” written in 2005. Former bar hostess Yasuko Hanaoka is a divorced single mother who works in a shop selling bento lunch boxes. Tetsuya Ishigami is a highly talented but reclusive mathematics teacher, who lives in the apartment next door to Yasuko and her middle-school age daughter Misato. When Yasuko's abusive ex-husband Togashi shows up one day to extort money from her, the situation escalates into violence, and the extortioner ends up being killed by mother and daughter, though they were mostly acting in self defense. Overhearing the commotion through the thin apartment walls, Ishigami, who is secretly in love with Yasuko but has never told her so (on his way to work he every morning goes to buy a bento at her shop), offers his help, disposing of the body and step-by-step plotting the ingenious cover-up of the murder.
Police detective Shunpei Kusanagi is unable to solve the case and brings in his acquaintance Dr. Manabu Yukawa (know by his nickname “Galileo”), a physicist who frequently consults with the police. Interestingly, Dr Yukawa, who figures in eight more novels and story collections by Higashino, also happens to be an old college friend of Ishigami. This leads to a battle of wits between Yukawa and Ishigami, the one trying to out-think and outmaneuver the other, although it must be said that in the end Yukawa remains loyal to his friend. Things get complicated when Yasuko meets an old customer from her hostess period, a company president who recently has been widowed, and shows herself receptive to his advances – she appreciates Ishigami’s help, but doesn’t see him as “a man” and a possible partner at all. Despite that, Ishigami will show his devotion to her in a most radical way, and there are some interesting unexpected plot developments waiting for the reader.
When you close the book you realize you have been reading a love story, a strange story of one-sided love...
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