Review: Malice

Malice by Keigo Higashino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the second book of Keigo Higashino that I read after “The Devotion of Suspect X”. This is an excellent murder mystery as well. The style is similar – great story & plot, depth of characters and systematic & painstaking analysis. It does not have the frills which build suspense and many readers have become so used to – the end of a chapter having a sentence or two with a touch of drama. In many ways, this is the way murder mysteries should be written.

Hidaka is a best selling novelist, and Nonoguchi is his friend – he writes children’s books too. Hidaka lost his wife some time back and is now newly married again. He is found murdered at his home by his friend and wife. Detective Kaga is given the case (he and Nonoguchi were colleagues as teachers at a school a few years back), and quickly uncovers a number of clues not quite apparent when one looks at the circumstances and situation of the case.

There seem to be a number of complexities, all of which need investigation well into the past – the relation between Hidaka and Nonoguchi, Hidaka’s relation with his first wife and also a number of incidents from the past.

After reading around 1/3rd of the book, it appeared as if the mystery was over. I wondered what more could come now, and was worried that the story would just drag on. As it turns out, there was a lot more to come – all from very painstaking investigation by Detective Kaga. An in depth investigation of motive leads Detective Kaga well into the past and interviews with various different people to uncover the full sequence of events.

This is an excellent murder mystery – and recommended without hesitation if you like this genre!

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