Delirium Tremens: June 2012

Thursday, June 7, 2012

The Devotion of Suspect X – A Review

Book: The Devotion of Suspect X
Author: Keigo Higashino
Publishing Year: 2011
Number of Pages: 305

Language: English (original Japanese)

List Price: Rs. 350 INR

This is a book that comes with a lot of baggage. Everywhere you would look on the web, you would see only positive reviews and positive superlative praise for this book. Also, claims of 2 million plus readers, etc etc. had made this one of the most backed up book. Add numerous awards and the fact that since its first publication (in Japanese language) in 2005 it has already been adopted into two films.

Infact, to be honest, what really attracted me to this book was the quote on its cover "The Japanese Stieg Larsson - The Times". I am a self proclaimed fan of the writing of Steig Larsson and finished his last series on the trot. This is why I was very very apprehensive before I laid my hands on this book. I had too many questions like “whether it would be able to do justice to the tag”, “if it would be half as good as Steig Larsoon, that’s goona be great” and then some more. I also harbored certain doubts on a Japanese author being able to produce a thriller that will appeal to the global audience and not just to Japanese people.

To summarize my thoughts and feelings, I would say, that Keigo Higashino laid all my apprehensions to rest and in what a way! After I was through the first 50 pages, I could just not put the book down and take a break. I finished the book pronto (less than 4 hours for a 300+page book, my fastest so far :-) ).

I am usually a stickler for thrillers, military, action, suspense kinds of books. Hence, I lapped this straight up. Reading this book was like riding a Roller Coaster. The initial few pages are slow paced and a challenge to read probably because of new names, places etc. But, once the first 50 pages are read, there is no turning back. There is going to be no way by which one can get oneself to stop reading this book.

Coming back to the book, it opens with an amazingly crisp yet ‘full’ description of the life of a teacher – Ishigami, a divorced, single mother- Yasuko, her errant husband – Togashi, and a brilliant ‘Professor’ - Yukawa. A classic tale with a femme fatale, a genius mathematician, a brilliant physicist and his detective friend.

If you think on, then you would understand how the story might proceed. The single mother would be working very hard and supporting her daughter. The single mother is troubled by her ex-husband and the professor saves day. If this is what you thought then you are only partially correct. The best part of this book is that it is a crime thriller where we – readers are already aware of who the killer is and yet it had enough to lead readers on.

In doing so Keigo in a subtle manner introduced us to a extremely graphic style of writing. One can clearly visualize things happening. This and the overall pace of things picks up steam as we keep reading making this a compelling read. The suspense is well-balanced, and character development efficient and effective.

To sum up, this book is a good read. As always, you read and decide! My final verdict: 4.5 on 5.

This book can be bought from the following:

Indiaplaza
Flipkart
Homeshop18