This book is an inverted mystery; the reader knows from the beginning who committed the murder. Thus the mystery is more involved in how the murderer is discovered. And in this case, there is so much more, with twists and turns you do not expect.Yasuko Hanaoka is surprised when her abusive ex-husband Togashi shows up at her apartment. He wants money from her and threatens both her and her teenaged daughter Misato.Togashi ends up dead, strangled. Yasuko’s next door neighbor, Mr. Ishigami, offers to help them dispose of the body. Of course, once the body is discovered, the police consider Yasuko one of the suspects and life becomes very tense for Yasuko, her daughter, and her neighbor.
I will start out by saying I enjoyed the book very much. I only rate books on Goodreads, and there I only gave it 4 stars, not 5. But in reality, I would make it 4.5 out of 5, very close to the top.
On the back cover of the edition I read, Jan Burke compares this book to a Golden Age mystery and I would agree. It has a similar setup to The Tattoo Murder Mystery (reviewed here), which was published in Japan in 1948 and features a very intelligent man (genius) helping the policeman with his case.
The Devotion of Suspect X has all the brilliant intricacy of the best Golden Age mysteries - puzzle within puzzle, twist after twist - with a modern sensibility. It is a wonderful, fresh take on the classic mystery's intellectual struggle between protagonist and antagonist, adds to it all the right amounts of tension and pacing, places it in a fascinating setting, and gives to all of this plenty of heart.This book is part of a series known as the Detective Galileo series. Manabu Yukawa, a physicist, known affectionately as "Detective Galileo," has been friends with police detective Kusanagi since attending college together and they often talk about Kusanagi's cases. Per Wikipedia, the first two books in the series were short story collections, so this would be the first novel in the series. This book is set in Tokyo, Japan. However, the setting is not a strong part of the novel, although we do learn about social interactions and relationships in Japan.
-- Jan Burke
The author kept me involved in the story, as I tried to figure why and how the neighbor was involved with the coverup. I actually felt myself rooting for Yasuko Hanaoka and her daughter, hoping that they would not be found at as murderers. Yet I was pretty sure that with a genius helping the police, there was going to be a solution. All of the characters were either appealing or interesting.
The review by Naomi Hirahama at Criminal Elements is very positive but does point out some quibbles with the book. One I agree with is that the author does not reveal as much about the daughter's thoughts or state of mind as the other characters. This may have been intentional, but I agree that it could have improved the story to give her more depth.
At Chasing Bawa, Sakura draws the same comparison to The Tattoo Murder Mystery as I did, and she also discusses the Galileo TV series.
My husband did give this book 5 stars and has a brief review at Goodreads:
This might not be a perfect "inverted" mystery but it is very, very clever and held me from first chapter to last.
The numerous characters are all sharply drawn and the plotting is - no other word for it - elegant.
Submitted for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction for the letter X. This community meme is hosted by Mysteries In Paradise.
Also for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII event, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. Reviews for that event are here.
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