The Devotion of Suspect X (2011) written by Keigo Higashino and translated by Alexander O. Smith. Keigo Higashino is a bestselling mystery novelist in Tokyo and this book has won him several awards and critical acclaim in the US and abroad. This is a police procedural with the added element of psychological suspense. It is my understanding that this is a apart of a series. Thankfully, it stands alone well. The author’s bibliography indicates that this is only title translated in the US thus far.
The beginning of the novel starts off kind of weak. This is one of those stories whose strengths lie not with the beginning but with the middle and end. The focus isn’t so much on finding the killers. We know who they are already. The focus for the reader is to try to unravel the details behind the cover-up. We want to see if the culprits will get away with the facade they have erected to protect them. The story is a great mind puzzle if you will. It is a mystery that will probably grab your attention like it did mine and won’t let you go until you reach the last page.
Yasuko Hanaoka’s ex-husband, Tagoshi was bad news. He was an abuser and an embezzler. A man in hard times. It’s a not a spoiler to say that Yasuko ends up killing her deadbeat ex-husband. His continual talk of reconciliation and his always needing money from her made Yasuko feel hopeless and weary. She fled from him five years ago with her daughter, Misato and now he’s back, wanting money and to get back together again. Unfortunately, things don’t go well. Tagoshi ends up being strangled to death with a kotatsu cord.
Into the picture steps Tetsuya Ishigami, a high school math teacher who lives next door to Yasuko Hanaoka. He’s a regular customer at the restaurant where she works but he only visits when she’s there. The shop owners take notice and tell Yasuko that Ishigami seems to have an interest in her. Unsurprisingly, Yasuko never noticed. From the way she describes Ishigami, he’s nobody you would look at twice. He’s nearly bald, looks older than his age and isn’t very fashion conscious. He’s also single and lives like a hermit. In the aftermath of the crime, Ishigami volunteers to help dispose of the body and also gives instructions on what to say to the police. We are not privy to all of the details but to quote Ishigami: “[l]ogical thinking will get us through this.”
What Ishigami doesn’t count on is his bumping into an old school friend of his from his university days via a mutual acquaintance. Detective Kusanagi is handed the Tagoshi case and as he canvasses Yasuko’s neighbors about the murder, he discovers that Ishigami is a fellow alum. Assistant professor, Yukawa is also an alum of the same university and he remembers Ishigami very well. Yukawa is a physicist who often assists the police with their most troubling, hard to crack cases. He has a talent for observation and experimentation. He’s often referred to as “Detective Galileo” by the other detectives at the station. The battle is on I guess you can say as Kusanagi uses Yukawa as his sounding board when he hits a brick wall in his case. Yukawa also takes a personal interest. The story soon devolves into a battle of wits to unravel a crime motivated by, well, devotion, just as the title suggests.
This novel was such an emotional read for me. I read almost all in one sitting. Just about every characters made me sympathetic to their plights save the victim. How weird is that? Weird. This is one of those stories where good people make bad decisions and they have to live with the aftermath of those decisions. My heart was more in my throat for Ishigami. A genius mathematician whose academic dreams were derailed due to personal obligations. There’s also Yukawa. He grabbed my interest when he first walked onto the scene. I would love to know more about him. I loved that he understood and was sympathetic to Ishigami. He knew all along what his friend was trying to do. More importantly, he knew the motive behind it all.
This is by no means a perfect read. I did have issues with the translation. There were some awkward moments. I don’t see this novel as having wide appeal. The prose seems to be flat, unimpressive and there’s very little character development yet the story totally worked for me. The setting was somewhat disappointing because it didn’t make an impression on me nor was it developed. Nevertheless, I allowed myself to be carried along and I enjoyed trying figure out if the culprits would get away with murder and secretly hoping that they did. This was a deeply, satisfying puzzle for me capped off with a great, twisty ending. Will grade this one a B+. I would give it an A just for originality but I don’t know how true that is considering how vast the mystery genre is but I do recommend this book to readers who enjoy puzzles. This is a good one.
