Tag Archives: Japanese crime fiction

salvation of a saint

Salvation of a Saint- Keigo Higashino with Alexander O. Smith translating

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I enjoyed Higashino’s previous novel – The Devotion of Suspect X where the mystery centered on the cover-up of the perfect crime. That book was nominated for an Edgar Award this year.  Both Salvation of a Saint and The Devotion of Suspect X have that very dry narrative but at least with the latter book, the characters and my interest in the story pushed me to finish it.

That’s not the case with Salvation of a Saint. I put this book aside more than once and kept coming back to it only to come to the conclusion that I’m not going to finish it. The story lacks any real character depth or engagement and like I mentioned before, the narrative is very dry and there’s not enough action or interest in the story to make me want to  finish it. It’s unfortunate since I was looking forward to reading it. Continue reading →

Upcoming: Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino

Here comes another book by Keigo Higashino with Alexander O. Smith translating – Salvation of a Saint (Oct 2012). His second translated book in the US, The Devotion of Suspect X out now, was good about two academic professors, on opposite sides of the law, matching wits with each during a murder investigation. The book was nominated for an Edgar this year. Here is the book description below and yes it is another novel featuring physics professor, Manabu Yukawa dubbed Detective Galileo by the detectives:

Yoshitaka, who was about to leave his marriage and his wife, is poisoned by arsenic-laced coffee and dies. His wife, Ayane, is the logical suspect—except that she was hundreds of miles away when he was murdered. The lead detective, Tokyo Police Detective Kusanagi, is immediately smitten with her and refuses to believe that she could have had anything to do with the crime. His assistant, Kaoru Utsumi, however, is convinced Ayane is guilty. While Utsumi’s instincts tell her one thing, the facts of the case are another matter. So she does what her boss has done for years when stymied—she calls upon Professor Manabu Yukawa.

But even the brilliant mind of Dr. Yukawa has trouble with this one, and he must somehow find a way to solve an impossible murder and capture a very real, very deadly murderer.

Salvation for a Saint is Keigo Higashino at his mind-bending best, pitting emotion against fact in a beautifully plotted crime novel filled with twists and reverses that will astonish and surprise even the most attentive and jaded of readers.