I got Keigo Higashino’s The Devotion of Suspect X through Osusume Books. (Thank you!)

Osusume Books promises to send carefully recommended Japanese novels. Without revealing too much, because this is the kind of story where spoilers really matter, a fascinating mystery with loads of twists, I can say it was a perfect choice for me.

Yasuko, a former nightclub hostess and now a lunch counter worker, accidentally kills her terrible ex-husband when defending herself and her daughter.  Ishigami, a quiet math teacher and their next door neighbor, hears the commotion, and calmly offers to hide the body.  Ishigami, as it turns out, is a criminal mastermind, devoted to keeping Yasuko and her daughter safe. The only possibly flaw is that “Detective Galileo,” a friend and sometime consultant for the police department, is Ishigami’s old classmate and also an investigative genius. The novel unfolds in alternating focus, between the police detective who feels something isn’t quite right with Yasuko’s perfect alibi, and Yasuko, following Ishigami’s directions and trying not to draw any more suspicion on her self and her daughter. The whole novel is tense, as two highly intelligent characters try to outwit each other. There are so many twists and revelations in this novel, right up to the last pages of the last chapter.

I enjoyed the character of mathematician Ishigami so much. There was a single-mindedness and contentment that reminded me of Keiko in Convenience Store Woman, but he was humanized by taking a temporary teaching job due to family commitments, and then finding himself there, years later, while his classmates wondered why such a brilliant man teaches at such an average high school.  Sure, he volunteers to be a criminal accessory after a murder, but I couldn’t help rooting for him.

Part of hiding the murder involves a certain amount of blood, but it happens offstage so I wasn’t unnerved or grossed out by it. (It wasn’t quite 100% Gore Free, but totally readable for me, and I have a very low tolerance for guts!)

This book was a great recommendation for me — I’ve been reading a lot of twisty, not-gross pageturners recently, with characters showing hints of obsession and genius, and this was just perfect for me. I wasn’t familiar with the author or the book before I read it, so I don’t think I would have discovered it myself. I added another Keigo Higashino mystery (also featuring Detective Galileo) to my library requests lists immediately after finishing this mystery!

Osusume Books will send bookworms a hand-picked Japanese novel in English every month, great for readers who want to discover new Japanese fiction. They’ve given my readers a coupon code for 10% off, so use THEFICTIONADDICTION when you order!

Thanks again, Osusume Books! This novel was perfect for me!