“Brilliant … While readers of classic mysteries will be delighted with the elegant solution, the book will also appeal to fans of procedurals that carefully develop the relationships among the investigative team members.”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
Keigo Higashino has in a way redefined the modus operandi of writing murder mysteries by shifting the central focus from ‘WHO’ to ‘HOW’. I can say that safely now after reading two of his most talked about novels. And while I had a few complaints about the plausibility of the stunning revelations made in ‘The Devotion of Suspect x’, I was completely satisfied with ‘Salvation of a Saint’.
This had a much more simpler plot (at least at face value) and a smoother investigation and dare I say a lesser formidable opponent pitted against Detective Kusanagi and the genius physicist Yukawa(dubbed Detective Galileo). Yukawa’s theories about the possible ways ‘The perfect crime’ was committed were absolutely fascinating.
I was happy that a novel in which you knew about the killer from the start could keep me hooked throughout. And I also think the very reason for which I found Salvation better than suspect x would work the other way for many people – the simplicity & practical plausibility of the final revelation/solution. Definitely a writer whom I’ll recommend to others.
Just wish that whichever smart alec had the bright but absolutely deluded idea of writing ‘Japanese Steig Larsson’ on his novels reads both of these authors to realise how ridiculously different both of them are. It’s like comparing Lee Child with Arthur Hailey (both brilliant in their own rights but with completely different writing styles)
4/5.
Reviewed by:
Aditya Singh
Added 6th November 2017
