I have commented before on the number of Scandinavian
thrillers by unknown authors that are turning up in the shops with labels such
as ‘the new Henning Mankell’ or ‘if you liked Stieg Larsson, read this’,
etc. Usually they are nothing like
either author and rarely as well written.
The other day I came across The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. This one bore the legend ‘The Japanese Stieg
Larsson’! In fact it bears no similarity
to any aspect of the ‘Girl trilogy’, with the possible exception that, in both stories, a crime
had been committed.
In fact, it was a terrific read. It might perhaps have better been named ‘The Japanese Columbo’, since it focused on a detective and a former colleague, who were
not alcoholics, nor (as far as I know) having family problems, nor stressed by
work or office rivalries – a rarity these days among the good cop
fraternity - and their breaking down of a suspect. It was very Japanese, by
which I mean that the detectives spent much of their time drawing inferences
from small gestures and words and indeed lack of gestures. Why did they do this, when there were choices
of action? Why did they not say that? Why did he steal a new bicycle, when
there were unlocked old ones? Etc,
etc. I found this both compelling and
fascinating.
The crime is committed early on in the novel and we follow
both the detectives and the culprits as they pit their wits against each
other. At one point, one of the
detectives was walking with a suspect and, seeing a reflection of the two of
them in an office door, asked ‘how have you managed to stay so young?’ The suspect instantly knew that he was a
suspect. At another point, the detective
asks a suspect, ‘Which is harder – devising an unsolvable problem or solving
that problem?’ The suspect promptly
decides to confess. You’ll have to read
the book to understand the convoluted thinking behind those exchanges. And there is not one, but two very Japanese shock
endings to look forward to.
Of course, one reason I enjoyed the novel so much was that I
knew where all the action took place and understood the Japanese sensibilities
that led to their actions. I'm not sure how exquisite the interactions would be, if that wasn't the case. But this was
a real find. As gripping as a watching a game of chess. If this author has another
story in him, he will maybe begin to become as well-known as Stieg Larsson . .
.
The nuances of Japanese culture would probably be lost on me.
ReplyDeleteI might try that one. I loved your comment "since it focused on a detective and a former colleague, who were not alcoholics, nor (as far as I know) having family problems, nor stressed by work or office rivalrie" which I must admit is something getting on my nerves in the Scandinavian crime stories. I only know the Japanese culture from my work in Export where I dealt with the country as customer and had many visits from Japan in the office. It is something different, but interesting.
ReplyDeleteWell, it was certainly not Scandinavian.
ReplyDeleteYou may have infringed an iPatent by talking about iApple in your iBlog. They,ve got spies everywhere.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I thought I was commenting on another blog.... just ignore me.
ReplyDeleteI do.
Delete