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Malice by Keigo Higashino
This is, in short, a murder mystery that doesn't ignore the heart.
#07threads
This is, in short, a murder mystery that doesn't ignore the heart.
#07threads
Keigo Higashino is a writer who mastered the concept of the unreliable narrator. There are various POVs on the mystery, the confessions of the culprit, the investigating officer, and the various people questioned throughout the story.
You can actually figure out the crime pretty early, and there is some simple but clever detective work leading to that, but actually figuring out the whodunnit is the first step, the meat of the story is all about the whydunnit.
As you delve into the story you stop taking things at face value and then slowly question everything you thought was true. But it happens in a very comforting way that you won’t even feel the narrative tricks present in front of you.
A lot of personal appreciation comes from the fact that many clues rely on how someone perceives literature in general. This was a clear prerequisite in understanding the motif and the sequence of events that led to it.
I also appreciated the fact that the author continued to reward the continued process of literary analysis until the last minute, and didn't shove the answer in a way that may seem underwhelming or undesirable.
This technique enabled every narrative thread to contain meaning, while at the same time keeping you entertained with the act of thinking and revising information about things you thought you had figured out.
I can’t recommend this book enough and I am happy that I found a new unexpected favorite. This author has taught me that a mystery novel can be much more than just a chase for the murderer.
Umineko fans who loved the first part of episode 7 and the procedures that led to discovering the identity of the culprit would be really happy with this book. (I am sure this it at least what willard would have wanted from detective fiction).
just found out that keigo higashino's novels are all like this and explore the character rather than just working out whoddunit and even some people compared him to ryukishi, definitely consuming all his novels in the upcoming future
