REVIEW FOR MALICE BY KEIGO HIGASHINO

 
Malice: A Mystery
Keigo Higashino
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: -10: 1250035600
A review by Sandra Scholes

Blurb: Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he’s planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver. His body is found in his office, a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis. Or so it seems.

At the crime scene, Police Detective Kyochiro Kaga recognizes Hidaka’s best friend, Osamu Nonoguchi. Years ago when they were both teachers, they were colleagues at the same public school. Kaga went on to join the police force while Nonoguchi eventually left to become a full-time writer, though with not nearly the success of his friend Hidaka.

Review: The story is separated into chapters which concern three people, Kyochiro Kaga, Kunihiko Hidaka and Osamu Nonoguchi. From the beginning there are revelations, one that Hidaka had once had a wife, and that he has a new one who likes to keep in the background, and somehow you get to think she's been like that throughout his career. Hidaka is an accomplished writer, one who is methodical and well thought of, yet he does have a dark side we get to hear of from the start; he has a strange neighbour who he tells Osamu has a grudge against him for killing her cat. As Osamu thinks rather highly of him, he thinks it strange that he confesses to having poisoned the cat for fouling around his garden. There is also the possibility that Osamu could be lying as it is only his own account of what happened before Hidaka's death.

Kaga knows Osamu from public school, and though he admired him while he was there, his opinion changes once he decides Osamu is the main suspect in the murder case. At the time he only has suspicions, but no proof, so part of the novel goes through Kaga trying to trick him into telling him he is the killer.

The story is all about Kaga finding out the truth behind what Osamu has said in his statement, as evidence suggests their friendship was a lie from the start as there is a lot of envy about Hidaka's success in the writing profession. It has so many twists and turns that it becomes impossible to put down, and made me want to read further novels from this writer.

Verdict: Impressive, well-written and above all well translated by Alexander O'Smith.