Review: Malice

Malice by Keigo Higashino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A MUST-READ (yes in all caps).

Wow, just wow! This book is part whodunit, part locked-room mystery and part psychological thriller, in which all parts are executed really well. Man I had high hopes and expectations from this book, most of the time that ends up in a let down, because of the author's other work that I have read a few years ago, The Devotion of Suspect X. Man was I pleasantly surprised when finally finished the book and felt that the author had outdone himself.

I feel the books by Keigo Higashino can be given as textbooks for aspiring authors, since there aren't any cheap tricks involved, like excessive use of pronouns or intentionally withholding the information etc to squeeze a thriller out where none exists in the first place. No, this book is a thriller because of the natural progression of the story. No information is ever withheld more than a page. Whatever the character learns is revealed instantly. This is a book you read entirely for its story, the plot and the way it pans out on the pages. I want talk more about this book but I'm afraid I might talk spoilers.

Also need to commend Alexander O. Smith, the Translator, for the remarkable job he has done. In spite of the Japanese names the books doesn't feel like a translation, flowing ever so smoothly. The translator has done incredible job, because he totally disappears and you feel like you're reading an original.

A MUST-READ (yes in all caps).


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