There are certain piece of fiction which never gives you enough space to negotiate the everlasting effect. There are times when even you as a reader feel helpless to the power of the pen. Author Keigo Higashino in his book yields the might of the pen to enslave the brightest and curious of minds with his heart stopping thriller. So will he be able to recreate an aura of suspense and brutality? Let's find out.
Salvation Of A Saint is another Detective Galileo mystery from the popular Japanese writer, Keigo Higashino. This book follows the success of the previous translated novel, The Devotion Of Suspect X.When the body of a murdered man is discovered, suspicion soon centers around his wife, Ayane. Yoshitaka Mashiba has been murdered by arsenic poisoning in his own house. He had been planning to leave his wife.The problem is, Ayane was nowhere near the scene when the murder happened. She was miles away, visiting her mother. Detective Kusanagi knows she is the logical suspect, but he finds himself falling in love with her, which affects his judgement. His assistant is convinced that Ayane committed the deed. Finding that she could not depend on her senior’s cool judgement in this particular case, she follows his own precedence and calls in expert assistance. She asks Kusanagi’s friend, Yukawa, for help to unravel the puzzle.Yoshitaka Mashiba was planning to leave Ayane because she could not give him children. This impersonal attitude of his angered Ayane, who loved him. So, she has motive enough to have murdered him. The only problem is to link her with the crime, as she was not physically present at the scene of the crime.Salvation Of A Saint is a how-did-it happen kind of mystery instead of the traditional whodunit. It unravels like a sophisticated logical puzzle as Yukawa sorts through the tangle and tries to solve the seeming impossibility of the crime.
First look at the title and the cover and one cannot guess what the novel will transpire into. The taglines and the heaps of praise for the author gives away the gyst of the book. But then there's more to it that meets the eye. The blurb turns out to be a lengthy affair and it manages to capture the essence of the book. Though it could have been a short and a snobbish one somehow the author thus pulls off something out of the box to gauge the reader's curiosity.
The story is set off in Tokyo where Yoshitaka is found dead in his house. It all points to a murder and the suspect list is drawn to a bare minimum. When Detective Kushanagi steps in to solve the case along with the physicist Galileo and his hyper active subordinates it takes them on a long trail from where there is either a way in or it's a dead end. So where does the entire fiasco end in? Will it ever be proved that Yoshitaka was murdered or the case will wound up in the dusty corners of the police records? That's what the story is all about.
What sets the story apart from the others its unique ways to pull off charismatic stunts and exaggerate on smallest of points yet make it look large like a canvas. The story takes turns to fool the readers and make head ways into their minds and souls. The limitations of the environment makes it all the more challenging and mind boggling. Subtle hints being dropped from time to time doesn't makes life easier for the readers. It's the best trick pulled out of the bag and being boxed into a world where it all looks plain and simple but the facts are far from easy. It takes the hard way out to find what it managed to do in a single stroke with such a precision.
The book has no downside whatsoever.
All in all it revolves with a certain motive and gives you the calm before a brewing storm. No stone has been left unturned to capture a reader off guard. It delivers edge of the seat experience and makes life difficult for a reader. The approach and methodical kill makes it one of the most devastating effects in a mystery thriller. The book is no less than a miracle and miracles like these happen only once in a lifetime.
RATINGS:
5 OUT OF 5
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