The Devotion of Suspect X

Keigo Higashino reveals the crime in the opening pages; the suspense in his most celebrated novel comes entirely from the alibi built to cover it. Ishigami, a quiet high school teacher of extraordinary mathematical ability, constructs a defence for the woman next door, while Yukawa, a physicist and his former classmate, is drawn in on the side of the investigation. What follows is less a hunt than a contest between two exceptional minds, each aware of what the other can do. Higashino writes plainly and precisely, letting logic carry the tension, and the closing pages turn the structure into a question about devotion rather than guilt. Reader notes: • An inverted mystery: the crime is shown, and the concealment is the puzzle • Part of the Detective Galileo sequence but complete in itself • Translated Japanese crime fiction with a large international following • Character work that gives the final pages unusual emotional weight For readers of intelligent crime writing and translated mysteries, stocked by Boipoka.