Towards the end of December I felt the urge to read Japanese literature. This year I thought I won’t make plans but if I happen to read Japanese literature, I will join spontaneously. As eerie as that was, Suspect X is an even better shocker.Every year I want to participate in Bellezza’s Japanese Literature Challenge but most of the time I miss it. Mystery lovers might already be familiar with Higashino’s Naoko which made its translated debut in 2004. Obviously, nothing was lost in translation as the English version was named a finalist in January for the 2012 Edgar (mystery’s Oscar!) for Best Novel (Mo Hayder won for Gone). Having won the Naoki Prize in 2005 – one of Japan’s top literary awards – Suspect X was already long a bestseller before arriving Stateside last year. Let me repeat: you will never guess the ending! He’s managed to track her down after five years, arriving with promises that quickly turn to threats: if Yasuko doesn’t cooperate, he’ll have to seek out her teenage daughter Misato instead.īy chapter two, the skeezy ex is lying dead in Yasuko’s apartment … and while mother and daughter desperately try to figure out what to do, their next-door neighbor Ishigami – who is a near-stranger in spite of their proximity – appears with an offer to help … The sliding glass door to the lunch shop where single mother Yasuko works, opens to reveal a visitor she hoped never to see again – her abusive ex-husband.
If you need a convincing shove, read on … So if you, too, don’t want to hear another detail, stop here.
The first thing I said to the hubby upon return was, “You’ve got to read this one … and you’ll never, ever guess the ending,” to which he replied, “Don’t tell me anything more!” I had quite the challenging training day on Tuesday – five hours of driving to the mountains and back, with 5.5 hours running up and down two summits in the rain, rain, rain – but the miles couldn’t have gone faster thanks to Suspect X stuck in my ears (read with great control by David Pittu, except for just a few minutes when he slips into that unnecessary Jack Nicholson-growl which further marred the already disappointing The Marriage Plot).
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