Ayane Mita and Yoshitaka Mashiba have been happily married for about a year till Yoshitaka asks for separation from Ayane since that was the deal was to be honored. Following the conversation, Yoshitaka is found dead at this apartment that weekend when Ayane is away to visit her parents. The last person to see Yoshitaka alive is Hiromi Wakayama, Ayane’s assistant, who turns out to be Yoshitaka’s mistress. An initial analysis of the crime scene establishes that unfortunate Yoshitaka was poisoned by something in the coffee he drank. To solve this peculiar case, Detective Kushanagi and his assistant Utsumi were assigned. This book is more of a jigsaw puzzle that does not allow even the reader to be at peace without solving it. Utsumi eventually asks for assistance from the physicist Yukawa to help her solve the crime.
“Sometimes it’s as important to prove there is no answer to a question as it is to answer it.”
Keigo Higashino, Salvation of a Saint: A Detective Galileo Novel
Salvation of a Saint presents more puzzle-oriented twists to the readers
To me, the book’s real strength is how it gets all the pieces of the puzzle together, the reader will finally feel that the crime is going to be solved only to realize that the piece is still not the which will make the puzzle complete. The author does not hurry in trying to solve the crime.
“Was it true? She had to know. She felt the love and the hatred in her heart tearing her in two, and realized that she would kill for the truth. And so she decided – she would go through with it. She would become this man’s wife, always by his side, holding his fate in her hands, delaying the time of his punishment. She would give him a chance to earn her forgiveness.”
Keigo Higashino’s stories focus not only on the MO of the crimes but he paints a beautiful picture of the emotions behind each of the characters in the story. Towards the end of the story only, will one realize how much of those emotions were the driving force behind the course of events. I found the book to be an absolute page-turner.
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Cheers to Reading!
Ordo Ab Chao 