Reviews with content warning for Murder - Malice

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Malice by Keigo Higashino

24 reviews

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I really like all the Kiego Higashino books I’ve read, especially The Devotion of Suspect X. The ending was shocking; I felt like I’d been punched. Higashino is a master of the plot twist. However, I feel Suspect X is the pinnacle of his work and nothing I’ve read since has been quite as powerful. Of course when the bar is set so high, it’s difficult to surpass what’s already the best.

Malice is the first of a different series. It focuses more on plot than character. The man arrested for murder is such an unreliable narrator that it’s hard to see what he’s truly like. We learn more about Detective Kaga, and his guilt and remorse at failing a student who was being bullied back in his teacher days, but we don’t know anything else about him. We know nothing about his private life, his friends and family, his likes and dislikes - his character isn’t developed at all.

The plot, which is explained early on, changes repeatedly. The readers aren’t sure what’s true, and I found it confusing to have to keep rearranging my idea of what had happened. In the end I felt it was more of an overly complicated annoyance than a plot twist. That said, I’m about to start reading the second in the series to see what happens next.

Overall the book was complex and convoluted and, as such, was quite a feat. But I didn’t find it completely satisfying.

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mtnest's review

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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my_bibliotheca's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

Tidak seperti kasus-kasus sebelumnya, cerita di sini justru memfokuskan pada pencarian fakta dr motif pembunuhan seorang novelis terkenal. Aku jg sempat kaget karena pelaku kejahatannya begitu mudah ditangkap dan mengakuinya begitu saja.

Tapi ternyata memang buku ini memiliki fokus yg tidak biasa. Dengan ketajaman insting dan kepekaan Detektif Kaga, kasus ini menjadi semakin seru untuk ditelusuri. Aku tipe pembaca yg gampang terkecoh, sangat mengikuti alur bahkan kejanggalan yg dibeberkan oleh Kaga baru aku sadari setelahnya 😂

Melihat begitu mudahnya kasus ini menangkap pelakunya, tapi sisa halaman buku masih tebal, tentu membuat aku bertanya-tanya akan serumit apa pengungkapan fakta motif pembunuhan ini. Dan betul, ide cerita kali ini sama-sama gila dan di luar nalar seperti buku "Kesetiaan Mr. X". Menurutku ide keduanya bisa dikatakan setara. Setara gilanya 😆

Hampir sulit mengikuti perkembangan kasus ini, karena di awal pembaca akan dicekoki oleh cerita yg sebegitu bagusnya dan seperti tidak ada celah. Jadi, penyangkalan ketika fakta-fakta baru dibeberkan cukup sulit dicerna dan diterima, saking sempurnanya rencana pembunuhan ini. TOP!! 😚👌

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fraise's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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merreadgold's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book has different plot than Mr X. This one is unique.

You will found the murderer in just many pages and what the rest(?) Yeah looking for the fact; his motives, how the chronology really is and facts.

Idk is it true, but Keigo sensei really made me think that japanese having reading books as culture. Lots of characters here say that they got ashamed for not reading books and even the one who has bad past. As someone who grew up without books and people-who-read-environment, I surprised.

This book keep me guessing and forgotten what I just read is written by the suspect. The detective really takes the case seriously, he even ask people from the suspect's elementary. (The suspect is about 40 wkwk)
⚠️ Lots of manipulations here

Okay now what the flaws? It's too complicated and made me have headache :) some of the translate doesn't feel right cause I need to read the same phrase around three times and have no idea about it.

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anka_not_anchor's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A solid mystery that had me absolutely gripped and lead me to finishing it in a day!

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serendipity421's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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samsearle's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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corar's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is pure genius. You’ve heard of a whodunnit, and a howdunnit (Higashino’s ‘Devotion of Suspect X’) this is a whydunnit. The murderer is glaringly obvious and actually revealed within the first 100 pages, but the story is so much more. It’s a fabulously written book of misdirection, with major themes of bullying. Not everything is as clean cut as it may seem.

There are lots of twists, but there is one bit- more misdirection than a twist- that totally got me. I gasped out loud and immediately ran to tell someone the genius of this book. It’s such an incredible thing, but I absolutely was fooled, and that made this read all the more interesting.

I’ve read a lot of crime, and eventually they all start to get boring. You guess the structure, you guess who did it based on stereotypes and build ups and where they are placed in a story. This kept me guessing throughout the whole story. Every time I thought I had something, it was disproved. Keigo Higashino is one of the best crime writers ever. Not even just in Japan, but I believe internationally. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into his other novels. (I loved Suspect X)

Spoilers below!

The final twist is pure and utter genius. Having the cat, such a small detail only mentioned once, be such a huge defining factor of “Hidaka’s” personality is genius beyond belief. It truly worked on me. I was fooled because every reaction to any interaction, good or bad, from Hidaka hinged on the fact that he had killed this cat. Bad guys kill cats, but Hidaka is described as both a good and bad guy depending. How can a good guy kill an animal? Do these people know he does? I never even once suspected that he doesn’t, or wouldn’t. Higashino planted that seed of anger and disgust in me and it grew until it blocked my vision. I’m so amazed at how well it worked, even when I forgot about the cat, I was always thinking of it. Nonoguchi is a great villain, if not a pathetic one. But I suppose the great thing about crime novels is that they’re sad, no one wins. Definitely not in this one anyway. Not even Kaga.

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