Reviews

A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino

azeecats's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.25

chroniclerofcreepy's review against another edition

3.0

Definitely a better flow than Newcomer which was relieving. But I still just don't love the style of writing which feels so rushed, impersonal, and cut to the chase. Very few descriptors in general, so when the author throws in details of food suddenly it feels weird since the rest of the book barely describes anything aside from crime-related items.

I do like Higashino's overall concepts which feel unique and unravel in a creative way. I like how insightful and playful Detective Kaga is.

It was also a bit nice having another detective participate in this case and have Kaga, the senior detective, show him many different ways to investigate.

edlib's review against another edition

4.0

I love the way this writer weaves such complicated mysteries together. And the way Detective Kaga pulls at all the treads to solve them. He is such a fascinating & intuitive detective.

jnelsontwo's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

briellecraw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

the translation wasn’t very good tbh. personally this mystery had too many moving parts but still pretty good

ice119's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

kangrantdanmei's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

hkayy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Higashino is truly a great story teller! While, in my opinion, this book wasn’t as strong as the other ones in this series, I think it was still a really good book. It is a bit slow in the beginning and it took me a while to get into it, but once I got into the story it was hard to pull away! Especially with that ending, I just couldn’t keep myself from flipping the pages fast enough to solve the mystery. Overall, it was a fun read.

merp98's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

mobyskine's review against another edition

5.0

Meeting Detective Kyoichiro Kaga again in this new translated instalment following his thrilling investigation journey to unravel the truth behind a murder case that was happened on Nihonbashi Bridge after a man was found stabbed and bleeding to death under a winged kirin statue. It was quite a decent and straightforward murder plot to me yet it turns complicated when the prime suspect who was seen hiding nearby died (after days in coma) when he was hit by a truck while trying to flee from the crime scene.

It was so intense and totally a page-turner to me, love the teamwork between Detective Kaga and his cousin, Detective Matsumiya (he’s a charm, I love his character so much!)— they went pursuing the investigation even with not much hints and I like how both their chief and leader being quite supportive with Kaga’s personal hunch about the case. Bit of red herring but so rivetingly executed that it leads to another gripping incident from years ago and Kaga did so well in disentangling the secrets and linking both cases with a solid motive from the killer.

The subplots were intriguing much as it highlighted on social inequality and power harassment also the family and friendship parts were quite emotionally driven to me; love to see Kaga’s interactions with both the victim’s son and the suspect’s girlfriend. I appreciate the morality aspect it tries to explore and it ends well too with a good and heartwarming lesson.

Might be easy to guess on the plotline or less twisty compared to Newcomer or Malice yet still in love with Higashino’s way in developing Kaga’s dynamic and characterization; I get anxious few times following his POV when he goes beyond the case trails but fancy the thrills nevertheless; still loving his style of suddenly popped up, asked few questions and vanished in a puff of smoke. 4.7 stars to this!

Thank you Pansing Distribution for sending me a copy to review :)

ps: I wonder why they did not follow the literal translation from the Japanese title; love it more, honestly