Reading novels from different cultural backgrounds from what I am used to is always a fascinating journey. This is a thought provoking novel about love and the ultimate sacrifice.
This is a book for people who enjoy the fine detail and super slow burns. Most of my review will be in the Literally Dead book club. ( )

I won this book in a giveaway and was interested in it because it had won the Japanese equivalent of the National Book Award and secondly because it was marketed as a battle of wits between a detective, a brilliant mathematician, and a genius physicist. I'm still trying to decide whether to give this 2 or 3 stars. I expected to like it more than I did. I read it very quickly so it certainly kept my interest and I was flipping pages quickly to get to the ending...so it certainly wasn't boring. The story is about a woman who commits a murder. Her neighbor, a math teacher, decides to help her cover up her crime. While he is creating alibis and handling the police, a friend out of his past, the physicist who also happens to be friendly with the detective in charge of the investigation, takes an interest in the case. That's about all I can say without giving things away but the ending wasn't to my liking and that's why I'm having a hard time rating it. I'll be interested to read what other people think about this book. ( )

It’s been a while since I’ve read a mystery novel. It’s been a while since a mystery novel had kept me on the edge of my seat and emotionally invested in ways this one did. The writing seemed sparse and dry at first, but after just a few pages – there I was, hooked and biting my nails.

The novel is very craftily constructed, as the murder happens right at the beginning, and the reader knows exactly who did it. The detectives do not know, so the narrative is a cat and mouse game – a convoluted, fascinating, surprising, and heartbreaking one.

The translation was excellent, you could feel how the cadences of Japanese were carefully preserved and rendered into English. (All this anime watching helps me appreciate such things, I think ;)) This is a very Japanese book in many ways, and it was interesting to see glimpses of the society – things I knew about, things I learned more about, things I did not know.

I liked Kusanagi the detective and his friend Yukawa, the physicist and Detective Galileo of the series’ title. Their interplay was enjoyable. It shows that this is book 3 in this series (dear publishers, when there are nine books in a series, why do you translate only books 3, 5, 6, and 8 into English???).

“ ‘It seems I have a stalker.’
‘Detectives like stalking suspicious people.’
‘So, I’m suspicious now, am I?’, Yukawa asked, a glimmer in his eye. ‘Do I detect a bold new direction from our stoic hero? It’s just that kind of flexibility you’ll need to rise in this world, you know.’ “

There was a twist towards the end that had me gaping. The ending was as tragic as expected, even though it felt too abrupt and melodramatic. But this is minor complaint, I want to read more. ( )

I thought the ending suffered from a little too much cleverness but it did not change that this was a brilliant book. I look forward to reading more by the author.....very soon. ( )

I almost did not finish this one. The prose is repetitive and uninspiring, the characters are flat and barely distinguishable, making the entire experience feel like watching the pilot of a cop show from the 1980s that did not get picked up. The only reasons I pushed on to the end were that this was a book club pick and there was just enough suspense that I had to see what the author had cooked up as the final solution.

That final twist is the only thing that bumped this from one star to two. It's a pretty good twist. But then the author goes and ruins it with a denouement full of melodrama. Maybe something was lost in translation. ( )