Yasuko is a single mom raising her teenage daughter,
Misato. Previously, she divorced a man she had first
thought would be a great step-parent and a loving husband
to her; however, he had turned ugly. She moved away and
took up a new job in a sandwich shop near the Kiyosu Bridge
along the Sumida River by Tokyo. She and her daughter live
in an apartment complex across the hall from a high school
math teacher, Ishigami.
Ishigami has never married. A genius, Ishigami thinks very
methodically. He follows the same routine day in and day
out and observes the homeless people along the Sumida as he
walks to work each day. He makes a daily detour from his
path to stop in at the Benten-tei for a sandwich just so he
can see Ishigami. He never speaks to her other than a
simple greeting, but he is in love with her just the same.
All is calm for Yasuko until her ex-husband walks into the
sandwich shop. He has found her. He says he wants her back
and presses the situation; however, he is really after
money. Yasuko agrees to meet him after work and tells him
this is the last money he will ever get. He later shows up
at her apartment, having followed her home. Misato arrives
and terrified, retreats to her bedroom. Yasuko's ex makes
innuendos that he will do something to Misato as she is now
older. Yasuko knows that she will never be rid of him. As
her back is turned and while her ex is bending over to tie
his shoes, Misato rushes from her room and strikes him on
the back of the head. He falls then staggers to his feet in
anger and lunges at Yasuko, knocking her into the wall. He
grabs Misato and knocks her on the floor then straddles
her, trying to kill her. Yasuko panics. She must save her
daughter. She pulls the electric cord of a heating table
and wraps it around his neck and pulls it tight. Her
daughter keeps his hands away from the cord and in a few
moments the struggle is over for he is dead.
Yasuko knows she must turn herself in to the police. But
her neighbor, Ishigami knocks on her door. She hides the
body, but Ishigami knows she has killed the man. She
wonders how he knows. He convinces her to let him help. He
will take care of everything and give her explicit
instructions as to what to tell the police if they ever
come ask her questions about her ex-husband. Yasuko thinks
of her daughter and reluctantly agrees to Ishigami's plan.
She soon learns that she may now be indebted to him forever
and not allowed her own life.
Detective Kusanagi is playing chess with his friend,
Professor Yukawa, at the university when he gets the call
about a body found by the river. Yukawa, a physicist, has
helped Kusanagi in the past with previous cases. When
Kusanagi follows the trail to Yasuko's apartment, he speaks
with Ishigami and learns that he attended the same
university as Kusanagi and Yukawa. He learns that Yukawa
and Ishigami were friends in college and that the man is
also a genius. So starts the battle of wit between Yukawa
and Ishigami as they reunite. Yukawa does his own
investigation while leaving Kusanagi to figure everything
out with little help from his friend.
Keigo Higashino, Japan's biggest bestselling
novelist, has written a well-developed mystery. THE
DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X is thrilling. Each clue is presented
along with the reasoning in a progressive and methodical
fashion until the dynamite ending. I thoroughly enjoyed
reading this sharp and stimulating mystery.
Yasuko Hanaoka is a divorced, single mother who thought she
had finally escaped her abusive ex-husband Togashi. When he
shows up one day to extort money from her, threatening both
her and her teenaged daughter Misato, the situation quickly
escalates into violence and Togashi ends up dead on her
apartment floor. Overhearing the commotion, Yasuko’s next
door neighbor, middle-aged high school mathematics teacher
Ishigami, offers his help, disposing not only of the body
but plotting the cover-up step-by-step.
When the body turns up and is identified, Detective
Kusanagi draws the case and Yasuko comes under suspicion.
Kusanagi is unable to find any obvious holes in Yasuko’s
manufactured alibi, and yet is still sure that there’s
something wrong. Kusanagi brings in Dr. Manabu Yukawa, a
physicist and college friend who frequently consults with
the police. Yukawa, known to the police by the nickname
Professor Galileo, went to college with Ishigami. After
meeting up with him again, Yukawa is convinced that
Ishigami had something to do with the murder. What ensues
is a high-level battle of wits, as Ishigami tries to
protect Yasuko by outmaneuvering and outthinking Yukawa,
who faces his most clever and determined opponent yet.
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