Salvation of a Saint - Keigo Higashino

The Japanese master story teller, Keigo Higashino has a habit of churning out some out of the way mystery novels, that primarily concentrates on the how a crime was performed more than who performed it. Unlike, his cult classic, “The Devotion of Suspect X”, “Salvation of Saint is a mixture of whodunit and Howdunit.

Keigo Higashino has brought into life multiple detectives and Professor Manabu Yukawa (Detective Galileo series) is one of them. The story primarily concentrates on a relationship between a husband and a wife, when the husband, Yoshitaka Mashiba is poisoned to death. Unlike in any routine mystery thriller, where there would be multiple suspects, here in only one suspect is in the front, the wife. However the challenge with the Detective Team is to associate the wife who had been miles away from the crime scene when the murder had taken place with the event. In order to help the team of detectives, Professor Manabu Yukawa is called upon.

Originally written in Japanese language and published in 2008, the English version had been translated by Alexander O Smith. In addition to the mystery and Howdunit thrill, there are also some great insights into the Japanese culture of life, especially among husband and wife. The pacing of the story is moderate to fast with some in depth focus on details. Ultimately what comes out is a crime of a genius which only another Genius of Manabu Yukawa’s caliber could have unearth.

The motive and the entire planning of the murder has been explained in detail with some great mystery. Mystery is in the form of words. The writer very smartly holds the premise until the finale, it’s a great job considering that there not many suspects here.

Police Procedures have been beautifully described and often in detail. Considering this the second book in the Professor Manabu Yukawa series, readers may perhaps have to read The Devotion of Suspect X, if they want to understand the undercurrent relation among the team of detectives and Professor Manabu. That’s the only part which is related to the earlier book. However, if one intends to only concentrate on crime and investigation this stands good as a standalone book.

To hardcore lovers of faced paced mystery, this book may come as slow, but that’s where the beauty of the writing is. After all the events in the first two chapters, the events and realizations, slowly and steadily build up until the last chapter where all threads are tied up.

To put in one line, Salvation of Saint is different from The Devotion of Suspect X, but it has its own place in storytelling. Lovers of mystery and thrill will not be disappointed.