Under the Midnight Sun

Starred review from August 29, 2016
Though Higashino’s previous puzzle mysteries, like 2011’s The Devotion of Suspect X, matched cleverness with well-rounded characters, the Japanese author ups his game with this epic whodunit featuring an intricate plot that spans two decades. In 1973, Osaka homicide detective Sasagaki looks into the fatal stabbing of pawnshop owner Yosuke Kirihara in an abandoned building. From the tidiness of the victim’s clothes and other signs that suggest there was no struggle, Sasagaki concludes that Kirihara knew his killer. Interviews with Kirihara’s widow and a coworker lead nowhere, but Sasagaki refuses to give up on the case. His continuing investigation plays out against the story of Kirihara’s 10-year-old son, Ryo, and Yukiho Nishimoto, the daughter of a customer of the dead man who may have had more than a professional relationship with him. Higashino successfully sustains momentum, despite the book’s considerable length, as he traces Ryo and Yukiho’s different paths to adulthood and plausibly portrays their psychological development. Subtle clues fairly set up the dramatic and surprising resolution.