The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Hagashino
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The joy of reading detective fiction needn’t come from the crime—at least, not directly. The details of any crime, from the methods used by the criminal to his or her motivations, are often interchangeable between different detective stories. What an unsolved crime actually presents is a problem waiting to be solved; detective fiction lets us examine how a brilliant mind pierces the mystery and uncovers the truth. The means to the truth can be more interesting than the truth itself.
Japanese novelist Keigo Hagashino understands the reader interest that comes from seeing how details are revealed, rather than the revelations themselves, as shown in his latest entry in his Detective Galileo series, The Devotion of Suspect X. Dr. Manubu Yukawa, nicknamed Galileo, follows the familiar character trope of an expert in a field not normally associated with crime-fighting moonlighting as a detective: in this case, Galileo is a physics professor that sometimes aids the Tokyo police force with difficult cases. Galileo and his friend in the Tokyo Police, Kusanagi, have their own Holmes-Watson dynamic, with Kusanagi playing the foil for Galileo. Whenever the Tokyo Police’s investigation is faced with an obstacle, Galileo comes up with a new theory that gets investigation moving again.
But Hagashino gives the genre’s focus on means over ends one more twist in this latest work. The details of the crime are made clear at the very beginning of the novel: Yasuko, a single mother, is faced with her abusive ex-husband and accidentally kills him after a confrontation in her apartment. Her next-door neighbor, Ishigami, suddenly appears on her doorstep, and offers to help hide the body. He plans an intricate cover-up of the crime, on the condition that Yasuko follows his instructions to the letter. The resulting cover-up, and the revelation of its varied details, are what drive the story.
What follows is a battle between two brilliant minds, each trying to outmaneuver the other. Every step in Isahigari’s cover-up is explored by Galileo; every revelation by Galileo is followed by a new development that threatens to derail the investigation. The fact that Galileo and Ishigari were university classmates, each with a great deal of professional respect for the other’s intelligence, adds a personal dimension to the investigation. Soon, it becomes clear that Ishigari has prepared for every possible contingency; the horrifying depths to which Ishigari was willing to go to protect Yasuko are revealed by the end of the book.
This plot is not inherently Japanese; a story of this kind could have been set anywhere from London to Jakarta. What the Japanese setting does add is a certain atmosphere that fills the story. The non-detective characters play roles that are almost uniquely Japanese: Yasuko is a former hostess working as a server in a bento-box store, while Ishigari is his school’s resident math teacher and judo coach.
More important is Hagashino’s description of the dreary day-to-day existence of many that live and work in modern Japanese society. Fueling the hyperefficient Japanese companies and the vibrant popular culture of Akihabara are legions of graying salary-men and -women. With Japan’s ‘lost decade’, there is little fitting work for both the skilled and the unskilled. Hagashino opens The Devotion of Suspect X by following Ishigari as he passes a makeshift homeless community. He notes the newest member of the community, still living somewhat apart from the others; however, he knows that, eventually, the newest member’s pride will break, and he will join the throng of the anonymous homeless.
The irony, of course, is that Ishigari’s life is not much better. Trained as a theoretical mathematician, his job teaching math to under-performing students counts as a severe case of underemployment. Yusako and his protecting her, remain the only bright spot in an otherwise empty and dreary life.
The Japan Hagashino describes is neither the neon-streaked lights of Shinjuku, nor is it the cherry blossoms of postcard Japan. It is post-economic miracle Japan, where the economy can no longer help relieve the pressures of Japanese society, and can no longer hide those that were left behind. Hagashino’s characters, faced with a dull future, spend their time searching for something to give their life meaning. The meaning they find is what draws the story to its surprising, and tragic, conclusion.