Journey Under The Midnight Sun Review: An Unpredictable Story Of Two Unimaginably Twisted Characters
It takes a master storyteller to weave a convincing story out of an immensely convoluted plot. Journey Under The Midnight Sun is the story of unconditional love, hatred, jealousy and sheer wickedness. The story revolves around two central characters who are, what seems like, the messengers of misfortune because the people around them are often caught in unexplainable troubles. The book captures the life of two people who are never together but are somehow always connected. Their journey is complicated because of their mysterious personalities. Every theory, every assumption, every prediction of mine fails when it comes to a Higashino book and this time I was not even near cracking the code.
Journey Under The Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino
Publisher: Little, Brown
When a man is found murdered in an abandoned building in Osaka in 1973, unflappable detective Sasagaki is assigned to the case. He begins to piece together the connection of two young people who are inextricably linked to the crime; the dark, taciturn son of the victim and the unexpectedly captivating daughter of the main suspect. Over the next twenty years, we follow their lives as Sasagaki pursues the case – which remains unsolved – to the point of obsession.
(Description as on the back cover)
I LIKE Journey Under The Midnight Sun Because,
the story is an enigma I could not detach myself from it. The book is dark. Really really dark. And the number of victims in this book alone is more than all the victims I have read about in suspense novels till date. I’m not a thriller lover but Higashino has me addicted to this genre. The narration is medium paced with tiny details cleverly disjointed to make a masterpiece at the climax. I never once related to either Yukiho or Ryo and everything they did was beyond my comprehension but they were the most interesting characters I have ever seen. In the end, when everything came together and I got a clear picture of why that happened happened, I still could not believe I never saw that coming.
I Do NOT Like Journey Under The Midnight Sun Because,
of the open ending and the unexplained mysteries. There are a few crucial points that are not explicitly explained in the book and it is left up to the readers to put two and two together. While reading a suspense novel I develop my own reasoning behind the murder and try to come up with my own ‘why dunnit’ and ‘who dunnit’ only to be able to match my answer with the master key in the end. But when the writer leaves it up to me to decide what fits best, I feel a little letdown. Higashino has explained the reason behind most of the crimes but has still left off certain small details up to the readers to figure out. However, despite the minor road bumps, the book is still terrific and definitely worth reading.
In case you are new to Japanese fiction and are not acquainted with Japanese names then you will find it a tad difficult to keep up with the story because of the constant addition of new characters in the book. But don’t worry as the story progresses you will get accustomed to it and will also learn to differentiate the characters.
Final View: Higashino’s story is gripping and tremendously chilling. I will recommend this one to all suspense lovers.
You can check out Amazon.in for a discount on this book.
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