Japanese Light Novel Book Club discussion

In 2011, The Devotion of Suspect X was a hit with critics and readers alike. The first major English language publication from the most popular bestselling writer in Japan, it was acclaimed as “stunning,” “brilliant,” and “ingenious.” Now physics professor Manabu Yukawa—Detective Galileo—returns in a new case of impossible murder, where instincts clash with facts and theory with reality.

Yoshitaka, who was about to leave his marriage and his wife, is poisoned by arsenic-laced coffee and dies. His wife, Ayane, is the logical suspect—except that she was hundreds of miles away when he was murdered. The lead detective, Tokyo Police Detective Kusanagi, is immediately smitten with her and refuses to believe that she could have had anything to do with the crime. His assistant, Kaoru Utsumi, however, is convinced Ayane is guilty. While Utsumi’s instincts tell her one thing, the facts of the case are another matter. So she does what her boss has done for years when stymied—she calls upon Professor Manabu Yukawa.

But even the brilliant mind of Dr. Yukawa has trouble with this one, and he must somehow find a way to solve an impossible murder and capture a very real, very deadly murderer.
Salvation for a Saint is Keigo Higashino at his mind-bending best, pitting emotion against fact in a beautifully plotted crime novel filled with twists and reverses that will astonish and surprise even the most attentive and jaded of readers.

Discuss Salvation of a Saint here!

Reading Schedule
6/23-6/29: Chapters 1-4
6/30-7/6: Chapters 5-8
7/7-7/13: Chapters 9-12
7/14-7/20: Chapters 13-17
7/21-7/27: Chapters 18-22
7/28-8/3: Chapters 23-28
8/4-8/10: Chapters 29-33

I'm in. It's available at my library.

I should be able to get to this as well. It won't be right away as my reading schedule is rather packed currently but it's available at my local library.

I got a copy a while ago so this is now the perfect excuse to start. I tend to read quite quickly so I'll probably join in mid-July :)

Hmm. So this is the second in a series? Anyone read the first / know if jumping in here will spoil that one / etc?

Mike wrote: "Hmm. So this is the second in a series? Anyone read the first / know if jumping in here will spoil that one / etc?"

I had asked in the poll, and a few people say it's a bit like US mystery series where you can hop in anywhere.

I am going to do this as an audio book. My library has it to download in Overdrive!

Joining in, this writer's been on my to-read list for a long time now.

Selena wrote: "I had asked in the poll, and a few people say it's a bit like US mystery series where you can hop in anywhere.."

Gotcha. Thanks. I was inclined to start at the beginning regardless, but it appears what I thought was the "first" book is only the first translated, not the actual first in the series (and isn't the one right before this one to boot) so I guess it doesn't matter.

So unless there's some big twist by the end, this seems to be more of a "howdunit" instead of a "whodunnit."

There must have been some kind of mechanism to get the poison in the coffee. Something hidden in the grounds or something.

I want to know something about Japanese culture. I tried to look this up but didn't find anything.

In the beginning, the couple is having a discussion about the importance of having children. It seems that the husband comes to a very heartless conclusion that if his wife can't bear children, it is okay for him to leave her. My question is would this be a common Japanese attitude or is it just this character?

So far, the story is not terribly interesting for me. The writer, Higashino is showing the reader that Yoshitaka was having an affair. Then the detective are shown to suspect it then find clues to confirm it. The female detective does a trick and calls the woman to find out what her voice sounds like. Yes, it seems like she was hiding it but she had strong emotions enough to cry. We are not surprised at this discovery as readers. What is the purpose of having us watch the detectives suspect and then confirm the relationship?

I don't know if that character's views are common for the culture, but it's common enough among people I've seen posting online who believe women's main function is birthing children for me to say it's a misogynist thing rather than Japanese-specific. Though from what I know about Japanese culture (see forced retirement of women in their 20s so they get married and have children "like they're supposed to"), I don't think this would be an uncommon belief. They just probably wouldn't say it out loud and find another reason to divorce.

As for your second question, I get the feeling that this book is less about we the reader learning things and more about the police's route to solving the case. I've seen this in another mystery I read a while back, where it was more of a howdunnit that a whodunnit.

Checked it out.

Even after reading only the first page (and it was only half a page at that), I could conclude that Yoshitaka was a selfish asshole. So, it's totally in character for him to have such a callous reason for getting a divorce.

Just under halfway through and having a serious love/hate relationship with this book. I find a lot of things about the mystery and some of the characters interesting.

On the other hand, the detective getting the most "screentime," and thus the defacto point if view character, is acting more and more like an idiot as the book goes on. The titular character has appeared ONCE, in a brief scene where he was given little introduction (seemingly expecting the readers to be familiar with him from prior books), and not until 100 pages in to boot.

Also (vague pondering enclosed in spoiler tag since I've read ahead) (view spoiler)[ After keeping things fairly suspenseful (if a little odd) with regards to the method and slowly adding pieces I feel like the author just made a key piece of the puzzle blindingly obvious. We'll see. (hide spoiler)]

End of Chapter 8

I am not doing any spoiler tags. Someone from another book club group I am in pointed out that people accessing these threads from a cell phone can't open up spoiler tags.


At this point in the story, we know that the wife was aware that her husband was cheating on her and had a pretty good idea with whom. I keep going back in my mind to the scene where the deceased is having a conversation with his mistress. In that conversation, he tells her that his wife knows and is okay with it. The mistress never makes a reference to this discussion. I am wondering if it will come up later.

It is an interesting plot device having the male and female detectives set at competition with each other.

Mike wrote: "Just under halfway through and having a serious love/hate relationship with this book. I find a lot of things about the mystery and some of the characters interesting.

On the other hand, the dete..." Mike, what chapter have you read up to in the spoiler tag in this post? I am up to chapter 12. Should I open this spoiler section?

Joanne wrote: "It is an interesting plot device having the male and female detectives set at competition with each other."

I agree in theory, but I found the setup/execution for it contrived/frustrating myself. It wasn't just different points of view, expertise, etc. The veteran detective continually shares information on an ongoing investigation with a suspect and makes all kinds of rookie errors in judgement based on a crush, while the rookie acts much more like a seasoned detective. I just wish the butting heads parts had been handled better, since as you say it's a really interesting approach in theory.


Joanne wrote: "Mike wrote: "Mike, what chapter have you read up to in the spoiler tag in this post? I am up to chapter 12. Should I open this spoiler section? "

I was in the middle of chapter 12 when I wrote that.

I keep on thinking that a plot device was introduced with watering the plants. There was a really big emphasis on it yet no one seemed to catch on to it. I am expecting to see that is something important later.

It seems a little tedious. All this analysis of the coffee and the water. There is very little plot to keep it interesting at this point. I am on chapter 23. At that point in the story, the interest picks up a bit for me.

I got curious and had to finish this one early so I'll wait till the last week for my comments, but overall a great read!

Howard wrote: "I got curious and had to finish this one early so I'll wait till the last week for my comments, but overall a great read!"

Feel free to talk about future chapters here. Just put things in spoiler tags if appropriate. The schedule is really just guidelines for the busy working stiff (AKA me :p )

We're in the final stretch for Salvation of a Saint.

How did you all enjoy this one? Will you read more in this series?

I thought this was a great howdunit. I always love a good mystery but I think this is the first time I've read a book where you know the murderer and the first chapter and spend the rest of the book figuring out how the hell she did it. I also thought the two main detectives and the scientist played off each other well. Great characters and a good story, over a great read.

I really liked this book. I just finished The Devotion of Suspect X before this one and really enjoyed that one, too. I like the relationship between Yukawa and Kusanagi in Devotion (something happened in that book that led to the strain between the two men that was mentioned in Salvation). It was good to see them getting to be close friends again. I like how the crimes in the Galileo series are complex enough to need the physics professor help to work out the logic of the puzzles. I'm going to start the third translated book in the series, A Midsummer's Equation, tonight. I hope that Utsumi will be in it-- I thought that she added an interesting dimension to the relationship between Yukawa and Kusanagi. I hope that more of the books in the Galileo series will be translated into English at some point-- so far, we only have numbers 3, 5, and 6. I have read most of Higashino's other works in translation-- there is a 2-book Detective Kaga series and several srand-alone novels. If you liked Salvation, I thought his other books were just as good.

Joanne wrote: "I keep on thinking that a plot device was introduced with watering the plants. There was a really big emphasis on it yet no one seemed to catch on to it. I am expecting to see that is something imp..."

This is what stood out to me too.

The core mystery and way everything played out was interesting, but I didn't feel the conflicting points of view were well balanced/executed. And while the mystery was accessible without reading prior books, the recurring characters really weren't.

So mixed feelings from me. Found the mystery compelling (in the parts where things didn't slow to a crawl) and liked the book well enough overall to possibly try another, but on the other hand was frustrated by other aspects and after this don't really want to read them out of order, which is a problem with only 3 translated.

My review: https://derailmentsofthought.com/2019...