Malice

entertaining

What did you like best about Malice? What did you like least?

I have listened to two other of Keigo Higashino's books. They were absolutely brilliant. Clever and surprising. This one not as good, so that was a disappointment. I enjoyed reading about the process of writing, a story about writers. The mystery was secondary and I wasnt 'bursting' to find out what really happened.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The story got a bit tedious in parts. Not enough dialogue or character development.

Which scene was your favorite?

I enjoyed the beginning of the book most of all.

Was Malice worth the listening time?

It was worth the listening time.

Any additional comments?

Devotion of Suspect X by the same author is a million times better than Malice

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Worth reading; the previous two books were better

I like Higashino. In my opinion he is the classiest of all thriller writers. His detectives solve mysteries based on logic and deduction: coincidence and chance play absolutely no role in the process. His plots are to mystery writing what chess is to sport.
Higashino also tells you the name of the murderer right in the beginning in his novels. The fun comes when the detectives try to solve the murder. There are layers upon layers of deception. No James Bond stuff like car chases and people jumping off roofs. Some might consider his books a little boring.
This particular book is, in that sense, just like his previous two. A man is killed, the killer is found quickly, and the detective now has to discover the motive.
Higashino makes the entire process interesting. The characters are very well developed. The pace is adequate: not at all fast, but no too slow either.
Higashino's earlier two books were better. But this is worth reading too.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great mystery!

Any additional comments?

Finally! I find a great crime mystery that actually focuses on the crime. There are no sexual innuendoes, no erotica, and no suffering through romance.

This story is about murder and betrayal. Absolutely fantastic. * Finger crossed * I can find more great reads like this one!!!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Intriguing Plot

This is my third book by this Japanese author, and I have enjoyed every single one of them. I wish that more of his books would be translated to English. Although this is part of a series, it works as a stand alone; this is the first one in this series I read and I didn't feel I missed anything by not reading the prior books.

The thing that I like about this author's books is that unlike the traditional mystery/thriller stories, his books are not a "who-dun-it." You generally know WHO the killer is at the beginning of the book. What you don't know, and what is unraveled through logic as the story progresses, is the motive and/or the method. When I first started reading these books, I didn't think there could be much there since the killer was identified early; I was certainly wrong! There are still plenty of twists and turns, along with intrigue and mystery.

Intriguing, But . . .

This was my first book by Keigo Higashino featuring the Japanese detective, Kyoichiro Kaga. I am not sure why I chose this book because I don't enjoy books where the discovery of the "murderer" is known too early in the story. My fave listens are police procedurals that are true whodunnits.

Despite that set-up, Higashino still gave me a whodunnit by making the motive for the murder the true mystery. Why would someone kill a famous author as he is packing to leave the country to live in Canada? It was so smart of the author to leave hidden clues in written accounts the murderer provides instead of going through the standard interrogation. Kaga is my kind of detective - diligent and creative.

Many of the reviewers say Higashino's earlier books are much better. If that is the case, I will give another one a try. I wish there had been more narrative about life in Japan. This story could have been set anywhere. I don't feel I learned much about Kaga and his life. The narrator was OK -- slow and steady.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good story; annoying performance

I got this audiobook the day it came out because I really enjoyed all of Higashino's other Audible titles.Jeff Woodman's reading instantly turned me off the book, though: he sounded fake and smug and heavily emphasized every other word...it sounded like a very badly dubbed anime. The book has two narrators, Detective Kaga and Osamu Nonoguchi, and while Kaga's is tolerable--not good, just tolerable--the Nonoguchi passages are unbearable, and since he talks for the first hour or so, the book makes a bad first impression.

Luckily, my mom didn't know I bought the audiobook, and she sent me the hardback for my birthday :D I tore through the rest of the book this afternoon...couldn't put it down! I don't think it's quite as good as Naoko or the Detective Galileo books, as the detective himself isn't as developed a character--and now that I think about it, none of the characters are as developed as in Higashino's other novels, at least the ones that have been translated into English.

Overall, this is an excellent book that makes me anxious for more of Higashino' books to be translated, especially the Detective Galileo series. (Get a move on Macmillan!) The audiobook just really, really deserved a better performance

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Innovative approach to the murder mystery

First book I've read by this author and I am definitely give him another try. Great innovative approach to a murder mystery! You learn right away whodunnit, but why is a long story full of interesting twists and turns.

On the negative side, none of the characters were particularly likeable including Detective Kaga. I guess the murder victim was likeable, but he died in chapter 1, and we didn't find out what he was really like until the last couple of chapters.

Japanese names are not very hard to pronounce, yet Mr. Woodman had trouble with them, and it was distracting. Overall I didn't really respond to his tone. Maybe it was his reading that made every character to seem to be somewhere on the scale running "meh" to "buffoonish" to "downright evil".

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Horrible & boring!

Predictable, insanely boring. Struggled to finish. Not a good mystery novel. Shocked others enjoyed it. Japanese names difficult to remember.

0 of 2 people found this review helpful