Keigo Higashino makes the unbelievable become credible in this expansive novel that takes an extremely personal turn. After leaving her husband and son behind a decade ago, the mother of Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga lived out a quiet life in remote Sendai. Kaga only learned of her location after her death, and while sorting through her meager possessions and interviewing her one friend, he gains no answers to the many questions he has about his mother’s disappearance and life. Today, sixteen years later, Kaga is investigating the murder of Michiko Oshitani, a resident of Sendai who is found strangled to death in Tokyo—a place where she has no known connections. Why was Oshitani in Tokyo? With the help of his cousin, also a police detective, Kaga follows a series of twists and turns to finally arrive at a connection between Oshitani’s murder and the death of his mother that is absolutely staggering. Beautifully written and superbly translated, this is the concluding volume to a brilliant four-part series, and the plunge into Kaga’s personal life makes this title especially satisfying.
