This is my third book by Keigo Higashino.
I think so far he is the one author whose books I’ve read back-to-back. But then the reasons are apparent. I discovered him late, and all his works published so far had good reviews, and I had a lot of catching up to do.
A Midsummer’s Equation is the third novel in the Detective Galileo series by Keigo Higashino. And it makes a fantastic read.
Jumping into the plot right away…
Hari Cove is a quiet seaside Hamlet a few hours from Tokyo. But underneath its calm waters is a treasure trove of unexplored value. And an organization wants to mine the ocean floor to study more about it. They face resistance from a few residents of Hari Cove, mainly the fishermen. To appease the locals and ascertain that they will not let any harm befall the environment around Hari Cove, the mining organization hosts a workshop of sorts. Professor Yukawa, aka Detective Galileo, is one of the experts invited by the organization to take part in the workshop.
Yukawa stays at a local resort called the Green Rock Inn run by Narumi and her parents. Apart from them, there are just two other people at the Inn – Tsukahara, another guest from Tokyo who is also here for the mining workshop, and Narumi’s young nephew Kyohei. He is spending his summer break with Narumi’s family.
It seems like trouble and intrigue follow Yukawa wherever he goes. Tsukahara mysteriously dies on the first evening of his stay at Hari Cove. His body is found at the bottom of a cliff. The local police write it off as an accidental fall down the cliff, but things take an unexpected turn when they realize the victim’s true identity. The victim is an ex-cop with the Tokyo Police Department. Post-mortem reports show that the victim was dead before his head hit the cliffs. So how did he die and who killed him? To find out what happened to him, Detective Kusanagi is brought into the investigation.
As Kusanagi and Yukawa try to uncover the truth, the story keeps alternating between the busy streets of Tokyo and the calmer lanes around Hari Cove. Little do they both know that to solve this crime, they have to travel back 20 years. And when they find out the truth, they face a more difficult question – is the truth worth being exposed?
A Midsummer’s equation is a good read.
My two cents – Do not read it immediately after reading either The Devotion of Suspect X or Salvation of a Saint. Its splendor pales down in comparison to the other two. This one had its moments, but they were sparse. I kept waiting for the big expose`, and when it came, I felt it lacked the oomph factor that the previous books had (Or it may just be me and reading his books at a stretch was a stretch for me).
The Invisibility Cloak 