The devotion of suspect X

When I started with the book, I had so many prejudices that any discussion on the reason why would’ve been sub-judice. I’ve a tough time following storylines involving any country other than American or British and even in them the number of characters can’t be more than 5 for I would be confused with each of them. European novels with Baltic/Nordic setup’s and Japanese ones come with even tougher nomenclature and almost every setup would feel alien and difficult to read at the basic level. Even if the scene involves a restaurant, the kind of food the characters eat, right from that, it would be off-putting, for the lines wouldn’t be as simple as “took a bite of a burger or pizza” but something like “quiche” or “Sashimi”’ or “Nigiri”. I would get distracted to imagine how those dishes would look like or whether they are juices? It might sound absurdly trivial, but if I am unable to visualize I pretty much lose interest in the story line. I never had high hopes for this book but had been hearing the name of the novel across so many spheres and sites that it had an Oscar movie hype about itself. Despite all my inhibitions I decided to give it a try for first few pages, willing myself to drop it the moment the scenes became incomprehensible. After about an hour I glanced over the page count and then only I realized how far I’ve made it into the story. That it was a racy page turner is a clichéd term to describe it. The story was so simple and the situations so real and relatable that, you could almost feel yourself watching it happening like an invisible spirit hovering inside that setup.

When I was three fourth’s into the story, I wanted to see how it ended and tried googling for it. For a book that is so many years old, not a single soul had revealed the ending. The climax of the plot happens within the first 100 pages of it so it was pretty much a given as to what had happened. The “why” part became more and more intriguing and as the story unraveled the curiosity was unbearable to know the “how”. When it gets explained, the simplicity of the setup strikes you with such a force that the “how” becomes a super big “WOW”. In fact I was almost tempted to think that the author could’ve even tried such an act in real life and would’ve gotten away with it. Almost a perfect crime. Even before I could venture into the story, the title was intriguing to say the least - The “devotion” of suspect X. Why call it devotion? The character is probably the most clever, ever written on print form and the title could’ve very well been “the cleverness of the suspect” or the ingenuity. But why devotion? It does get revealed and the reason stumps you as well. There are more than enough hints as to the reason why. But when the final realization reveals itself, the story, which till that time is a murder investigation thriller, morphs as a love story at the very last page.

Such is the genius of the narration that, when the physics professor, who doubles up as the amateur detective, feels saddened when he finds out the truth, the reader cannot feel not aggrieved. The character of the love torn maths teacher, who aids the lady in hiding the murder, is so well defined that, despite with so few dialogues, just by everyone talking about his appearance and his mannerisms, he takes a very realistic shape in mind and wins the heart all though. You want to root for him, but he is so hell bent in his method and goal to save his love that, the ending remains a foregone conclusion. Midway through the book, you even hate that lady for being so ignorant about the maths teacher, who does so much for her and wonder how she could be so blind and insensitive when her teen daughter and everyone else around her could realize his feelings for her. Love is blind takes a whole new meaning in this setup and all this strikes in the end when the detective finally reveals how they were all fooled. The cleverness of the author is such that he boldly reveals the murder details and who committed it and how. The ingenuity shines bright in the way in which he leads the reader and the rest of the character on a wild goose chase, all the while looking at the evidences from a totally wrong angle.

Gils verdict: By the end of the book, every prejudice I had for different culture themed novels were torn apart to say the least, for I never felt any story I’ve ever read to be this simple and relatable. Despite me not being to visualize every single step of the way, the narration was able to guide me into being on course with the rest of the characters on their quest to know the truth. Till the time, Bragz who gave me the book asked me did I liked that “love” story, little did I realize that, the crime thriller was at its heart a beautiful yet brilliant love story of sacrifice. Probably the best book I’ve read for this year and may be ever.