Just finished reading the third book on the trot of Keigo Higashino. Probably the least thrilling of the three one can say upfront. What kept me hooked till the end was, again the simplicity of the thought process and the sheer logical approach towards making the perfect crime. And above all, the audacity with which the story had been lifted and made into a tamil movie – Sarabham. When I saw the movie, without knowing about the book, I was stunned by the twists and turns in the screenplay and the movie was quite a watch. The least the director could’ve done was a nod to the book. (If the mention was really made but I only missed out, it’s my bad)
While movie is a page to page lift off from the story with minor twists, it did really was well “translated” onto the screen. Same can’t be said about the book though. Unlike the first two novels, which made the English version as good as any written in English, the effort on translating the content is literally visible in this book. At many places, there are unnecessarily used words which would test your GRE skills. The way the character’s and their actions are described are also very native. Like how the girl scratches her head while talking and the expressions used by guys while pointing at the other person, it all reminds of tamil dubbed Chinese movies. If it can be redone again in a better version, I guess, this book will still have some pull.
Story wise, it’s that of a kidnapping gone right. A girl, who is seen, escaping from her house, by the prota/antagonist , decides to join hands with him in faking her own kidnapping. The duo does manage to get the ransom money and after pulling of the heist, the guy realizes that he has been taken for a ride, literally. The end twist probably carries the now famous author stamp and must’ve been the first step towards achieving his level of typicality.
Gils verdict: I still find the movie to be more engaging, despite the small size of the novel. Maybe it’s the translation or maybe it needs to be edited bit more, cutting down on lengthy sections. But if anyone starts with this book and proceed to “Devotion of suspect X” and “Malice” they would easily make out that this book is probably one of the earlier attempts by the author. A decent one nevertheless.
While movie is a page to page lift off from the story with minor twists, it did really was well “translated” onto the screen. Same can’t be said about the book though. Unlike the first two novels, which made the English version as good as any written in English, the effort on translating the content is literally visible in this book. At many places, there are unnecessarily used words which would test your GRE skills. The way the character’s and their actions are described are also very native. Like how the girl scratches her head while talking and the expressions used by guys while pointing at the other person, it all reminds of tamil dubbed Chinese movies. If it can be redone again in a better version, I guess, this book will still have some pull.
Story wise, it’s that of a kidnapping gone right. A girl, who is seen, escaping from her house, by the prota/antagonist , decides to join hands with him in faking her own kidnapping. The duo does manage to get the ransom money and after pulling of the heist, the guy realizes that he has been taken for a ride, literally. The end twist probably carries the now famous author stamp and must’ve been the first step towards achieving his level of typicality.
Gils verdict: I still find the movie to be more engaging, despite the small size of the novel. Maybe it’s the translation or maybe it needs to be edited bit more, cutting down on lengthy sections. But if anyone starts with this book and proceed to “Devotion of suspect X” and “Malice” they would easily make out that this book is probably one of the earlier attempts by the author. A decent one nevertheless.
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Trust you'll now ace GRE :):)