Salvation of a Saint - Keigo Higashino - Book Review

        In the last two years, I have enjoyed reading so many Japanese mysteries; thanks to Keigo Higashino and Kanae Minato. 'Salvation of a Saint' has been my choice in my to-read list for 2020 and I got the library copy just around two weeks back and so I jumped right into it.
A successful CEO of a company is found dead at his home. Amidst discussions whether the same is a suicide or murder; the suspicion falls on the wife, Ayane. But the wife was thousands of miles away during the time of the crime with a rock solid alibi. The inspector Kusanagi heads the investigation trying to find a logical explanation for all that happened but finds himself drawn to Ayane. One of the co-investigators who strongly believes that Ayane did commit the crime asks for help from the professor (an old friend of Kusanagi) for help and advice. How the investigation moves forward with the two lead investigators who has two separate set of theories and how the professor is able to help out forms the story.
The book came after 'Devotion of Suspect X' and I guess that would have made a great expectation of this book at that time. I think the book was pretty good. But i was really tempted to think of the other book in between and expected surprises to pop in as in the 'Suspect X'. I really like the writing style of this book where the investigators have two theories. We have a suspect in our mind and the discussion between them really kept me more interested and tried to sway my opinion on the suspect. At a juncture, where we would lock down on a person; there pops up a theory which poses questions on our suspicion. Once the professor fits into the story, it is like a third person analyzing both the theories and coming up with a proper explanation. This was a really clever move by the writer. The characters were well written and detailed. This was more of a howdunit than a whodunit. I guess some time into the book; we would have an idea of the killer. But the real question throughout the book was how it was possible! One important aspect that I like in Keigo's books are that the perpetrators of the crime are intelligently written which helps eventually in escalating the wow factor of the crime. And as usual a typical Japanese thriller and I am able to learn a lot of the Japanese culture and their ways thanks to Keigo and Kanae. I did have some small questions/doubts like why there was a mention of the powder in the prologue as we were not sure of the timeline there.
I have skipped this book many a times but am happy that I have finally read it. A real good page turner from the Japanese master of suspense. If you really enjoy crime thrillers, I recommend you to have a go at this book and you will not be disappointed. And yes, I will be exploring and delving more and more into Japanese crime thrillers.