Book Review:A Midsummer’s Equation (Detective Galileo #6) by Kiego Higashino

A Midsummer’s Equation (Detective Galileo #6) by Kiego Higashino

Goodreads Description:

Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as “Detective Galileo,” has traveled to Hari Cove, a once-popular summer resort town that has fallen on hard times. He is there to speak at a conference on a planned underwater mining operation, which has sharply divided the town. One faction is against the proposed operation, concerned about the environmental impact on the area, known for its pristine waters. The other faction, seeing no future in the town as it is, believes its only hope lies in the development project.

The night after the tense panel discussion, one of the resort’s guests is found dead on the seashore at the base of the local cliffs. The local police at first believe it was a simple accident-that he wandered over the edge while walking on unfamiliar territory in the middle of the night. But when they discover that the victim was a former policeman and that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, they begin to suspect he was murdered, and his body tossed off the cliff to misdirect the police.

As the police try to uncover where Tsukahara was killed and why, Yukawa finds himself enmeshed in yet another confounding case of murder. In a series of twists as complex and surprising as any in Higashino’s brilliant, critically acclaimed work, Galileo uncovers the hidden relationship behind the tragic events that led to this murder

My Review:

I have always enjoyed Kiego Higashino’s books. It is not always about the plot or the mystery but the way he transports you completely into his world. I loved learning lot about Japanese culture and their way of living. Personally A Midsummer’s did not appeal to me as the other ones. The weakest point about this book was that I didn’t event find the mystery compelling enough to keep guessing. If this book was by any other author, I would have lost interest within 100 pages. I can’t tell if it is his way of writing or my curiosity about japan, I loved reading this book. In the place Hari Cove, Yukawa meets a school named Kyohei. The relationship between the physics professor and Kyohei was beautifully described and this will linger on my mind for a long time. Later if I re-read other books featuring Yukawa, I would definitely remember this side of him. The other characters did not make a huge impact to me in this book and that is probably because of the weak mystery plot. Nevertheless I never felt bored and I do recommend this book if you have read his other works.

My favorites are in this order: