The Devotion of Suspect X is one of my favourite books of crime fiction ever! Highly recommended!

Schoolmates Kazuo and Kazumi wake up in each other’s body and try their best to fit in their new environment while looking for a way to go back to their former self… An engrossing, funny and touching story!

Introduction Title: 『予知夢』 (よちむ)Author: Keigo HIGASHINO (東野 圭吾)Published by 文春文庫270 pages This collection of five short stories is the second book in the Galileo series. The short stories were first published between 1998 and 2000 in the magazine オール読物 (よみもの). Review This second book in the Galileo series is slightly different from the first one, 『探偵ガリレオ』. In my review of this first volume, I said that physics-related explanations were present in each story, and that they never really managed to trigger my interest nor to really convince me. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the stories in 『予知夢』 have taken a different direction. The scientific elements are dramatically reduced. Instead of presenting us with a problem that is apparently impossible and explain it with science, the short stories in 『予知夢』 present us with apparently supernatural phenomenons and explain them with logic, rationalism and deductions. I found this book extremely addictive, I have read one short story a day, completely putting aside my other books. I love the theme of supernatural elements, and how it is explained …

Introduction Title: 『探偵ガリレオ』 (たんていがりれお)Author: Keigo HIGASHINO (東野 圭吾)Published by 文春文庫330 pages This book is a collection of 5 short stories all initially published for the magazine オール讀物 between 1996 and 1998. This book is also the first installment in the Galileo series, but even though several books of the series are translated in English, this opening title has not been translated. Review Reading Keigo Higashino after quite a long time really feels good. I am always amazed at how good his short stories are. Even in a reduced number of pages you get all the thrill of a good crime novel. The short stories of 『探偵ガリレオ』 all follow a similar pattern with detective Kusanagi investigating a murder case and asking for his friend’s advice, the physician Yukawa, whom Kusanagi’s chief calls Galileo. All the stories and cases have a scientific element to them, usually related to how the murder was committed but not exclusively. This element explains the necessity for Kusanagi to seek Yukawa’s advice, and it also distinguishes the Galileo series from Higashino’s other books. …

Introduction Title: 『愛がなんだ』(あいがなんだ)Author: Mitsuyo KAKUTA (角田 光代)Published by 角川文庫218 pages Mitsuyo Kakuta has written an impressive amount of books, including novels, essays, translations and children’s books. She won the Naoki Prize in 2004 for her novel 『対岸の彼女』, translated into English by Wayne P. Lammers under the title Woman on the Other Shore. 『愛がなんだ』was first published in 2003 and adapted into a film in 2019 (director: Rikiya Imaizumi). Review Teruko is in love with Mamoru and always makes herself available for him, even if this means cancelling other activities with friends or absent herself from work. I immediately loved Teruko and felt an immediate sympathy for her. Rather than identifying myself with the protagonist, I felt like a friend of her and really wanted to bump into the story and tell her to stop acting like she was! I enjoyed the story and I found that the depiction of Teruko was very well done. However, I would have liked the novel better if it had gone into a more profound study of character to understand why …