Mohohan

Just finish reading Mohohan (模倣犯) of Miyabe Miyuki (宮部美幸).

It takes quite a while to go through this 1300-page classic of modern detective fiction. As Miyuki herself says, you do not have to guess who the murderer is until the very last page - it is plain obvious from the middle. Well, you may have a glimpse of some social problems that the younger generation of Japanese is facing at this moment, and it remains enjoyable to read every details of all doings and thinkings of everyone involved.

The careful audience would ask: who was the Mohohan ? The two murderers were certainly not - as one of them insisted towards the end of the story, the crime was entirely a drama of his own invention. On that, I would say Miyuki herself is the one who imitates. As a fans of Hercule Poirot, one would find the plot very much similar to that in The Curtain, and Agatha Christie was certainly a cut higher in elaborating the plot and, with due respect to Miyuki, telling a story.

PS. And Miyuki is not the only Mohohan. Yoichi Takato (高遠遙一) in the Kindaichi Case Files (金田一少年之事件簿) is another clumsy one - Seimaru Amagi (天樹征丸) could have done better.