Gen'ya

My recent bedtime reading is Gen'ya (幻夜) of Keigo Higashino (東野圭吾).

This novel is widely regarded as  the sister work of Byakuyakō (白夜行), another story written by Keigo. But, it appears to me not the case. Byakuyakō is, in its heart, a story of romance; Ryoji Kirihara (桐原亮司) and Yukiho Karasawa (唐沢雪穂) were, in the jargon of Agatha Christie, partners in crime, and, although they never met formally in the novel, were in a genuine and legitimate relationship.

In contrast, Masaya Suwon (水原雅也) was a tool of Mifuyu Shinkai (新海美冬) all along. Did Shinkai ever think of having a permanent relationship with Suwon? Obviously not. The plot is not a a variant of Byakuyakō, but really resembles Human Metamorphosis (Ningen Konchuki, 人間昆蟲記) of Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫), and Shinkai is no doubt a modified (and malicious) version of Toshiko Tomura (十村十枝子).

PS. In fact, before the final combat between Suwon and Inspector Kato (加藤亘), the unfortunate engineer should have rung up Shinkai and asked, "Why do you hide everything from me? Aren't we a duet of crime - just like Byakuyakō ?"

"You read too much Keigo Higashino." A voice with no emotion appeared from the other side.