Masquerade

Although I spent some time trying my calligraphic skill at the airport, I managed to finished with the novel that I brought along with me.

It was Masquerade Hotel (假面飯店) of Keigo Higashino (東野圭吾).

Is it good?

Em... it is a pleasurable reading. The plot is a variant of Agatha Christie's ABC Murder, and the story is very suitable for a short TV series. Although many of the characters appear unreal and much of the detail artificial, one trick of the murderer is, in my opinion, exemplary and has the potential of wide application.

The idea is simple: The best way to hide a critical flaw is to make another small but obvious mistake. A common psychological trap of human being is one man one disease. We (for example, readers of detection fiction or reviewers of a journal) are often satisfied when we identify one mistake in a piece of work. We say to ourselve, "Good. We have found out what this guy is trying to hide from us." And we will spare any further effort to look for other more important problems.

The face under a masquerade could simply be another mask of human skin.