Invisible Helix: A Review

#52BookClub

Prompt: Found Family Trope

Serial: 03/52

Book: Invisible Helix

Author: Keigo Higashino

Pages: 276

Publication: Abacus

Genre: Mystery

I saw this book on Amazon in the pre-orders list. However, the cost of the paperback was around ₹ 1000. So, I decided to bide my time. When the prize reached an affordable range, I went ahead and ordered it.

There’s a limit to my patience when it comes to a Keigo Higashino release. 

TW: Domestic violence against women

Plot

Ryota Uetsuji’s corpse is found floating in Tokyo Bay. His live-in girlfriend, Sonoka Shimauchi, is missing. Being a victim of domestic abuse, she is under the radar of the police as a potential suspect. However, she has a watertight alibi.

Detective Kusanagi contacts Yukawa, who comes to terms with his own past. 

Review

Invisible Helix has the stamp of Keigo Higashino all over it, albeit partially. Let me explain. 

The author always draws the readers’ attention to evils plaguing the weak and the powerless. Topics like bullying and abuse often take centerstage in his works. This novel is no exception. The scenes of domestic abuse are not graphic, but they can trigger people who have encountered this. 

Surprisingly, the language felt a bit bland to me, almost mechanical. Timeconsuming as they might be, I missed the description of Tokyo and her countless districts and bridges. Often, Japan comes to life in his novels. This time, I missed the country as a character hovering over others. Maybe I had high expectations and was disappointed to find them squashed. 

Emotions and ethics play an important role here, what with characters facing their demons from the past and being forced to come out clean before others. It was a pleasant shock to see the logical-minded physicist Yukawa as someone who can protect his family. The thread that connects his past and the murder has been skilfully woven into the mystery. 

But I have a grouse. I felt the mystery to be a bit rushed towards the end. Also, the motive of the murder, though strong, left me in a doubt when I read the final pages. Maybe emotions do lack logic, and I should stop thinking like a scientist. 

Invisible Helix is not one of Keigo Higashino’s best. But that doesn’t take away the fact that it is a well-done mystery with memorable characters. As I closed the book, the void that I was to be in enveloped me. This was the final book in the Detective Galileo series. Like Kaga, I would miss Yukawa. 

It’s not a good feeling, I tell you.