Keigo Higashino’s ‘The Final Curtain’
Pages:
390
Although I am a fan of the Galileo series, the fact that Keigo Higashino’s The Final Curtain is the fourth and final book in the Kaga series made it a melancholic read.
Plot:
Yuriko has spent her last years in Sendai. After her death, friend and employer Yasuyo manages to locate the estranged son to hand over the ashes.
Decades go by.
Michiko Oshitani is found strangled to death. Another death in a shanty arouses suspicion in the mind of the investigating detective, Matsumiya.
Is there a link between the two cases? What role does Kaga play here?
Brace yourself for an emotional, yet satisfying, roller coaster ride.
Review:
I found the previous installment, A Death in Tokyo, to be a tad underwhelming by Keigo Higashino standards, but man, does he redeem himself with this one!
I had expressed my doubt about the relevance of Tokiko in Kaga’s life, but it becomes clear in the final book. The questions that haunt Kaga finally find their answers, however tragic they might be.
Like in any Higashino novel, the plot digs its way into the past to trace possible motives and repercussions of characters’ behaviours. As always, bullying, a recurring topic in many books, rears its head.
The novelist’s obsession with bridges continues. Keep a pen and paper handy and note down the names of twelve of them. Twelve! Corresponding to every month of the year.
You read that right!
The narrative never falters, keeping the readers in suspense. Emotions are an integral part of a Higashino book, and here one finds the extreme lengths to which a father can go to protect his daughter, and vice versa.
The ending brought a lump to my throat and tied up all the loose ends.
I needed time to wrap my head around the mistaken identities, and the lengthy Japanese names didn’t make my job easier.
Apart from this minor grouse, I enjoyed reading this novel immensely.
Detective Kaga, you will be missed.
Rating –
4.5 / 5
The book purchase link is here
