The Hovering Blade

This marks the 8^th book by Keigo Higashino that I’ve explored. I read the Indonesian version titled “Tragedi Pedang Keadilan” published by Gramedia Pustaka Utama in early 2024.

Storyline

The story follows a single father, Nagamine Shigeki who lives with his only teenage daughter in Tokyo. One night, his daughter goes to a festival but never comes home. The following day, the police arrives to deliver the heartbreaking news that his daughter had been discovered lifeless, floating in a river.

Several days later, Nagamine receives an anonymous call disclosing the names and addresses of the perpetrators. He visits the apartment from the specified address and discovers a video depicting two underage blokes drugged and abused his daughter.

As he prepares to leave through the window, Nagamine hears the sound of the door unlocking. Upon realizing that he is confronting one of the individuals from the video, Nagamine mercilessly stabs him to death.

The story progresses as Nagamine travels to Nagano to seek revenge against the remaining perpetrators, guided by information provided in anonymous calls. Subsequently, he writes a lengthy letter to the police, specifically highlighting the deficiencies of Japanese juvenile law in defending the victims of underage criminals.

He also elucidates the circumstances surrounding his actions against the boy in the apartment and asserts his determination to pursue justice until he confronts the second perpetrator in a similar manner.

Review

Reader discretion is advised as this book contains graphic depictions, such as Nagamine watching a video in which his daughter was brutally abused, as well as the scene where he stabbed one of the perpetrators.

Despite its 300-ish-page length, the book maintains a brisk pace, swiftly escalating from one circumstance to the next. Keigo Sensei adeptly portrays Nagamine Shigeki’s character as the family of a homicide victim. His sorrow following the loss of his only remaining family member in such an unlawful way is vividly conveyed.

When someone ruins our lives, justice often feels like seeing them suffer as we have. Nagamine’s quest for justice turns to revenge, but he faces imprisonment. Moreover, nothing can bring his daughter back, leaving him in a hopeless cycle.

What I admire most about Keigo Higashino’s crime novels is the unexpected plot twists in the final chapters. Typically, these twists involve detectives deducing the true criminal and their motives.

However, in this book, we already know the identity of Nagamine’s daughter’s killers, and Nagamine himself takes justice into his own hands by killing one of them. Despite this, Keigo Sensei still manages to introduce a plot twist in a different part of the story, which I won’t spoil. If you’re intrigued, I highly recommend reading it for yourself.

Ultimately, I can’t rate it 5 out of 5 because the ending wasn’t what I expected. Nagamine deserved better than the tragic fate he met.

New insight: Japanese juvenile law

When the book was published in 2008, individuals under the age of 20 were considered minors according to Japanese juvenile law. This is why the police didn’t disclose the identity of Nagamine’s daughter’s killers until Nagamine took matters into his own hands. Even if they were to be punished, it wouldn’t be as severe as for adults.