{"id":7620,"date":"2011-02-14T02:02:52","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T02:02:52","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-02-14T03:02:12","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T03:02:12","slug":"Is-this-Guy-the-Next-Stieg-Larsson-","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=7620","title":{"rendered":"Is this Guy the Next Stieg Larsson?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mr. Higashino\u2019s first major foray into the U.S. market is \u201cThe Devotion of Suspect X,\u201d which was published in the U.S. on Feb. 1st. (Another novel, \u201cNaoko,\u201d had a limited English print run in 2004.)<\/p>\n

The novel is a taut thriller in which a single mother murders her abusive ex-husband to protect her teenage daughter and then accepts an offer of help from her neighbor and secret admirer, a math genius called Ishigami who hears the commotion from next door, to conceal the crime. \u201cTrust me,\u201d says Ishigami as he sets about devising the perfect alibi for the object of his obsession. \u201cLogical thinking will get us through this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMurder mysteries cross well between cultures because people have bad sides as well as good,\u201d says Mr. Higashino. \u201cPeople show their true natures in the act of committing a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Devotion of Suspect X\u201d is part of the author\u2019s popular \u201cDr. Galileo\u201d series, which feature a physics professor with a knack for solving impenetrable cases. The novel won Japan\u2019s Naoki Prize in 2005, and the foreign rights have been sold as far afield as China, Thailand, France, Russia and Spain. It was also turned into a movie in Japan in 2008.<\/p>\n

St. Martin\u2019s Press has set an ambitious print run of 75,000 copies for \u201cThe Devotion of Suspect X,\u201d in the U.S., and says it bought the rights to the book before interest in global detective stories took off following the runaway success of Swedish author Stieg Larsson\u2019s \u201cThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.\u201d But Mr. Higashino says he won\u2019t be measuring success in the U.S. in terms of number of copies sold.<\/p>\n