A Midsummer's Equation: A Detective Galileo Mystery (Detective Galileo Series (3))

Higashino is one of my favorite authors and I couldn't wait to read his latest. Unfortunately, this book was much more formulaic than previous books.The action takes place in Hari Cove, a resort town on the ocean struggling to survive against more glamorous destinations. Professor Yukawa, aka Detective Galileo, is staying at a local inn, paid by a company to attend a conference for which the company is trying to sway the locals to back their plan to drill for minerals on the sea floor. Narumi, the inn owners' daughter, is an active environmentalist, a member of a local group dedicated to banning the project.Also staying at the inn is Mr. Tsukahara, at first assumed to be an employee of the drilling company as he was seen attending the first public meeting of the drilling company vs. the group of environmentalists. During the first night, Mr. Tsukahara appears to have gone missing from the inn and is found the following morning at the bottom of a sea wall, apparently the victim of an accident. Of course, there is more to this event than a simple accident and the action expands in all directions. At this juncture this book became a bit difficult to follow. Admittedly, some of the confusion may stem from unfamiliarity with Japanese names, of which there are many. Local detectives, forensic workers, Tokyo detectives, conference personnel on both sides of the drilling issue and various locals are woven into the story along with parties to an event many years' before.The narrator for part of this novel is Kyohei, an adolescent smart aleck who is taken under the wing of Yukawa and the two have some fun with science amidst the mayhem. Kyohei is staying at the inn as his parents are away on business and he has the usual know it all attitude of 5th graders everywhere. He learns some valuable lessons along the way, which almost redeems this book.Although there are hints along the way as to what events led to Tsukahara's demise off the sea wall and why, the answer, when it comes, had me shaking my head as it strained credulity in almost every conceivable way. Mr. Higashino can do a lot better and, if this is your first experience reading this author, please read one of his earlier works! The Devotion of Suspect X and Malice are superior novels of suspense.

I have enjoyed several books by this author, but this one was a disappointment for me. It has a mystery within a mystery, which can make things interesting, but here feels like an added level of deception. The story was hard to follow. Perhaps the author needs to set his books in Tokyo, not a nearby seaside resort, as he has done here. I would recommend other books by Higashino, particularly Salvation of a Saint over this.

Many twists and turns in this seaside mystery. Intriguing character of physicist Yukawa. Consequences of misdeeds longer throughout the story.

This book is an interesting "cozy mystery" that has several unusual characters and plot lines.

I appreciated the subtlety of the plot...the layers surrounding and underpinning the mystery. Even more so, I appreciated the humanity that was presented through the various characters. The author does not write a typical murder mystery; he writes one truly worth reading.

I've read three other novels by Keigo Higashino. Sadly this was like reading "The Hardy Boys" discovering the secrets of ocean ecology. Slow? Dull? All that and boring.

I LOVED Devotion of Suspect X and Salvation/Saint. Didn't love this. Although....the seaside setting is a refreshing departure from Tokyo.

Higashino is one of my favourite authors, and in this book, he demonstrated it again. The plot is very dense, but entertaining. And, as usual, the twist right at the end, is perfect.You can not stop reading the book, it is so interesting and so different that you will have mixed feelings: you will need to know how the mystery is solved and yet, you won't want to finish it.

Quite a lot less substantial than the best of his work, and definitely not a patch on Journey Under The Midday Sun. The premise is OK, but the plot and character development are fairly weak. Yukawa's character plays less of a scientific role than in other works and Kusanagi & Utsumi are essentially but players. There's also a running story about environmental concerns that really didn't really live up to the significance that the number of words spent on it merited. It's an easy read though, and still better than a lot of detective tosh on the market.

Charming book full of Japanese and human interest as usual. Good story.

Higashino is a must for all crime fans. Brilliantly conceived and beautifully written, he writes with economy and elan. Clues are laid out with great precision, yet almost invisibly, ensuring you have to go back to convince yourself you could have had it all worked out if you had read it more carefully.

Another good whodunnit mystery from Keigo Higashino.

You need to like this type of writing and perhaps understand the Japanese culture as the pace is slow but the quality of writing is great.First class mysteries

Am so clad I pick up one of these books .am ian rakingn fan now am a keigo higashino fan helps me seen Japanese life from new Angel

Never heard of this author till a friend lent me another book. This is a book that I couldn't put down. Would recommend this author and book to anyone who likes crime novels.

Not Keigo's best but gripping

Excellent !

I am an admirer of Higashino's works. So far, I had found each one of them to be dark jewels, throwing out a darkness that sucks one into the plot. But this one...This plot was, on one hand, excessively twisted. On the other hand, it was entirely predictable. Don't get me wrong, please. Neither of the aforementioned traits are despicable. But somehow, at one stage of my reading, I felt ... unhappy. I felt dissatisfied.It's better than many other thrillers. Undoubtedly.But, in comparison to other works of Higashino, it's inferior.I rest my case.

The author had set high standards with the previous books like Devotion, Salvation, Malice, hence the expectation was sky high. Though this is a good thriller, was not upto his previous books' standards.The setting was just like an Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot) mystery, where the detective himself was present when the event occurred.The extent to which some people will go to protect dark secrets is well portrayed.The concept of " sustainable development" is the back drop. (Economic development v/s Environment protection).the author has dealt with the complex human emotions reasonably well.There were some minor spelling mistakes in the English translation which could have been avoided.

Sono una grande fan di Keigo Higashino e, avendo letto tutte le sue opere disponibili in italiano, sono passata a questo libro in inglese, che è il terzo capitolo della serie che ha per protagonista il "Detective Galileo", ovvero il professor Yukawa, affiancato anche in questa vicenda dai detective Kusanagi e Utsumi. Qui la trama si snoda in modo diverso rispetto a "Il sospettato X" e a "L'Impeccabile", perché prima che avvenga il delitto la cui ricostruzione occuperà quasi tutto il romanzo facciamo conoscenza con i personaggi che affollano il villaggio in declino di Hari Cove. Nella pluralità delle voci di cui possiamo seguire il POV, siamo resi partecipi di vicende che non ruotano solo attorno al delitto, ma anche alle tensioni portate nella comunità da un programma di estrazione mineraria nell'oceano di Hari Cove, vicende che non lasciano indifferente il professor Yukawa. Attraverso i punti di vista dei vari personaggi e le indagini condotte da Yukawa ad Hari Cove e da Kusanagi e Utsumi a Tokyo l'autore ci conduce in una storia fatta apparentemente di vicoli ciechi ed elementi scollegati fra loro, che però trovano una risoluzione come sempre magistrale e inaspettata.Ho trovato lo svolgimento dell'indagine meno avvincente rispetto ai due capitoli precedenti, motivo per cui do quattro stelle invece di cinque, ma in questo romanzo scopriamo un volto più umano e perfino tenero di Yukawa, e il fatto che la vicenda sia ambientata fuori da Tokyo ci mostra un lato del Giappone meno noto, come lettori occidentali, quello delle piccole comunità di mare che lottano per sopravvivere a fronte di un turismo declinante.

The customary Keigo magic has somewhat diminished in this book but it does retain his trademark engaging characters - the eccentric professor solving a murder mystery and the relentless cop and adds a few interesting ones . This time the crime scene is in a run down hotel of a jading beach resort town . There is also a back story involving a local agitation in the town against proposal to conduct a feasibility study for ocean mining of precious metals in that area by a company . The agitation is spearheaded by a beautiful village girl - the daughter of the hotel owner where the murder takes place . The pace is relaxed but there are enough twists and family secrets to keep the plot moving steadily .On the whole it is a good read

After the devotion, salvation and even malice Keigo have set some standard for himself, which is not fulfilled by this book thus I have given 3 stars.Although the book is better than many books in the genre, but the expectations with which we start Keigo's book is not sufficed. The kind of twists and human emotions detailing I was expecting was missing in the story(although he had tried it at some places but it's dint went well as earlier) .Overall you can read this book as a thriller, but not as Keigo's book.

Compared to Higashino's other novels such as Devotion of Suspect X, Journey Under The Midnight Sun etc, A Midsummer's Equation is a tad long and over-drawn; but entertaining nevertheless. Japanese culture seen through the eyes of Higashino and Seiko Matsumoto's "Inspector Imanishi Investigates" is one of Tatami mats, West-inspired voyeurism, politeness and bars; but Higashino's twists are quite interesting. Galileo's scientific explanations are in more detail here. Read if you find Higashino interesting.