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Once again, the release of a newly translated book from Keigo Higashino, perhaps the most popular living writer in Japan, is released within the same window as the most celebrated Japanese writer outside of Japan, Haruki Murakami. I’m not implying a rivalry between the two, but Invisible Helix, the latest in Higashino’s Detective Galileo series, arrives just weeks after Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls. The last time we saw tandem releases from the two authors were Higashino’s A Death in Tokyo and Murakami’s Novelist as a Vocation, both in 2022.
Last year’s The Final Curtain was billed as the swan song for Higashino’s Detective Kaga series, the conclusion of nearly four decades of books, films, and television specials. If his sendoff didn’t impact English readers much it’s probably because the series was still pretty fresh outside of Japan when it ended. Higashino’s other major character, Detective Galileo, however, is still relatively new and receiving new entries, with all but one of his series translated into English.
Invisible Helix (Tomei na Rasen), the fifth book in the series, treads very familiar territory for the author, offering readers a tale of parental obligation and a murder investigation that wavers between convenience and contrivance. Unlike most sausage-factory fiction, it’s not necessary to have read every previous book in the series to understand what’s going on, though genre fans used to excessive detailed-oriented descriptions and “clues” may need to readjust their sleuthing radars to really get the most from it.
After a brief prologue following a widowed mother giving her child up for adoption, we flash-forward to present day Tokyo and a familiar theme: a man’s dead body is found floating in the Tokyo Bay, the cause of death ruled a homicide after a bullet wound is discovered, indicating he was shot in the back before taking the plunge. The deceased turns out to be Ryota Uetsuji, a video producer who went missing days before. Chief Inspector Kusanagi and Detective Sergeant Karou Utsumi are on the case, canvassing the neighborhood looking for any clues that might aid their investigation.
But the person they need to speak with most can’t be found; the one who called in the missing person’s report was none other than Ryota’s girlfriend, Sonoka Shimauchi, a young woman who met Ryota while working at a flower shop, jumping into the relationship after the sudden death of her mother, Chizuko Shimauchi, left her practically alone in the world.
But not entirely alone, as Nae Matsunaga, her mother’s closest friend and a constant presence in their lives, is concerned Sonoka’s relationship with her new boyfriend might be volatile. Nae is also the author of illustrated children’s books with unusual subject matter, including one that becomes of special interest to Detective Kusanagi: Lonely Little Monopo, a story featuring a monopole as the protagonist. It’s not the strange premise that catches his eye, though, but the book’s bibliography that references a familiar name: Manabu Yukawa, the gifted physics professor also known as Detective Galileo.
Now Sonoka is missing, having taken a leave from her job, and nobody seems to know where she is. Why would the girlfriend of the deceased be the one to call in a missing person’s report on the boyfriend, only to leave unexpectedly just before his body was found? And what about Hidemi Negishi, the elegant head mama-san and owner of VOWM, a hostess bar frequented by Detective Kusanagi, whose connections to Sonoko and the deceased may run a little deeper than she lets on?
The consequences of familial choices are nothing new in a Higashino novel, and it’s fair to say the overarching storyline of Invisible Helix might give even the most generous fan deja vu once finished. Which is fine as the real pleasure with reading Higashino is less about the intricacies of plots and more how he deftly threads (and sometimes unthreads) our expectations, creating a sense of subterfuge where murder is more a trigger for exposition and motivations than basis for any real mystery to unravel. This can make his novels seem more like soap operas than real detective ones, but that’s his vibe and I’m here for it.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this Detective Galileo mystery is how little he’s actually involved in the case, almost peripheral to the overall story. While the character embodies just about every trait you’d expect in an overly intelligent, hyper-aware crime solving adjacent to the police force – sarcastic, curmudgeonly, etc. – but always thinking two steps ahead of those he’s supposed to be helping. Sherlock Holmes, he ain’t.
Kudos once again to Giles Murray, once again providing a fine translation that makes it easy to keep track of the multiple characters, locations, and chronology of the story. As we’ve come to expect from Higashino, Invisible Helix is delightfully, sometimes impenetrable, Japanese in every detail, the only accommodations for non-native readers being the helpful character glossary and yen-to-dollar currency exchange rate. Given the fluctuating markets, however, who knows how accurate that will be by the time you actually read this.
At times it feels like Higashino is writing his mysteries in reverse, working backwards to arrive at conclusions that weigh emotionally heavier than they do intellectually. That doesn’t mean Invisible Helix isn’t satisfying, but those new to the Galileo character or unfamiliar with the author’s style may need to adjust their expectations just a bit. More so may be the effort to suspend disbelief enough to reconcile how, in a city of nearly 40 million, the Tokyo police can allocate so many resources to solving a single murder. Such is life in a high trust society.