Overview
I read this book because my dear roommate lent it to me.
Originally, I gave this book to my exhausted roommate during the COVID-19 pandemic. But later, the novel was adapted into a drama, and I became a bit interested in it.
Summary and thoughts are written below, so be careful of spoilers.
Summary
Katsuki is a serial killer who has murdered many women, with his childhood trauma being the root cause. On the other hand, Katsuki is intelligent and often assists the police in their investigations.
During his activities, he encounters Kiyotsuka, a psychic medium, by chance. Kiyotsuka can summon the spirits of murder victims with her psychic abilities. With her powers and Katsuki's intelligence, they successfully solve cases one after another. Kiyotsuka also wanted to use her abilities for the benefit of others, so it was a win-win situation.
The duo of the fragile, gifted Kiyotsuka and the strong, intelligent Katsuki was forming. However, Kiyotsuka turns out to be a detective surpassing Katsuki. Katsuki is skillfully led to the crime scene and gets arrested. Kiyotsuka reveals that she is not a psychic medium, but just a detective. Katsuki is shocked. The cases they had solved together couldn't have been resolved without psychic abilities, so her psychic powers must be real.
However, according to Kiyotsuka's thorough explanation, each case had both an "easy-mode clue" and a "hard-mode clue." After deducing the truth with the "hard-mode clues," Kiyotsuka pretended to be a psychic medium and provided Katsuki with the "easy-mode clues." Katsuki then mistakenly believed that he was solving the cases using the power of spirits.
Thoughts
- The fact that Katsuki is a murderer is revealed towards the end, which was surprising, and just a few pages later, it is revealed that Kiyotsuka is a detective. The surprises came one after another and were thrilling.
- After that, the "hard-mode" solutions to three cases are explained, and the descriptions in between are incredible. Kiyotsuka's power is overwhelming, and our protagonist, Katsuki, appears pitiful. Kiyotsuka's unpleasant woman move repelled me, and I ended up rooting for Katsuki.
- Katsuki was in love with Kiyotsuka. However, in every scene, Katsuki struggles between "loving" and "killing" her. It's a story structure worth rereading.
- The kanji I learned to read in this book: 擽る (to tickle).
- It was a good book to read one chapter in 30 minutes before bed.
