Under the Midnight Sun

A Novel

By: Keigo Higashino, Alexander O. Smith - translator, Joseph Reeder

Narrated by: David Shih

Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

From the acclaimed internationally best-selling author Keigo Higashino (The Devotion of Suspect X) comes a sweeping novel in the tradition of Les Miserables and Crime and Punishment. This is the compelling story of a brutal crime and the two teenagers - Ryo, the son of the murdered man, and Yukiho, the daughter of the main suspect - whose lives remain inextricably linked over the 20-year search for the truth behind the crime.

In Osaka in 1973, the body of a murdered man is found in an abandoned building. Investigating the crime, Detective Sasagaki is unable to find the killer. Over the next 20 years, through the lens of a succession of characters, Higashino tells the story of two teens, Ryo and Yukiho, whose lives are most affected by the crime, and the obsessed detective, Sasagaki, who continues to investigate the murder, looking for the elusive truth.

Under the Midnight Sun is a complex psychological novel about crime and its aftereffects by one of the most read and most accomplished contemporary mystery authors. A twisting, compelling work that will astonish and delight fans both old and new alike.

©1999 Keigo Higashino; tranlation copyright 2016 by Alexander O. Smith (P)2019 Tantor

A troubling story with excellent suspense

Higashino’s tale of trauma and deceit is full of very troubling plot devices that make you despise many of its characters and worry for the rest of them. Characters are revealed by second hand accounts of their actions, which slowly builds suspense as you pray that someone will stop the next event.
TW for a graphic description of rape.

Shih’s narration is good, but unfortunately lacks nuance when voicing female characters.

So many subplots and twists

The book is amazing in the way it introduces so many sub plots which seem random but then end up leading to the same end. The portrayal of the lead characters from their childhood through adulthood is amazing, you can literally imagine their expressions as you read. While there is so much darkness there’s also a part of you they feels sorry for the kids. A book that keeps a good pace for the most part, some incidents get boring when being narrated a couple different times. The narrator for the audible version does a great job differentiating the voices for each of the characters.

Brilliant, complex, subtle

This bis an unusual book, many orders of magnitude better than normal detective stories. It spans over twenty years, following the lives of those connected with the original crime, creating a complex, multi-layered tapestry.

It is a difficult book for a westerner to follow in audio. There are many characters and many unfamiliar Japanese names, and many important pieces of information are contained in single short passages or throwaway lines you need to catch and remember. It would be easier to read a paper book, where you could mark pages, skim back easily and make notes.

This is made more difficult by name changes and aliases, and by the narrator. He is okay, but he just has a few standard voices for male and female characters and children, so it’s not easy to tell the characters apart by their voices.

Despite the difficulties, it is absolutely worth the effort. It’s an unusually brilliant book and very memorable. I will probably buy the print version to read again and understand it better.

Children Are Damaged, Psychologically

This story is really deep! Psychologically. What happens to a 15 year old girl, psychologically, when her mother sells her in order to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads? What becomes of the 15 year old male classmate, when he commits a crime as he tries to protect the girl? These are the glaring questions that this story provoked for me. This story is 19 plus hours long and even though the Japanese names are very confusing because they sound so very much alike to my ears, the story held my interest all the way through. I finished the listen in three days!. The characters/investigators cleared any confusion that I had as they discussed the case/cases amongst themselves. The stories were told from different viewpoints, which is a good benefit for the story. There are 3 or 4 murders, and at least 3 assaults against young girls. So the tension in the storyline kept building as the murders were investigated. The narrator, David Shih, gave an excellent performance

Higashino is a master storyteller

Blown away by how Higashino weaves this story. This is my third book by this author and I am yet to be disappointed. It's a slow burn, but the author knows how to keep your attention. Shih's narration is spectacular.
Definitely worth the money!

Not worth the time

Great narrator, but the plots aren't interesting. Tedious. Stopped listening after a few hours of hoping to find out why other readers liked this book.