“The Devotion of Suspect X” is the work of one of Japan’s best-selling crime novelists Keigo Higashino and this book has not just sold some million copies but also won numerous awards. Therefore, when I picked up the book, my expectations from it were sky high and unfortunately which came crashing down with a huge thud. Usually, thrillers and murder mysteries have such a compounding effect that it’s hard to put the book down. But in this case; even tough the plot was interesting, it was an effort to pull the book up every time I put it down. The book has a stirring start, where right at the beginning the murder happens and we know who the murderer was. But what we are not told is how the murder was covered up, and most importantly, why would a stranger help the murderer cover-up the crime. The rest of the book is suppose to explore that, and it does but with a lackluster pace. Yasuko Hanaoka is a divorced mother working in a box lunch shop is leading a peaceful life with