Rarely does a murder mystery instill us with a sense of awe quite like The Devotion of Suspect X, which truly deserves its place among the greatest detective stories of all time. Coming in first place for our 2020 recommendations, The Devotion of Suspect X is a peculiar beast that subverts the traditional mystery structure to its core, and uses the character’s own innate understanding of the genre that they’re a part of to guide their actions towards a tragic but inevitable outcome. After Yasuko Hanaoka murders her ex-husband in full view of the reader, Yasuko, her daughter Misato and their neighbour Ishigami set about trying to evade the police in the ensuing investigation. With the police circling their shark-cage, a battle of genius between Ishigami and Detective Galileo takes centre-stage in this astonishing mystery.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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