Book Beginnings / Friday 56 - Naoko, by Keigo Higashino

Hello, everyone! How was your week? I am finally done with Howards End (it took me a while) and I'm ready to dig into The Police Thief  by Yoko Ogawa. I'll probably share some snippets from it with you the following week! For now, let's take a look at today's memes.

First, we have Book Beginnings on Fridays, hosted by Rose City Reads. In this meme, we have to share the first sentence (or a bit more) from the book we are currently reading. The second meme is called Friday 56 and it is hosted by Freda's Voice. For this one, we have to share a small snippet from a book, taken from page 56 (or 56% on an e-reader).

As I've told you above, I will feature The Memory Police next week, as I want to first dig into it. For today, I have chosen a great Japanese mystery novel. If you like this genre, then you should get acquainted with the work of Keigo Higashino. Naoko was a book recommended to me by a friend and I was instantly fascinated by its story. Even though there is a paranormal element to it, it still is very realisting, thus making it a chilling read. I hope that the quotes from it will give you an idea.

Book Beginnings:

"He didn't see it coming. At all."

This is definitely one of those beginnings, where your attention is instantly captured. Many mysteries follow this technique but I can't complain - it works every single time! There is no better way to put you in a mystery mood, than an opening line that states that something is wrong.

Friday 56:

""Your husband is a murderer!" he cried out.

Everyone in the hall froze still and then time began to move forward as if frame by frame. Mrs. Kajikawa was about to burst into tears and Mrs. Yamamoto held her by the shoulders as she led her out the door. A few people stared at Fujisaki  while others did their best to keep their eyes averted.

It was hard for Heisuke to read the mood of the group.One thing that was certain was that nobody felt redeemed at all by Fujisaki's words. He had clearly gone too far. The group's feelings of solidarity had begun to crumble, and a slight chill pervaded the atmosphere. The elderly woman in the front row looked distinctly uncomfortable. Nonetheless, nobody could go so far as to reproach Fujisaki. All they could do was pretend that they hadn't heard what he'd said." 

So, the protagonist - Heisuke - has lost his wife in a bus accident. At the same accident many other people passed away, and one of them was the driver. The wife of the driver tries to apologize to the survivors, but faces the above reaction. This snippet is a great example of Higashino's writing style. Grief is a big part of Naoko and in the novel we get to see many expressions of this feeling. 

Have you read Naoko? What are some favourite quotes from the books you've been reading?