Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Final Curtain by Keigo Higashino in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book. It felt like a tangle of Christmas lights in the beginning, then Higashino slowly unraveled the cord and created a beautiful, complex story. Very well written.

This is the fourth book in the series and my first book and I think it might have been a little better if I had read other books in the series. I felt a little bit like there was something there about the characters that I was missing. But don't misunderstand me, I did like it.

I am a fan of police procedurals and this was a fascinating look at a Japanese police procedural. The dual cases make for a layered and complicated plot filled with plenty of suspects and a lot of misdirection.

I am always a fan of learning about another culture while immersed in my read and this was a rare look into Japanese culture for me.

I will need to go back and read the previous books and see the full picture.

3.5-4 stars
Police procedural set in Japan. I found the setting to be quite interesting but the plot to be a bit disjointed. There were lots of characters and jumps between the past and the present. In addition, the supposed main character, Detective Kaga, wasn't the main character for most of the book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

This is my first Detective Kaga book and I am not disappointed at all. It took me a little to get into the book, as there was some background setting of the story and I wasn't quite sure how that played into the story at first. However, as the book went on, I appreciated how the story wove together. There were crumbs throughout the book, so I didn't feel completely surprised, but enough to get me guessing what would happen next. While I wasn't right most of the time, I was still happy to follow along and learn more detail about what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. I will definitely be picking up another Detective Kaga book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book. The story was tantalizing and fact-paced. This was a high-octane thriller and mystery that kept my interest from start to finish.

A very satisfying entry in the Kyoichiro Kaga series set in Tokyo. Kato, a police inspector, becomes involved in a murder case in another district when he realizes that his own mother’s death is somehow connected. This police procedural must search back 30 years in order to discover the truth. Higashino’s mysteries are complex and well written.

A spectacular finish, “The Final Curtain” by Keigo Higashino is the last book featuring Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga, a series that in my mind surpasses the Detective Galileo stories from the same author.

We start with Yuriko Tajima, a lady looking for a job in a nightclub, where the lady owner Yasuyo Miyamoto takes pity on her and hires her. As the years go by, they become close, and we find out Yuriko left her husband and child, blaming herself for the failed relationship, and now living on her own. She slowly develops a relationship with one of the regulars who travels for work, isn’t always around, and at last she seems to have found some peace, which doesn’t last that long as she falls ill and dies. Yasuyo is able to track her family down to give her ashes to her son, Detective Kyoichiro Kaga.

More time goes by. Michiko Oshitani is found dead in Tokyo, in an empty apartment rented by a man who has disappeared, a man who rented the place under an alias and doesn’t exist. Coincidently, a homeless man is also found strangled at the same time – could this be the work of a single killer?

As Kaga's cousin Matsumiya Shuhei leads the investigation, we find that Michiko came from the same area as Kaga’s mother and her mysterious travelling lover, is there be a connection? To top it off, Michiko was visiting Hiromi Kadokura, a famous actress/director also is connected to Kaga, who has her own secrets.

This is a swirling vortex with Kaga in the middle, all the threads weaving a complex character-driven novel that leaves one filling fulfilled. Keigo Higashino once again rewards the patient and astute reader with a story that remains with you long after you put the book down.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

A new series for me (starting well into it but this one addresses the past), I'm obsessed with Japan, having lived there, so loved everything about it.

The Final Curtain is the 10th Inspector Kaga (4th in English) mystery written by Keigo Higashino. Released (in English) 12th Dec 2023 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's Press imprint, it's 400 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format also released in fourth quarter 2023 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats; it makes searching in the text much easier (for character names, for example).

This is a brilliantly written and unusually well translated modern procedural with a contemplative and intelligent protagonist, an ensemble cast, and an exceptionally clever and well plotted puzzle. The story is mostly character driven and the characters are three dimensional and interestingly well rounded. It's a touch more cerebral than many modern procedurals and is a dignified successor to Christie or Horowitz. Readers are expected to bring a modicum of concentration to the read, there is no spoon feeding. The author doesn't overexplain or simplify.

The translation work by Giles Murray is seamless, and never intrusive, and there's no wonky scansion. It does read like literature in translation and for readers who aren't used to the rhythm of Japanese names and places (lots of both in this book) will need to bring extra patience and possibly a notepad.

With several volumes translated into English at this point (this is the concluding book in the series), it would make an excellent choice for a binge or buddy read. The author is talented enough to provide the necessary backstory, so it works well enough as a standalone. All the books are wonderfully written with compelling and complex storylines, so reading them in order is recommended, but not absolutely necessary. I found the most difficult part of the book to be the character names, which are kept true to the original. The author/publisher have included a dramatis personae list at the beginning of the book which is quite useful.

Four and a half stars. Very very well written.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Yuriko Tajima is hired to work in a nightclub by its kindly owner Yasuyo Miyamoto. After gaining her trust, Yasuyo finds out that her new employee has run away from her marriage and young son, blaming herself for the failure of the marriage.

Years later, Yuriko gets involved with a man and seems happy, but gradually becomes ill. One day, Yasuyo finds Yuriko dead in her apartment, from what the coroner says is a heart attack. After informing Yuriko's lover, he leaves Yasuyo Yuriko's former family's contact info, which leads Yasuyo to contact the remaining member, who is Detective Kyoichiro Kaga. Yasuyo never hears again from Yuriko's lover, but does meet Kaga, who returns to Tokyo with his estranged mother's ashes.

Several years later, 70-year-old Yasuyo reads of a dead woman, Michiko Oshitani. Michiko seems totally unconnected to Kaga, despite her body being found in Tokyo and her death being investigated by the Tokyo Homicide division. In fact, Kaga's cousin Matsumiya Shuhei and his partner are tasked investigating, and, Kaga is pulled in because one of the potential suspects is an acquaintance of his, Hiromi Kadokura. She is a well-known actor/director, and despite the seeming lack of connection to Kaga's life, Matsumiya discovers, with Kaga's occasional own digging into the case, a possible connection to Kaga's family's past, and a number of bodies also connected to the Michiko's murder.

The investigation proves to be complicated, with a large cast of people the detectives speak to and investigate. Seemingly tiny, and often disparate-seeming details become important, and lead to a resolution that is surprising, tragic, and satisfying.

Though I've only read one other Detective Kaga mystery, I enjoy Keigo Higashino's work, as I like his Detective Galileo series. I had not realized that this was the author's last Kaga book; it's a mystery that kept me hooked from its beginning, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you to Netgalley and to St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This is the last book of the series. I enjoy this author, but this book works fine as a standalone so it is not necessary to have read any of the previous books. In this police procedural Detective Kaga (a Holmes-like investigator) investigates several connected murders. I liked the backstories of the characters more than I liked the police procedure. The police did make some connections, but there is no way they (or the reader) can understand the “why” or “how” of anything without the aid of the lengthy explanations from the other characters. And there were some huge coincidences. There were lots of intriguing twists in the book. It was a little hard to keep track of all of the characters, especially since some of them used several names.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

VERDICT: A captivating plot with twists and turns helping to explore profound themes such as sacrifice, familial bonds, and the complexities of life in Japan.

Higashino has done it again. And this time, the investigation gets very close to Kaga’s personal life.


I really enjoyed how the plot develops, are rather how the different plots emerge slowly and connect, after many dead ends, and twists and turns:

Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga’s mother ran away from her husband and her young son. A decade before the book opens, she was found dead in an apartment. What happened? Why had she run away? How was her life after that?
Michiko Oshitani is found strangled to death in Tokyo, many miles from home. In an apartment rented under a false name by a man who has disappeared without a trace. Who is this man? What was Michiko doing there?
In the same area at about the same time, a homeless man is found killed, his body burned in a tent by the river. Who is this man? Why was he killed, by whom?
There are a lot of characters (and some with different names), but my experience is that if you read the novel in a few days, it’s better, as things stay clearer in your mind.
Anyway, as soon as you open the book, you won’t want to stop!

I liked the different parts of the narration, with passages including some flashbacks. It’s actually a nice way of slowing down a bit the story, and of building up even more suspense towards the final reveal.

I also appreciated all the details showing the tough and messy job of an investigator: spending so much times trying to find needles in a haystack, and sometimes not even knowing if the needle is relevant:

“You had to be ready to go down countless dead ends to get even the smallest toehold on the truth.”

There is also a lot of warmth, probably because of how personal it gets for Kaga, and for other family stories involved.

And many characters have strong personalities and their own reasons for fighting in life. This is definitely not a rosy picture of life in Japan.
But if you love your family, to what extent are you ready to go to sacrifice yourself for them?

One theme of the book is the Japanese social phenomenon of the Jōhatsu, ie people who purposely vanish from their established lives without a trace.
It actually makes for a fascinating theme in literature. I have already run into it in Respire, by Niko Tackian, and in Les Évaporés, by Thomas B. Reverdy.

All the details about work at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant reminded me of course of the amazing memoir Ichi-F: A Worker’s Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, by Kazuto Tatsuta.

Giles Murray‘s translation work deserves special mention, seamlessly conveying the narrative’s nuances and ensuring a fluid reading experience.

The only trouble element here is that The Final Curtain is presented to the Anglophone readers as the conclusion of the series. It is actually volume 10 in Japanese, but only volume 4 in English. Seriously, are they going to stop and not publish more than these 4 out of 10 books?
I think a few more are available in French translation, but still this is insane and very frustrating. Alas, my Japanese will never be good enough to catch up in the original.

I really enjoy the Detective Kaga series, but this one not so much. It was slower paced than the previous stories, and this one just didn't grab my attention as much as the previous novels. I love that the story has continued, though. I will definitely keep going on with this series, as this one I feel was just a fluke.

I have been a fan of Keigo Higashino since reading his breathtaking The Devotion of Suspect X and have read most of his works that have been translated into English from his native Japanese. His works are characterized by intriguing, intricate plots, interesting characters, and an outstanding sense of place. This entry into the Kyoichiro Kaga series is no exception and provides an extraordinary amount of backstory on Kaga. However, the author uses a myriad of literary and narrative devices including weaving multiple investigations and plot threads, shifting perspectives, shifting times and places, and flashbacks to tell a complex tale involving multiple murders and their cover-ups. The complexities of the incidents and the narratives, combined with the challenging Japanese names (with some of the characters assuming different names during the course of the narrative) make this novel incredibly difficult to follow, even though I read the novel in just a few sittings. Ultimately, the narrative nearly collapses under its own weight. I would not recommend this as an entry to Keigo Higashino’s work but it should continue to interest and reward his devoted fans. Check it out.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Net Galley who provided a review copy of this novel.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this last novel in the Detective Kaga series.

I enjoyed the mysteries of deaths and the overall general idea of the storyline, given I haven't read the previous novels in this series.

However, I found the pace to be very slow and I had a hard time keeping up with the timeline. I'm not sure if this was more an issue with the translation, but I don't think I will be going back to read the rest of the Detective Kaga story.

Special thanks to Netgalley & Minotaur Books for providing me with an advanced readers copy.

Japanese mystery novel. This was good. Lots of unexpected turns in the story. I would read other books by this author.

Wow! What a terrific story. This is a slower paced thriller that has readers trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together. Higashino has a writing style which instantly grabs your attention and never lets go. He does an excellent job of revealing the backstory behind the mystery being investigated by Detective Kyoichiro Kaga and other police agencies. I love his intricately woven mystery plot with multiple victims and suspects, interspersed with well defined characters. My thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Originally published in Japan in 2013, the English translation of The Final Curtain is now available. This is the fourth in the Detective Kaga series and while I'm new to the saga, this didn't prevent my enjoyment as this stands on its own. One can jump right in and follow along.

The writing style is direct, factual, not a lot of fluff. We get to know the characters (there's a handy character guide in the first pages) through their actions and try to piece together the complicated mystery along with Kaga. His mother, who disappeared when he was young, is somehow related to a murder Kaga's tangentially investigating.

In a slow burn, the puzzle pieces come together elegantly in the novel's satisfying conclusion. Kudos to a book that makes you want to go back and read the earlier books in the series.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books for the ARC.

This was a new to me author, and I would definitely be looking for more of his works. Although at times, it seem like the story did not run smoothly, but that could’ve been because of the translation and I know we use words different than they do. This is supposed to be the last book of this series but the way it ended kind of makes me think maybe it’s not, I could be wrong. I would recommend this to anybody who enjoys reading mystery and suspense.


I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review

THE FINAL CURTAIN: A Mystery
(The Kyoichiro Kaga Series, Book 4)
Minotaur
400 pp.
$29.00

Don’t worry, it will all become clear.

The reader of Japanese police procedurals, even excellent ones like the one under consideration, encounters a significant problem—names. Besides a lot of bowing and countless cups of tea, an onslaught of syllables assaults the reader when there are a number of crimes and multiple aliases for the criminal, thus increasing the officer count.
Never fear, however; the author has provided a cast of characters, and ultimately focuses in on the lead detective in this book, and series—Kyoichiro Kaga. Allow the other names to flow by, and focus on him.

He is the anchor in any good detective story, the unorthodox mind that sees links, makes connections that others don’t. In this case, Kaga had retrieved his mother’s ashes from a province far from Tokyo ten years prior to the present of the book. It was unusual, and unexpected—she had deserted the family when he was a child. Now, in the present, he is called in to consult on a murder in Tokyo. A woman from a distant town is found dead in a nondescript apartment, whose renter had disappeared. At the same time nearby, a homeless man is found burned to death in a roadside tent.

Kaga sees they are all connected.

The ensuing narrative entails a lot of investigation that covers a lot of ground, but keeps the reader engaged. Nothing comes together until deep in the book when the author carefully reveals the details that all the clues have shed light upon, in the voices of the perpetrators. He does so in such a way, however, that doesn’t give the mystery away, but only makes it clearer. It is masterful writing that keeps us in suspense until THE FINAL CURTAIN. Although this is the fourth book in a series, it still stands up as a stand-alone. Brew yourself a cup of green tea, and settle back to be entertained.