REVIEW BOOK "THE BLACK MAGICIAN AND THE MURDER IN THE NAMELESS TOWN – DEATH IN THE HEART OF THE PANDEMIC"

The Corona pandemic broke out, causing the whole world to be devastated. And Japan was no exception to the negative impact of the pandemic. Every company, large and small, from urban to rural areas, had to struggle to fight the pandemic, the economy and society were devastated. In that context, in the unnamed town, a large project had just been canceled due to the impact of the pandemic, not long after that a strange murder occurred. The police intervened, but the “black magician”, as the victim’s personal identity, with doubts about the police’s ability and speed in solving the case, decided to clarify everything himself.

The novel written in the midst of the pandemic

Not only is Higashino Keigo known as one of the leading detective writers in Japan today, he is also known as a prolific, strong, persistently creative author, constantly innovating his thinking and writing style, always sensitive to current issues over the past 30 years. And once again, that is clearly shown in his latest novel published in 2020, a book with a rather long title: The Black Magician and the Murder in the Nameless Town.

The work was not only born at a very sensitive time: the SARS-Cov2 pandemic broke out, spreading all over the world, but the story itself took place at the time when the pandemic was at its most tense and Japan itself had to suffer heavy losses. In more than 500 pages, the image of a desolate Japan during the pandemic appears directly, and indirectly through the stories and lives of the people here.

Tourism and services are almost paralyzed and frozen. A series of projects have to be temporarily suspended or even canceled. Small companies go bankrupt, large companies can only maintain a moderate level. All areas of life are restricted, people are cautious even when the social distancing order has been relaxed because they do not know when another outbreak or epidemic area will appear.

Impacting social life, the outbreak of the pandemic also affects smaller levels in the community: family life and personal life. Economic difficulties and work impacts further deepen conflicts and disagreements that have been simmering in married life. The dire situation with the process of financial capital turnover in difficult times makes greed in each person's heart rise more strongly.

However, in the midst of the raging Corona epidemic, there are still shining noble personalities that can warm the hearts of others in the cold, desolate days of the epidemic. That is the image of teacher Kamio Eiichi, even though he was the victim of a tragedy, in the end, what others remember most about him is not the cruelty he had to endure, but more than that, the memories, memories, heart, and soul of the teacher who, even though he has retired, always cares for each former student, regardless of the time or circumstances. And that is also the image of the black magician Kamio Takeshi, joking, seemingly frivolous, narrow-minded, only thinking of personal interests, but in fact, multi-talented, understanding of people's hearts and minds, and perhaps the most up-to-date and sober person in the wave of epidemics originating from this new strain of virus. At the same time, we cannot forget the optimism of people in the nameless town in the midst of the epidemic. They still find a way to live, find a way to rise from the internal resources of their homeland.

The SARS-Cov2 pandemic is just the context for Mr. Keigo to create the novel The Black Magician and the Murder in the Nameless Town. But the author did not build a social context and then forget it immediately, but he cleverly integrated human values and life realities into that context. To create a Black Magician and the Murder in the Nameless Town, even though it is Higashino Keigo's own literary creation, it still carries the breath of the hot times.

SELFISHNESS BLURS FAMILY LOVE

However, even though it faithfully recreates the reality of Japan during the Covid-19 pandemic, that is not the main theme of the entire novel The Black Magician and the Murder in the Nameless Town. Because in the end, Mr. Keigo did not intend to write a novel in the direction of tragedy during the pandemic or how people cope with the epidemic. And also because, The Black Magician and the Murder in the Nameless Town is a detective novel, specifically a work that recreates the process of the "black magician" uncovering each mysterious curtain behind the death of his own brother. The mysterious, thrilling death, like a stone dropped into the calm lake where the nameless town is going through a gloomy life during the Covid-19 period.

Then, peeling back each dark curtain, like a magician turning over each stage, the cruel truths that people have always hidden, always denied appear. No one is truly pure. Everyone has a dark side, created from pettiness, selfishness, profiteering, scheming, calculating,... From the perpetrator to those who are just suspects, implicated in the case, even if they are the most gentle, timid people; even if they are the people we always admire, or the people we put all our love and trust in our hearts.

Old friends, classmates in middle school, all loved and respected homeroom teacher Kamio, after many years of growing up, struggling in life, they had the opportunity to sit together. But no one expected that it was also the time they had to face the evil nature of their childhood friend.

But indeed, as humans, with all the seven emotions and six desires, who has not been selfish for themselves. Selfishness comes from desire, and also from deep inferiority. But from selfishness that turns into malice, creating crime, there is no reason to justify that human sin. The murderer in the novel The Black Magician and the Murder in the Nameless Town is easily reminiscent of the murderer in the book Mr. Keigo wrote in 1996, the novel Malice. Not because the way of committing the crime, the victim or the relationship between the victim and the murderer in those two stories are similar. But in the aspect, the two murderers meet in the crime that comes from selfishness, nurtured by a cowardly heart with a sense of inferiority. In addition, the theme of "selfishness" in the novel The Black Magician and the Murder in the Nameless Town is also expressed in the family aspect: husband - wife, lover, father - son. Can't we blame the pandemic for everything, but isn't it the individual's ego that causes relationships built on a foundation of love, understanding, and tolerance to break down? What could be more bitter than a daughter, only after her father's death, to realize that she doesn't understand anything about her late father. And the death of the soul, a person who is still alive but feels like a dead person, is perhaps even more terrifying than physical death.

The Corona pandemic is the inspiration for the novel The Black Magician and the murder in the nameless town. And the journey to reveal the nature of the case, which is also the human nature of the "black magician", is the process in which Mr. Keigo delves into the inner world and the complex relationships of modern people.

A long but imperfect work

From a murder case, a series of issues are opened up, all of which create a Black Magician and the murder in the nameless town with more than 500 pages of extremely thick book. But even though seeing Mr. Keigo's efforts in fully explaining all the details and events appearing on the book page, closing his latest novel, readers still cannot be satisfied. Because the work is long, but contains many redundant details in the lengthy, thick, but not really perfect process of deducing the case.

Like many times, the police force appears on Mr. Keigo's book page with a very vague role and way of building character and inner self. Perhaps it is not an exaggeration to say that this whole line of characters is just a "prop" for the "black magician" to create the final grand stage.

Besides, the character of the victim's daughter, the "black magician's" granddaughter, is also an individual worth questioning by readers. Completely different from the women, whether they are positive or negative, who are all intelligent and sharp as in Mr. Keigo's previous works, the girl Mayo in The Black Magician and the Murder in the Nameless Town is quite passive, lacking in sensitivity and subtlety; she even easily gives readers the impression that she is just a "puppet", wherever the "black magician" pulls the strings, she will go there. It cannot be denied that in some cases, Mayo also gives unique interpretations. However, that is not enough for the image of Mayo to stand out in the entire novel of more than 500 pages, let alone the massive character system of Mr. Keigo's literary career.

Not only that, the cause and explanation of the murderer's motive in this book is also somewhat forced. It is true that when people are selfish, they will lose their reason and humanity. But the truth is, in the harsh world of comic book creation, there are many combinations between the content creator, the idea (but the drawing is very bad) - the illustrator to create a perfect duo. A typical example is the duo ONE - Murata Yusuke who created the famous series One Punch-Man. Therefore, the worries, excuses, and ultimately the crimes of the murderer in the novel Black Magician and the murder in the nameless town, can it be said, are the shallowness and short-sightedness of that person?

And especially, we cannot fail to mention the mysterious magician Kamio Takeshi. He is praised for his unique skills, and has attracted a lot of attention in the past when studying and touring in the US. But in the end, the author never revealed the reason why Takeshi retired, returned to Japan from the US, opened a bar, and became a small boss like that? That inevitably made the opening scene, about Takeshi performing once, somewhat redundant, even though that scene stood as an epigraph of the work. Or was it the author's intention to keep the character Takeshi a mystery until the end so that he could write a whole series about the "black magician" in the future? But this is just a question, a hypothesis, and needs time to confirm.

Anyway, in the end, despite its limitations in this aspect or that, the novel The Black Magician and the Murder in the Nameless Town is still an important work in Mr. Keigo's literary career. The work continues to mark his constant exploration and innovation in literary creation. At the same time, it affirms the heart and sensitive perspective on current events from one of Japan's leading detective story writers today.