Rating: 8.5/10
Purchase Link: https://tokopedia.link/uszyuehS0Gb
This novel is the 3rd book of 5 in the Detective Galileo series by Keigi Higashino. After reading The Devotion of Suspect X and The Salvation of a Saint, 2 previous books, Reading A Midsummer's Equation is a new level of mystery story combined with science. However, like the previous books, this novel also stirs emotions, has a heartbreaking ending, because of the cruel murder method by borrowing the hand of an angel.
This story begins with a teenager named Kyohei whose parents sent him to his uncle's house, which is a resort in the Hari Bay area (Harigaura). On the train, Kyohei meets Detective Manabu Yukawa, who helps him cover his cell phone with aluminum foil so that it cannot receive a signal.
Yukawa sensei headed to Harigaura because there were marine research activities. The local government plans to explore the metal riches in the Harigaura Bay sea. Yukawa and other researchers came up with the task of finding ways to ensure that future exploration would have a minimal impact on the environment. With his assignment as a researcher, Yukawa comes into contact with local environmental activists who reject exploration, named Narumi and Sawamura. Narumi turns out to be Kyohei's older cousin.
Kyohei stays at his uncle's inn. At that time there were only two guests, a man named Tsukahara who turned out to be a retired police officer, and Yukawa who did not want to stay at the place provided for him by the government, and previously asked for the address of Kyohei's uncle's accommodation and stayed there.
Staying with a professor brings good luck to Kyohei who brings a lot of schoolwork. Yukawa helps Kyohei carry out research and teaches him many new things about practical physics through the experiments he carries out. Unfortunately, during Kyohei's vacation, which was supposed to be fun, an accident happened to Tsukahara-san, one of the inn guests. He was found dead on a cliff near the beach and died.
Initially, local police thought the case was a suicide due to a collision on the victim's head with a stone. However, after the autopsy, something odd was discovered. It turned out that Tsukahara had already died before falling on the cliff. The identified cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that arises from an incomplete combustion process, namely a lack of oxygen when combustion occurs. This gas is tasteless and odorless, and has the potential to kill without the victim knowing.
Yukawa with his knowledge of science, and his police friends in Tokyo, Kusanagi and Utsumi, try to investigate this invisible killer. Apart from looking for the location of the incident and how carbon monoxide gas could be created, Yukawa also finds motifs rooted in the past, related to love, fear and hope.
Drama and Investigation are combined nicely in this book. It's no surprise that the films shown on the big screen in Japan are among those with the most ticket sales. For Higashino-Sensei readers, this book is mandatory reading. For those who want to get acquainted with detective Yukawa and Higashino-Sensei's writing, this book will be a mysterious and 'scientific' introduction.