禁忌の子 was really impressive for a debut novel, it starts with a very intriguing mystery and moves on to tackling much deeper and delicate medical topics.
What I really liked is that the novel is both a honkaku mystery, and medical fiction, and both are really well balanced. Medical elements are closely linked to the plot and the mystery, and the two main protagonists both being doctors was also cleverly used in several parts of the plot. It definitely gave a fresh and realistic perspective on some tropes of crime fiction.
It’s also a lot about characters and human drama, which is a part I really enjoyed, but I must also say that I found the drama parts a bit too… I don’t want to say exaggerated because it’s definitely a situation that could happen and that felt very realistic in how it was described, but the dramatic effects felt too orchestrated. The absolute contrast between Wataru and Shinya’s fates felt like a plot device, like something set by the author for the sake of the story, and this is why I’m tempted to say “exaggerated” or maybe even a bit artificial.
This being said, all the parts about the past, the mystery surrounding the characters were overall very good. The part that is more focused on the honkaku mystery was less my cup of tea. I don’t mind puzzle-solving murder mysteries, but sometimes characters tend to be only suspects, and what they were doing at what time ends up being more important than who they are as persons, which always bothers me.
I also found most of what happens in the concluding chapter a bit long and unnecessary, but overall, the book has a really good pace, it’s very engrossing, the topic is personally not something I was super interested in reading about, but it was well integrated in the plot. And I really liked Kinosaki, so I might continue the series one of these days.
