While i certainly wanted to know the solution to the murders, i cant really say i liked the book. The trope of the exceptionally bright young man who takes one look at a crime scene and instantly understands the criminal's plan, though it stumped the police for months, is a weary one. Takagi really wants to paint a cat-and-mouse, Sherlock vs. Moriarty, gifted criminal mind vs. equally-gifted forensic mind tension. However, the scenes play out in such clichéd ways as to feel like I'm reading a transcript of an episode of some generic procedural crime drama. This may be in part due to the age of the book, like trying to appreciate Citizen Kane 60 years after its influence affected every movie made after that. But as it stands, it didnt really hold up for me here in 2024.