[Mystery Review] Paradise is the Absence of a Detective / Yuki Shasendo (2020)

Paradise is the Absence of a Detective / Yuki Shasendo

This is a special-setting mystery that serves as Yuki Shasendo's first full-length mystery novel.

Synopsis

In a world where "angels" have descended in an absurd manner.
Anyone who kills two or more people is dragged into hell by them.
Because of this rule, serial murders have plummeted worldwide, but in exchange, suicide bombings involving others have increased, with people thinking they are going to hell anyway.
Detective Aogishi Sho is invited by the angel-obsessed billionaire Toki Ougai to visit Tokoyo Island, where angels gather.
What awaited him was a series of murders that should have been impossible.
How is the culprit able to carry out serial murders that should be impossible? Aogishi, trapped by his past, begins his investigation while struggling with his inner conflict.

Overview/Impressions (No Spoilers)

The story is based on the premise that "angels" exist, but these angels are quite peculiar.
They have eerie, bat-like wings, thin bodies, and flat faces without any features.
They do not speak and have a habit of swarming around sugar cubes.
They simply drift around and are basically harmless, but they display abnormal power only when dragging a serial killer into hell.
The reason for the angels' descent is unknown to anyone, and they are depicted as a complete symbol of absurdity.

The point-of-view character, Aogishi, was once a famous detective, but since the descent of the angels, his business has dried up because the angels automatically pass judgment on evildoers.
However, he seems to keep his distance from the other guests gathered on Tokoyo Island, and his lethargy does not seem to be solely due to the lack of work.
In the beginning, the events happening on the island and flashbacks to what happened in his past are told in parallel.
Once the flashbacks settle down, the story finally enters the serial murder part, but the indescribable heaviness up to that point might be a matter of taste.

One might expect the tension to rise toward the second half because the first half is heavy, but while the tempo picks up slightly, the melancholic atmosphere remains unchanged.
While the sense of paranoia that a killer is among them is thin, the quiet panic arising from the strangeness that serial murders, which should not be happening, are occurring—is this fantasy or reality?
This aspect is also a development of the story that is only possible because of the special setting; in other words, it is a 'howdunit' regarding the world itself.
It can be said that it had a unique reading experience among the increasing number of special-setting mysteries in recent years.

Overall Review (Heavy Spoilers)

If special-setting mysteries have a weakness, it is that by adding a special setting, it is like declaring that the trick lies within it, and this also applies to this work.
Although it is a novel setting, it makes sense when you work backward, and if you think from the perspective of 'what characteristics do the angels need to make this trick possible,' you will generally arrive at these characteristics.

However, what was exquisite was the worldview that could be called decadent beauty clinging to this work.
The message with absurdity as its theme is poignant, and the eerie-looking angels are depicted exactly as symbols of absurdity.
The reader automatically supplements the setting, thinking that it was intentionally made into a dystopian world to emphasize Aogishi's emotional scars and the abnormality of Toki's angel obsession.
Furthermore, they play the role of preventing serial murders, and this is already functioning as the stage setting.
Their presence is so strong that it camouflages the fact that their habits are the key to the trick.

However, the premise that 'serial murders becoming impossible = detectives becoming unnecessary' did not quite sink in for me.
Setting aside the deformation unique to mysteries where detectives investigate murders, general murder cases could still occur, right?
In non-religious Japan, would people really just accept that 'God has forgiven it, so it's okay'?
The idea that someone wishing to commit suicide would think, 'If I'm going to hell anyway, I'll take many people with me,' also felt a bit like a stretch.
The setting of the hospital was interesting as it tied into the ending, but one cannot deny that it was a forced move because it was a closed-circle setting.

Even so, the old detective team is very charming, despite the fact that not many specific cases are mentioned.
Knowing the ending, I'm not sure if I could enjoy reading it, but I would like to read a story where the five of them are active.
When there were successive applicants to be assistants, I was excited thinking it was foreshadowing for a new detective team to be formed and lead to a sequel, but perhaps the setting was too special to be turned into a series.

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