Episode 1554: Lost In Translation?

Went to return some library books today, and as usual, ended up browsing to see if I could find anything of interest. Picked a pair of science fiction anthologies, just out of curiosity, as well as an anthology inspired by Clive Barker's The Hellbound Heart. Also found a pair of books by Steve Lowe and Alan McArthur, charmingly titled Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit? I do like some good old-fashioned British grumpiness. The book I spent the afternoon and evening reading, however, was Keigo Higashino's The Devotion Of Suspect X. I was persuaded by the blurbs to borrow it, which probably should have been a warning flag for me. Came to the end, and felt like it was kind of flat. Maybe it's really great in the original Japanese, but the twist ending didn't seem that great a surprise to me. Would've worked fine as an episode of say, Elementary, but on the page, it was just okay. The novel, which has spawned a film adaptation, is actually part of Higashino's Detective Galileo series, which itself has been adapted as a TV drama, so the plots obviously translate well into other media. I do kind of wish now that I hadn't spent the day reading this particular book though...