The Shooting Star

On a summer night in Yokosuka, three siblings still in elementary school—Ariake Koichi, Taisuke, and Shizuna—sneak out of the house late at night to watch a meteor shower. When they return home full of joy, they find their parents' bodies lying in a pool of blood, and a strange man running out the back door and vanishing into the night. After that night, the lives of the three siblings are completely rewritten: they lose their home, are sent to an orphanage, and grow up relying on one another. As adults, with no way out in a merciless society, the three take a less than honorable path—a fraud ring masterminded by the elder brother, Koichi, who plays various identities to swindle money out of targets; at the same time, they have never given up searching for their parents' killer. Fourteen years pass and the case remains unsolved; just as the statute of limitations is about to expire, they unexpectedly discover during a con that their target is connected to the man seen on the night of the murder. The three siblings stake everything on an elaborate plan to force out the truth and take revenge. But as the plan advances, one of them gradually changes, and the airtight scheme spins out of control—an uncontrollable stirring of the heart, and a fateful choice they never anticipated. Keigo Higashino said that what he wanted to write in this novel was the bond between family members: they sacrifice themselves for those they love, living with inner conflict and entanglement; bearing heavy guilt, how can they find happiness?