Before watching The Disappeared 13 Steps, I was completely unfamiliar with Kazuaki Takano and his novels and plays. After reading this novel, I feel that it may be the most wonderful mystery novel I have seen in 2020. This idea is formed bit by bit in the process of reading this book, and the closer it is to the end, the stronger it is.
It is out of concern and respect for the novel The Lost 13 Steps that I watched the film 13 Stage adapted from this book until I read the whole novel. I am glad that I watched the film later, and my interest and judgment in this novel were not affected by the incomplete details of the original reasoning.
The story "Disappeared 13 Steps" mainly tells the story of a young man, Toshiichi Yamayama, who was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. During his parole, he was invited by Nan Xiang Zhengzhi, a prison instructor, to join hands with him to help a young man who was sentenced to death for robbery and murder to find evidence and clear his grievances. The young man named Shu was sentenced to death. Not only was the execution date approaching, but he lost his memory of the day of the crime.
In my opinion, the so-called "disappearing 13 steps" refers to the place with 13 steps, which was later recalled by Shu, where the suspect hid evidence. This also means that 13 officials are responsible for reviewing the proposal to execute Shu. If any one of the 13 officials questions, the death penalty in Shinohara may be suspended. However, 13 officials did not rehabilitate him, which almost led to his abnormal death.
Maybe it's because Kazuaki Takano studied film production and later wrote a script. The story of the disappearing 13 steps makes me feel very vivid. In particular, his description of the characters' inner thoughts always gives me an immersive sense of tension. At the same time, in the disappearing 13 steps, Kazuaki Takano's descriptions of the three main characters all have impressive designs, and those descriptions also reflect the truest side of human nature.
First of all, what impressed me was the fear of execution. Because of the uncertainty of the specific execution time, every time I hear the sound and footsteps of the iron gate, a death row prisoner like Shu will have a sense of crisis that his death is approaching, so he is as terrified as a frightened bird. Even at the end of the story, when Shu was told that his case would be retried, he was so frightened that he was incontinent that he thought he would take him to the execution.
Secondly, what impressed me was the ambivalence of a pure couple committing murder. He was sentenced to two years in prison for causing death and injury in a quarrel. But in fact, he tried to kill the man with a knife that day, but before he could take it out, the other party had provoked him first. He killed to get back at his ex-girlfriend, so he didn't regret killing each other. In his opinion, that man deserved to die. He wants justice.
Junyi felt very guilty when he saw that his parents and younger brother were in trouble because of paying high solatium and compensation. Although the victim's father lost his son, he could understand the difficulty of being a pure parent and even poured him tea when he went to apologize. These moved him even more and made him feel guilty about killing people.
However, when Junyi learned that the victim's father deliberately framed him and asked him to be executed for Shu, he felt that the other party had reason to seek revenge on him and suddenly felt that he should atone for the murder. However, when he realized that if the real evidence was destroyed by the other party, he would not only be killed by mistake, but also be awakened again.
Finally, what impressed me was that Nanxiang regarded the execution of the death penalty as murder. Because he executed the death penalty twice, he left a serious psychological shadow on Nanxiang, making him have nightmares and talk in his sleep every night. Therefore, even if he kills in self-defense, he is resistant. When he faced the real suspect in the robbery and murder in Shu, if he hadn't thought that if he died, Junyi and Shu would both die innocently, I'm afraid he wouldn't come forward at all.
As investigators, Junyi and Nanxiang are definitely not professional enough compared with detectives. It is their amateur reasoning logic that makes their investigation and analysis closer to the thinking of ordinary people. They also found the wrong direction because of their own inference mistakes. However, they have their own characteristics in considering problems, and each has played an irreplaceable role in the investigation process, which is very helpful for the investigation.
Junyi is familiar with the psychology of criminals. For example, he suggested that all prisoners who have been in prison don't like to wear watches, which played an important role in Nanxiang's final determination of the real murderer. Nanxiang used to be a prison instructor, because the network established by his working relationship also provided a lot of convenience for their investigation. It was also after Nanxiang learned that Shu would be executed in four days that he came up with a way to ask a lawyer to raise an objection and buy time, which also laid a key foundation for Shu to finally escape.
In addition, in "Disappeared 13 Steps", Kazuaki Takano, with the help of the role of Junyi, reveals that the families of innocent criminals will also be implicated in the case, not only have to bear financial compensation, but also can't continue to live peacefully in a familiar environment, so they have to be a person with their tails between their legs. At the same time, with the help of Nanxiang, Kazuaki Takano paid attention to some problems existing in prison management and education of prisoners. All these have increased the ideological depth of this novel, and also increased people's attention to real social problems because of the content of the novel.
As far as storytelling is concerned, the ending of the disappearing 13 step is somewhat surprising. I once suspected that Chunyi would forge evidence to take the fall for Shuyuan, in exchange for the bonus for the investigation, so as to reduce the financial burden of his parents. However, Kazuaki Takano's plot design is far more complicated than most people think.
Compared with the film version, the ending is relatively more satisfactory. In the novel, both Chun Yi and Nan Xiang are faced with a cruel test at the last minute, and their opponents are full of murder, and they are not given a chance of pity at all. In particular, Nanxiang killed the other party in the final struggle with the suspect, which suddenly made the justice he had been pursuing more complicated and heavy, and even questioned whether his behavior was justice.