Keigo Higashino’s “Malice”: The best way to protect yourself is not to sympathize with anyone easily, nor to overestimate any relationship — because you never know when a bond might turn into enmity.

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In “Malice,” Keigo Higashino writes:
“Some people harbor hatred for no reason. They are mediocre, untalented, and lead unremarkable lives. Thus, your excellence, your gifts, your kindness, and even your happiness become a sin in their eyes.”
Kindness and generosity can sometimes become the very triggers for one’s own destruction.
This is epitomized in the character of Nobuo Shinozuka.
On the surface, he appears to be a victim of fate, having received selfless help and mentorship from the bestselling author Kunihiko Hidaka.
Yet after Hidaka’s death, Shinozuka meticulously crafts malicious lies to tarnish the reputation and legacy of his benefactor.
While enjoying Hidaka’s friendship and resources, he secretly nurtures an indescribable, abyssal jealousy and hatred.
This resentment isn’t rooted in conflict or interest — it stems purely from the fact that Hidaka “shone too brightly.”

After reading “Malice,” I finally understood:
The best way to protect yourself is to navigate the world with conscious kindness.
Don’t offer sympathy indiscriminately. Don’t overestimate any relationship. Only by recognizing the complex spectrum of human nature can we build a moat around our hearts.
Because we never truly know when a seemingly peaceful relationship might erupt into inexplicable, all-consuming malice.

1.The pitiable aren’t always deserving of sympathy — your kindness may be feeding the wolf

Nobuo Shinozuka and Kunihiko Hidaka were childhood friends.

In middle school, Shinozuka was physically weak, introverted, and gloomy, trapped in the torment of long-term bullying.
Hidaka was like a ray of light in his darkness: “He waited for him every morning to walk to school together,” even “intentionally helping Shinozuka, who struggled to adapt to school life.”
When Shinozuka was coerced into participating in the sexual assault of a female classmate by Fujio Masaya, Hidaka possessed photos that could have incriminated him — yet he chose to protect him.
But in Shinozuka’s eyes, this protection felt like “condescending charity.” He became convinced that Hidaka was only being merciful to humiliate him.

In psychology, there’s a phenomenon known as “the malice of the recipient”:
When someone receives help, they may subconsciously feel humiliated, especially when the benefactor seems superior in every way.
As the philosopher Francis Bacon once said, “The inferior often envy those with virtue.”

Decades later, Hidaka — now a celebrated writer — was still helping his old friend, who remained unfulfilled and obscure:
He introduced him to publishers and supported his dream of becoming a writer.
What did this friendship ultimately earn him?
Shinozuka’s cold blade and meticulously crafted defamation.

In his confession, Shinozuka painted himself as the victim.
He claimed that as a child, he was “controlled” by Hidaka, and as an adult, was forced to ghostwrite for him — living like a puppet.
It was almost enough to make readers weep for him.
That is, until Detective Kaga uncovered that all the so-called “evidence” was part of Shinozuka’s self-orchestrated scheme.
Even till his death, Hidaka never understood why the friend he had supported so wholeheartedly came to hate him so deeply.
Through this brutal narrative, Higashino reminds us:
Kindness must have its boundaries.

2. Betrayal Doesn’t Happen Overnight — Envy Sharpens Its Knife in Silence

Nobuo Shinozuka’s malice wasn’t born in a day.
It began in middle school, the first time he saw Kunihiko Hidaka’s essay praised by the teacher — a seed of envy was planted.
Hidaka became a bestselling author, while Shinozuka could only scrape by writing children’s books.
Hidaka lived in his dream home; Shinozuka rented a cramped apartment.
Even Hidaka’s kind and beautiful wife felt like a knife twisting in his gut.
There’s a chilling passage in the book: every time Shinozuka visited Hidaka’s home, he would secretly observe every detail of his life, silently feeding his resentment.
In silence, he collected “evidence” of Hidaka’s “crimes” — blaming all his own failures on the other’s “overwhelming success.”
This blade of jealousy was sharpened over decades, until the day Hidaka planned to move to Canada — that’s when Shinozuka finally struck.

For two years, Shinozuka meticulously crafted an elaborate lie:
He fabricated an affair with Hidaka’s former wife, accused Hidaka of plagiarizing his work, and even poisoned a neighbor’s cat to frame him — all to create the illusion that he was “driven to murder.”
“Killing wasn’t the goal — it was a means; death wasn’t the end — it was only the beginning.”
Shinozuka’s ultimate aim was to see Hidaka’s “name utterly destroyed.”
He didn’t just want to take Hidaka’s life — he wanted to ruin his reputation, his work, his character — every trace of his existence.
After the police made public Shinozuka’s fabricated “testimony,” fans demanded Hidaka’s royalties be returned, and the public condemned him, saying he “got what he deserved.”

As the English scholar Thomas Fuller once said, “Envy wounds both others and itself.”
Shinozuka was eventually convicted on his deathbed, while Hidaka’s name was only cleared at the cost of his life.
This kind of twisted psychology isn’t just fiction.
In real life, Zhou Kaixuan, the perpetrator in the “Murder of a Chinese Academy of Sciences Graduate” case, traveled across the country to kill his former classmate Xie Diao — simply because two years earlier, Xie had urged him during a gathering to play fewer video games and get his life together.
A well-intentioned piece of advice became the trigger for unspeakable malice.
Just as “Malice” reminds us: “Hatred can sprout without reason, seep deep into the bone — it is the coldest form of human nature.”

3.Don’t Overestimate Relationships, Don’t Underestimate Human Nature — No One Knows What Tomorrow Holds

Until his dying breath, Kunihiko Hidaka believed he and Shinozuka were close friends.

He willingly gave Shinozuka a key to his studio and allowed him to come and go freely from his home.
Even before leaving for Canada, he invited Shinozuka over for a farewell drink.
How could he have known this “dear friend” arrived not only with champagne — but with a carefully planned murder?
Shinozuka’s journal was filled with hatred:
“It’s so unfair. I went to school every day in a gloomy mood, all because there was this nosy guy nearby who always came to pick me up.”
In his telling, Hidaka’s kindness became “meddling.”
When Shinozuka learned he was dying of cancer, his twisted mindset finally erupted:
“Why should I die like this, while he gets fame and success?”
Decades of friendship turned to ash in the fire of envy.
The man who once saved him became the one he most wanted to destroy.

Adult relationships are inherently fragile.
The friend you clink glasses with today may turn against you tomorrow over interests; the lover who once vowed undying devotion may soon grow cold.
As a teacher in the book reflects:
“Shinozuka also wanted to be a writer. Maybe he grew impatient because his childhood friend achieved it first. Yet he couldn’t ignore him, so… he grew bitter.”
Don’t overestimate the strength of any relationship, and don’t underestimate the darkness that can hide within people.
Keeping a mindful distance is the best protection you can give yourself.

4.Final Thoughts

The malice in human nature sometimes needs no reason.
You can be kind — but don’t be without boundaries. You can be sincere — but don’t be unguarded.
What makes “Malice” so powerful is how it exposes the ugliest side of humanity: the deepest hatred often grows within the closest relationships.
Protecting yourself isn’t about building walls against the world — it’s about walking through it with conscious kindness.
Don’t misplace your sympathy. Don’t sell your trust too cheaply. Don’t let silent envy take root in your relationships.
As Detective Kaga realizes in the end:
“We can’t stop the malice in others’ hearts. All we can do is prevent that malice from harming us.”
If you’ve ever been wounded by a “hidden knife” in a relationship, if you too want to understand the many faces of human nature — then you must read “Malice.”