Book Review: Death Note, Volume 3

Tsugumi Oba (author), et.al., Death Note Volume 3: Hard Run. San Francisco, CA: VIZ Media, 2015. ISBN: 9781421501703.

Genre: manga

Subgenre: mystery, fantasy, horror

Format: trade paperback

Source: I own this one

Light Yagami, the ace gifted student who has the Death Note notebook makes it to college. However, L's constant surveillance is a major irritant to his plans. L, the police's special investigator, is also a student at the same college. Now Light and L are matching wits as L reveals himself to Yagami hoping Yagami makes an error as they talk. L suspects Yagami, but he has no proof nor direct evidence. Yagami however is too smart and stays ahead for now. Their back and forth gets paused when Yagami's father, who heads up the police squad chasing Kira (Yagami's public persona) suffers a heart attack and is hospitalized. Things really get complicated with the sudden revelation of a new Kira. Does someone else have Yagami's Death Note? How? Is it a different notebook? 

To be honest, most of this volume is fairly slow. Yagami and L spend most of it talking, trying to feel each other out. L trying to prove Yagami is the correct suspect, and Yagami blocking him and staying ahead without giving proof to L. Most of the volume is this back and forth, which gets boring fast. 

The pace picks up in the last act when a set of videos allegedly from Kira arrive at a news station. Kira demands they be aired on certain conditions or certain people will die. Soon we realize there is another Kira. For one, Yagami did not send them. So the mystery picks up, and now we have to read on to see where this new mystery leads. 

Overall, this volume was OK. It was not as engaging as previous volumes. At times it felt like they were padding the word count. Yet by the end you are curious about this new Kira, so yes, I will be reading volume 4 to see where it leads. I hope the series improves. 

2 out of 5 stars. 

This book qualifies for the following 2024 Reading Challenges: