Books: Death Note

"Death Note" is a manga series from Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (of "Hikaru no Go" fame) that has a singularly strong premise - what if you found a notebook that caused anyone whose name was written in it to die? Would you use this power for good, or evil? Could you even tell the difference?

The titular "Death Note" falls into the hands of genius high-school student Light Yagami, a bored young man who soon finds himself with a new purpose - systematically ridding the world of evil by killing criminals he sees on the news. Along the way, though, Light soon finds himself losing his humanity as he is forced to kill the police who are trying to find the mysterious killer behind these deaths. He is also pursued by a genius detective called "L." Each tracks the other - if L finds out who Light is, Light will be killed, and vice versa.

If you like cat-and-mouse games, there's a big one here for readers to follow. The attack, counterattack, and counter-counterattack nature of this battle of wits make it entertaining where it could have been dreary. Light has numerous clever tricks up his sleeve, including hiding a miniature TV in a bag of potato chips, but then, so does L. The series never quite regains its footing after the battle between Light and L is concluded, and the eventual ending is disappointing, but it's still worth a look.