Death Note, Vol. 4

A second killer has started murdering criminals under the name Kira, and Light Yagami is drawn further into the investigation that is meant to catch him. L has never fully accepted that Light is innocent. He brings Light onto the task force hunting the copycat, betting that keeping a suspect close is the quickest way to see him slip.

The result is a tense standoff. Light and L are the two sharpest minds in the series, and each knows that one wrong move could end the game between them.

This volume introduces Misa Amane, a pop idol devoted to Light. She owns a Death Note of her own and is accompanied by a fiercely protective Shinigami named Rem. Rem is a sharp contrast to Ryuk, who watches everything with detached amusement. Misa is a liability as much as an asset, and her arrival upsets the balance Light has spent three volumes building.

This is the fourth volume of a manga psychological thriller driven by strategy, suspicion and the slow decay of a man's morals. It keeps asking whether power corrupts someone who sees himself as an agent of justice. The pace is tight and watchful, and the volume builds to the revelations that close the series' first major story arc.