"Light...it hurts. My heart—”
It was a hurt that L. Lawleit had suppressed, that he had to suppress in order to continue his existence as the peerless Detective L.
-M

Introduction:
I didn't even know that this existed until I randomly came across it in a bookstore, and I’m happy I did because this book is a VERY good addition to the Death Note franchise and fans of L. AT first I was confused because I had heard of a movie with the same name and heard it was pretty average. So, when I heard that this was a retelling of that movie from a friend, I was a bit disappointed - luckily, it improves on all the flaws the movie has.

Story:
This novel is set in an alternate timeline where Light dies (it is never explicitly said how only hinted at) and L “wins” the battle of wits. L only has 23 days to live due to the Death Note and with a world threatening terrorist group on the run he has to take them on and save the world with the help of his associate all before his untimely death.

Writing:
The writer “M” is very good at painting vivid images of both the high-octane action scenes and the heart-breaking emotional scenes. This book's writing is amazing and will have you in tears while reading it (especially at the end). Sadly, I am not a writer so not much I can really say hear because I’m not the most knowledgeable on the subject.

Pacing:
The pacing is good. I never felt like things were progressing too fast or events dragged on. Everything felt like it had the perfect timing. All my questions were answered at the end - the ending didn't feel drawn out. No complaints here.

Characters:

L:
I really loved L in this novel seeing his thought process for all the insane actions that he takes sometimes is a treat to read. We get to see the more human side of L who usually comes off as a robotic detective - we get to see the darkness he holds on his shoulder and the trauma he carries from all his cases and failures during the main Death Note storyline and previous events.

Maki Nikaido:
She isn't really an extremely deep character and is definitely not on the level of L and Light - but she is extremely likeable and has good chemistry with L and the other cast members. Not much can be said about her without spoiling lots of main plot points, so I won't go until lots of detail.

Dr. Mikiko Kujo:

I honestly can't say anything about this character without spoilers. But she is a very compelling interesting character with a back story that we have not seen with any other characters in Death Note. I wouldn't say that she rivals L in ability, but she is definitely in the Top 5 smartest characters in the Death Note verse that we have seen so far.

Conclusion:

In conclusion I recommend this book to any death note fans - especially L fans - as it is a welcome addition to the franchise and if you didn't like the original Death Note ending maybe you will like this alternative ending a little better. It's quite a short read (about 200 pages) so if you don't read (Light)Novels as much as me it shouldn't be a big challenge. In conclusion read this book because it's good as f**k.