Bullet Train

Bullet Train is a twist on the classic locked room mystery.

Like many crime stories it is almost impossible to give a full review without giving away any spoilers. That said almost everyone on the train was or is part of the criminal fraternity.

Partners, Tangerine and Lemon, have been employed to rescue a kidnap victim and return the suitcase containing the ransom money. Tangerine is well read and the brains whereas Lemon is more of the muscle and has an in depth knowledge of Thomas the Tank Engine, even keeping a sheet of Thomas stickers.

Kimura is out to get revenge on the Prince, who is an intelligent, manipulative psychopath and had pushed Kimora's son off of a building.

Nanao has been employed to steal the suitcase of ransom money, but his luck is so bad that there is soon a trail of "accidentally" dead bodies and the suitcase goes missing.

I really enjoyed this story, there aren't any heroes in the usual sense of the word, but some of the characters are more ruthless than others. Tangerine and Lemon's easy banter, Nanao's bad luck is almost comical if it weren't so deadly and Kimura's parents are a surprising yet timely addition. All the strands come together nicely in this brisk paced crime story.

I've seen mixed feedback on this but I was definitely in the YES! camp. It's a dark-humoured, twisty thriller-y book that's a lot of fun. It's also very clever; really well plotted, with some great characters.

I really enjoyed this slightly bonkers story of five assassins, a suitcase full of money, a snake and a journey on the Japanese bullet train. It's original, quirky and highly entertaining. There are also some interesting musings on human psychology and the control one person can exert over another.

The plot is relatively straight forward but then nothing goes to plan. There is non-stop action as the suitcase passes from killer to killer and the body count begins to mount up. The characters are exaggerated to comic effect and come with names like Tangerine, Lemon and The Prince, who is a particularly nasty fourteen years old sociopath/psychopath.

This was a great read, twisty, intense and humorous. You will really want to know how the snake fits in! A very different and wickedly rewarding novel.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bullet Train is a whole lot of darkly comic fun. A Tarantinoesque whodunnit, if you like. Out of a selection of cold-blooded killers, I found myself rooting for some while positively hating others. It’s a fast-paced train ride with clues, backstory, and the occasional (ok, fairly frequent, but hell what do you expect from experienced killers) bust up, between every stop. Isaka deftly weaves the storylines together towards a satisfying solution that I wasn’t expecting. A great cinematic read.

Will aim to post review to Goodreads closer to publication date

This is one of the most addictive thrillers I’ve ever read. It has a smart, cinematic style. While I was reading, I thought the book would make a great film. Other people obviously thought that too, because production on a film adaptation began in late 2020.

The story follows several shady characters as they travel on the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo. They find themselves in competition and apparently working for the same crime lord. In a race against time, they try to identify each other, work out what’s going on, and either work together or kill each other. The story is narrated in the third person, with some flashbacks to events leading up to this situation, but is mostly set in the tense environment of the train carriages. Unusually for a thriller, the characters are memorable and distinctive. There are the ‘fruits’: contract killers, intellectual Tangerine and his Thomas the Tank Engine-loving partner Lemon. There’s Kimura, ex-alcoholic and single dad. Nanao, unluckiest man in the world. The Prince, devious school student who thinks he can beat the adults. And a few others I can’t mention because of spoilers.

Amidst all the action, plotting and clever dialogue, there is time for philosophy, psychology and for discussions on the differences between generations. It’s an extraordinary reading experience which I’m sure never to forget.

Bullet Train was first published in Japan as Maria Bītoru in 2010. The English translation by Sam Malissa will be published on 1st April.

Thank you to the publisher Harvill Secker for the advance copy via NetGalley.

]NB. Review will be posted on my blog on 28th March 2021.