Bullet Train

A Novel

By: Kotaro Isaka, Sam Malissa - translator

Narrated by: Pun Bandhu

Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

A dark, satirical thriller by the best-selling Japanese author, following the perilous train ride of five highly motivated assassins - soon to be a major film from Sony

Nanao, nicknamed Ladybug - the self-proclaimed “unluckiest assassin in the world” - boards a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with one simple task: Grab a suitcase and get off at the next stop. Unbeknownst to him, the deadly duo Tangerine and Lemon are also after the very same suitcase - and they are not the only dangerous passengers onboard. Satoshi, “the Prince”, with the looks of an innocent schoolboy and the mind of a viciously cunning psychopath, is also in the mix and has history with some of the others. Risk fuels him as does a good philosophical debate - like, is killing really wrong? Chasing the Prince is another assassin with a score to settle for the time the Prince casually pushed a young boy off of a roof, leaving him comatose. When the five assassins discover they are all on the same train, they realize their missions are not as unrelated as they first appear.

A massive best seller in Japan, Bullet Train is an original and propulsive thriller that fizzes with an incredible energy and surprising humor as its complex net of double-crosses and twists unwind. Award-winning author Kotaro Isaka takes listeners on a tension-packed journey as the bullet train hurtles toward its final destination. Who will make it off the train alive - and what awaits them at the last stop?

©2021 Kotaro Isaka/CTB Inc. English translation rights arranged through CTB Inc. Translation from the Japanese language by Sam Malissa. Published in 2021 by the Overlook Press, an imprint of ABRAMS, New York. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Think Quentin Tarantino at sotto voce

This is something else entirely. Fresh, unusual, addictive, unpredictable, "Reservoir dogs", but with clueless dogs. Splendid!

gripping

love the way the story is presented, classic nobody get what they want to keep you engaged

Movie is better

I have read the book and seen the movie. Watch the movie. I think maybe some of the cultural importance is lost in the translation. I did like Nano and the fruit sections but over all it’s a little bloated and the movie has a better ending.

nothing and exactly like the film

like a train, it starts slow and gains unstoppable momentum before gliding into its final station. anybody who's has seen the movie first is likely to be very disappointed with its source material counterpart, unless you go in with the proper expectations

Love for trains…

This book was very entertaining and also read like a love letter to locomotive. Great pulpy fun. The multiple storylines gave me a little fatigue after a while but fun nonetheless. Don’t be a Diesel.

Page-Turner!

Couldn’t stop listening! So good! Great characters. Awesome parallel plot lines. Now I want to see the movie!

straight out thriller

a complex thriller with twist and turns even at the end. I wish they would have added more of the book to the movie and the narration was good felt like there was some clicking at the end of some words but that might have just bin my headphones

Action-packed story!

What a crazy ride! The “Bullet Train” by Kotaro Isaka, a best-selling Japanese writer, is a story that takes place on the shinkansen train which runs between Tokyo and Morioka. It’s only a 2 ½ hour train ride, yet mayhem and murder involving gangsters, hired hit men, and sociopathic children provide a fascinating ride. Oh, and a grown man with a “Tomas the Tank” obsession adds to the insane non-stop action. For those of you who lived through the “Tomas the Tank Engine” children’s TV series, you will fondly recall all the engines (remember Percy?).

I am very unfamiliar with Japanese names, and I wish that I would have done a character chart to keep all the villains straight. Thankfully, Isaka named two of the hired hitmen fruity names: Tangerine and Lemon provide much of the humor, especially Lemon who is our Thomas the Tank lover. They are hired by a renown gangster to rescue his kidnapped son. Nanao, the “Ladybug”, is the worlds unluckiest assassin. Much discussion is about all his bad luck. Kimura, a sad alcoholic with a son, Wataru, who was pushed off a building and now lies in a coma is on the train to find the person who did this to his son. That person happens to be the Prince, who is a 14 year-old sociopath, who asks every adult he sees “Is it wrong to kill people?”

The criminals are noticeable in a fairly empty train. It’s explained why the train is empty later in the story. Everyone is on for differing reasons, yet their duties intersect on the train. Lots of action happens concurrently and overlap. The story keeps moving…at a bullet train pace!

The book is going to be made into a movie, starring Brad Pitt, and I could visually see the action of the story. It’s so over-the-top, almost madcap in mass murder. Isaka doesn’t write messy gory scenes, yet I’m sure the movie will contain gratuitous violence, aka Quentin Tarantino style. It could be more “Jackie Chan” style with lots of action and not gross, turn your head away from the screen, violence. Which ever way it ends up, it will be a good one; I mean, Brad Pitt…how can it be bad?

Special shout-out must be made to the translator, Sam Malissa. Much work went into translating this into the American vernacular which is expertly done.

I listened to the audio, 13 ½ hours long, narrated by Pun Bandu. I highly recommend the audio. Bandu’s voices for all the characters are distinct and brilliantly done.

Loved it

much much better than the movie. great to listen to on rides to and from work

You Don't Know What Your Missing

Amazing thriller. It's almost nothing like movie so if you've seen it you still need to read the book. First of all this a book about Japan and Japanese not white guys and Americans. Lot's of action, twists, funky characters, surprises, and incredible writing. It was a blast. The reader was just as super. Don't miss it if your into thrillers and original complex characters.