Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka, Sam Malissa (Translator)

About the Book

Five killers. One train journey. But who will survive? The original and propulsive thriller from a massive Japanese bestseller.

Satoshi looks like an innocent schoolboy but he is really a viciously cunning psychopath. Kimura's young son is in a coma thanks to him, and Kimura has tracked him onto the bullet train heading from Tokyo to Morioka to exact his revenge. But Kimura soon discovers that they are not the only dangerous passengers onboard.

Nanao, the self-proclaimed 'unluckiest assassin in the world', and the deadly partnership of Tangerine and Lemon are also traveling to Morioka. A suitcase full of money leads others to show their hands. Why are they all on the same train, and who will get off alive at the last station?

Editorial Reviews

An entertaining thriller... Kill Bill on wheels or a locked-room crime drama played out at 200mph― The Times

Unlike anything you're likely to have read before...white-hot with double-crosses― Financial Times

Entertaining...high-speed...with lots of twists and turns...it has a Tarantino-meets-the-Coen-Brothers feel to it.― The Times

Part high-octane thriller, part farce, this is an unusual and thoroughly enjoyable read -- Laura Wilson― Guardian

The action accelerates up and down the ten carriages but the question is: who will get off alive? Daily Mail

About the Author

Kōtarō Isaka

Kōtarō Isaka (伊坂幸太郎, Isaka Koutarou) is a Japanese author of mystery fiction.

Isaka was born in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from the law faculty of Tohoku University, he worked as a system engineer. Isaka quit his company job and focused on writing after hearing Kazuyoshi Saito's 1997 song "Kōfuku na Chōshoku Taikutsu na Yūshoku", and the two have collaborated several times. In 2000, Isaka won the Shincho Mystery Club Prize for his debut novel Ōdyubon no Inori, after which he became a full-time writer.

In 2002, Isaka's novel Lush Life gained much critical acclaim, but it was his Naoki Prize-nominated work Jūryoku Piero (2003) that brought him popular success. His following work Ahiru to Kamo no Koin Rokkā won the 25th Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers. Jūryoku Piero (2003), Children (2004), Grasshopper (2004), Shinigami no Seido (2005), and Sabaku (2006) were all nominated for the Naoki Prize.

Isaka was the only author in Japan to be nominated for the Hon'ya Taishō in each of the award's first four years, finally winning in 2008 with Golden Slumber. The same work also won the 21st Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize.