Imagine "Murder on the Orient Express" on steroids. Bullet Train, in a 2.5 hour high speed train journey, imprisons the reader in a story in which a 14 year old psychopath, a rescued schoolboy hostage and a whole bunch of SERIOUS gangsters scheme, interact and commit murder. This is a book of contrasts where humour, evil and psychology each have a significant role. We have Lemon - the gangster who keeps seeing situations and people through the prism of how they relate to the various locomotives in Thomas the Tank Engine stories. We have Kimura, struggling to move on from a life of alcoholism. There is the psychopathic boy whose awareness of human relationships allows him to understand how to manipulate the behaviour of all the people he meets. And there is the evil of MInegishi - the crime world No.1 - who trusts no-one but is happy to set everyone at each other's throats to ensure his wishes are met.
The twists, turns and pace of this novel, on their own, would justify it earning a high approval rating. But what makes it exceptional and, frankly, genuinely scary, is the way Isaka exposes the weakness of the human psyche and how it can be manipulated. Fortunately this is counterweighted both by humour and by the worldly wisdom expounded by the older characters. Otherwise there is a real risk readers might find themselves deeply unsettled.
So a brilliant novel on two levels. However, I can't sign off without congratulating Isaka on the last paragraphs. Usually, reading these in advance would provide the big reveal -not so in this case. But please don't do that because they are truly worth waiting for and will ensure you lay the book down with a smile.

A good read with vivid funny and scary characters. The confining setting of the bullet train is the perfect setting for an evolving story with multiple protagonists and multiple points of view. The characters are well delineated with distinct voices and interesting internal monologues. The five are Satoshi the schoolboy psycho, Kimura who is out for revenge on him, Tangerine and Lemon trained assassins, and Nanao for whom nothing ever seems to go right. With wit and humour and lots of Thomas the Tank Engine the story speeds along as quickly as the eponymous train. Why they are there gradually unfolds, a suitcase of money is lost and found again, a deadly snake is on the loose and the bodies start to pile up.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This fast paced thriller hooked me immediately. The characters are a motley crew and Isaka focuses on making them all compelling in their own ways. There are so many moving parts and changing motivations that keep the reader on their toes. I enjoyed this novel so much, I just couldn't stop talking about it.

A madcap race against the clock, this story has a lot of black humour and improbably coincidences that make it feel like a crazed Fargo. Great entertainment.

A bunch of killers find themselves on a train from Tokyo, domeoeteing for a suitcase full of money. Only one can win, but are any of them willing to risk everything for the prize and reach the last station?

This is high octane, twisty crazy plots. It's implausible, impossible, yet a whole lot of fun. The pace is faster than the bullet train the various characters find themselves on, as people shuffle off this mortal coil at a rate of knots. Tensions rise as the people you think are trustworthy turn out to be maddened killers, and the fun never stops as each station stop ends with more contestants and more deaths. There's a dark comedic feel that simmers throught the story too, managing to weave that thin line of dramatic plot twists and funny one liners. You'll never be bored reading this.

Fun, fast and deadly. Decidedly unique and 100% entertaining. It's not a plot that will stay with me for long, but I sure enjoyed the ride.

I have a feeling this is one of those love it or hate it books. Unfortunately I hate it, so am abandoning it at 10%. Silly names, ludicrous plot, unbelievable characterisations - I suspect it's supposed to be funny, but throwing young kids off buildings and descriptions of pimping schoolgirls isn't my kind of humour.

I’m sorry but this book did not resemble the blurb and was in places just bizarre. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters but the story although set over one 2 1/2 hours train ride took much longer to get through, so by the end I was relieved to finish. I think it may make a Quentin Tarantinoesque film but not one I would rush to see.

Isaka’s new exciting novel is a thrill ride with its unique characters and situation giving a reader a thrill ride that is both exciting and intriguing.

The plot deals with a series of diabolical characters that at first seem to be very separated by their ambitions and drive but eventually their paths cross with the realisation that like the train they are on the same track. The story is well managed and it leaves the reader intrigued to race to the end as intricate storylines and plot devices are masterfully handled to its exciting conclusion.

The characters are very well developed and although they are despicable characters in their own right, Isaka has given them individual personalities and juggles these brilliantly. The reader is engaged with each and every character and makes you care for them as they carry out their dastardly deeds and murderous intent. You find yourself routing for each and everyone except for one teenager which you really want to bring back corporal punishment. This one character is so annoying that you hope he gets what is coming to him which makes this joyride even more engaging.

Overall, Bullet Train is a Tarrantino-esque joy ride with each character having their own unique style in language and personality. A plot that twists faster than a knife, criminal characters with flair and style that makes them likeable. A thrill ride that once you board, you can’t stop until the exciting conclusion. The only thing that I hope I don’t regret is the film version and I pray that this will do this excellent thriller justice.

This was a fast-paced puzzle of a thriller, featuring bad boy school kids, crime bosses, hitmen, and all-around bad guys stuck on a bullet train with a dead body and a suitcase full of money.

This book was both brilliantly improbable, laugh-out loud funny, and brilliantly puzzling as people work for and against each other to steal, kill and survive.

This was a great read although I think it would make an even better film.

Korean movie-makers have a long history of producing wacky, violent thrillers - Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance being the most obvious examples; their horror movies, too, are renowned, such as the zombies-on-a-train fest which is Train to Busan. But in narrative fiction, too, Korean writers often produce works which are similar; The Plotters by Un-Su Kim, is a notable example. Japanese cinema and narrative fiction has its own tradition of such off-beat mayhem, albeit not as well known as Korea’s. But Kotaro Isaka’s barmy novel, Bullet Train, which is being made into a movie, might well bring the country out of its neighbour’s shadow.

The description on the dust jacket reads: “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 travelling 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?”

But this gives only a taste of the mayhem that is to follow. Bullet Train builds the tension slowly but surely from the first page. It isn’t non-stop action, and neither are the gangsters and assassins mentioned on the dust jacket the only ones on the train, or the only ones to feature in the narrative; soon it feels like every passenger and member of the crew is out to kill someone else. That said, the characters mentioned are the main protagonists, and the author takes the time to flesh them out. My favourites are Tangerine and Lemon, a duo who bicker amongst themselves like an old married couple.

But it’s Satoshi who steals the show. Frankly, I haven’t read a more chilling character since Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs. In this schoolboy, the author constructs a true psychopath, far worse than many of the schlock versions in your average slasher movie, and I imagine far more realistic too.

Bullet Train is a brilliant novel and is wonderfully cinematic. It reads like a story set for the big screen, so I wasn't surprised to learn an adaptation was in the works. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for anything else written by this author.

A beautiful book. I definitely went into this book seeing the mindblowing cover. Its indeed a pleasure to read such new fiction from time to time. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this book.

I found this book too slow, I am so sorry but I could not get in to it. I also found it unbelievable in parts.

I was really looking forward to this but it didn’t work out. I think it was meant to be funny and exciting- but the pacing was off and it was repetitive and I found myself easily bored. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book and I’m so sorry it wasn’t for me.

I have really mixed feelings on this book.

To start with I thought it was brilliant, engaging and creepy. Then it got all slap stick and farcical and stupid.

Even now that I've finished it, I still don't know whether I like it or not. It's different and in places it's clever but it's not consistent and while I'm glad I read it the mix of farce and truly chilling thriller just does not work for me.

I feel as though something may have been lost in translation with this book as it is described as being a competition between 5 killers however that isn't really what this book is... Because of the misleading blurb, I felt throughout this book that I was waiting for it to actually start. This is not to say that this book lacks a plot, it just doesn't have the plot that the blurb describes it to have.

This book is reminiscent of a Shakespearean comedy of errors.

I really wanted to like this, in fact I had two goes at reading it, but it just didn’t grip me. The concept is really neat, but I found myself getting lost in the somewhat farcical plot. I suspect the problem lies with the translation, which lacks the lightness of touch required to make the story work.

This was a great read very different from my usual reads but a breath of fresh air too ... it was dark and funny whodunnit. Set on a train with five assassins and a suitcase full of money its highly entertaining with non-stop action and it won't disappoint a really fun summer read for sure ...

Oh this book is hard to give a fair review and rating. I have thought long and hard because truthfully I did not enjoy the read but it reminded me a bit of the tv series Fargo which I adore. So perhaps it would be visually more endearing. It’s snappy and yet some of the language is out of place by a few years but that could be down to the translation.
The concept was great and my dislike could be an age thing. I wonder if my grandchildren might appreciate it more than me...

A thrilling ride. The suspense in this book is only broken by the dark comedy. The characters are dark and nonchalant about the wrong doing they participate it. The Prince is something else. The setting adds to the suspense and creates an almost claustrophobic feel of no escape and certain doom for most, if not all, of the characters. A great piece of work and I'll be sure to look for more from this author in the future.

In Bullet Train, popular Japanese author Kōtarō Isaka’s latest novel translated into English, five assassins find themselves on a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka. Their only connection is a suitcase full of money, the leader of an underground crime ring and their own criminal ambitions.

With its cast of colourful, off-beat characters and equally crazy plot, Bullet Train delivers enough thrills to ensure equal amounts of popularity with Western audiences as it originally did in Japan. Even more so when it hits our film screens with a cast of high-profile Hollywood actors.

Full review on my blog: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2021/04/06/bullet-train-kotaro-isaka/