Five killers on a bullet train from Tokyo are competing for a suitcase full of money. Who will make it to the last station? An original and propulsive thriller from a Japanese bestseller.
*NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE*
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?
A bestseller in Japan, Bullet Train is an original and propulsive thriller which fizzes with an incredible energy as its complex net of double-crosses and twists unwinds to the last station.
Review
A complex read.
I wanted to read this book long before it was a movie, as it's set in Japan and on a Shinkansen (bullet train) both of which I've experienced. I think without that background I may have stopped reading the book early on.
It took until 50% into this book before I really started to enjoy it. Not that many characters in the book, but the way the action takes place, with it going backwards and forwards between everyone on the train, it was hard to keep track. Then some of the action gets played back again from another character's perspective.
There's a little respite from the train journey with some back story flashbacks of the characters lives before the train journey. It has to be said that it is indeed a clever psychological thriller but for me most of the time it felt like I was listening to a therapist describe why someone acts they way they do. Whole pages of inner dialogue did not make for light reading.
I can totally understand this book as a film as there's no need for the recaps of who saw what and heard what, that can all be achieved in a moment on film. Reading it is a very different matter and you need to invest serious time in this book to get through 452 pages - it actually felt a lot longer.
My favourite part of the book occurs towards the end. I can't reveal it as it would totally spoil it for you, but it was one of the times I actually enjoyed, rather than endured the book.
I think this book has a limited audience in the UK, however, now we have the film.
I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.
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