Kōtarō Isaka

This was ..... weird. And I do not mean :) weird :) .... I mean weird.....

So in my local bookstore I noticed this pretty hefty book and after reading the short description on cover decided hey, looks good lets give it a try.

And now .... I guess this is one of those books that tries to be everything. In short story is about very special sort of (active and retired) professionals that end up on a bullet train (Shinkansen, Japanese fast train). And this is where things get really weird. So all of these assassins are cold blooded killers and are extremely deadly. But number of brain cells on average is below 10 for current generation and normal count for retired hit-men. Way main assassins behave is slapstick comedy (especially Ladybird) but in a way that is .... well irritating. Main antagonist is .... true psycho and I would expect anyone involved to go on him like Mel Gibson did on Ransom. I mean kid needs to be driven by a very huge piece of machinery that will leave him broken for good.

But no everyone is so clueless it is sick to watch.

Then dialogues - if it weren't for constant attempt for comedic relief book would be 1/3 shorter and more compact and punchy. This way it is bloated and in some cases such goofy dialogue is truly disconcerting.

So in general, interesting book (last third is best part of the book), lots of twists and turns and interesting characters. Unfortunately instead of focusing to be a thriller (be it even black comedy) book loses its center and becomes ..... weird psychotic-like novel.

Recommended, but if you are not in weird, forced slapstick comedy books you might not like it.… (meer)

I loved Bullet Train but somehow missed Three Assassins (I will be putting that at the top of my list for 2024!). Isaka's books about Tokyo assassins are just so darn entertaining. In this episode, Kabuto is an experienced hit man who is eager to leave the lifestyle but the Doctor, his handler, makes it clear that no one will benefit from Kabuto turning down his "surgeries'. Kabuto is more concerned with his son who is entering college and his wife, whom he loves but...she's a bit difficult to live with. Kabuto is never afraid of the dangers of his job but he's terrified of upsetting his wife. The Mantis is a quirky tale of a murderer for hire who has developed a conscience.… (meer)