Bullet Train (Diverse Read)

“Nanao can’t escape this thought: if it happened once it can happen again, and if it happened twice it can happen three times, and if three times then four, so we might as well say that if something happens once it’ll keep happening forever.”

Author: Kotaro Isaka; translated by Sam Malissa

Genre: Adventure: Thrillers and suspense; Translations (Japanese to English)

Publication Date: August 2021 (Originally published in Japanese as Mariabiitoru by Kadokawa, Tokyo, in 2010)

Number of Pages: 432 Pages

Geographical Setting: Japan - Specifically the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) from Tokyo to Morioka

Time Period: Around 2010

Series: 殺し屋 Series

Plot Summary:

Told through different perspectives of key characters on the Shinkansen; Nanao, Lemon and Tangerine, the Prince, and Kimura. Each has a different connection to the underworld's scariest man, Minegishi. It becomes very clear that all five's missions are not as unrelated as they first appear to be. Chaos ensues as each works to complete their own mission goals and keep themselves safe from the others.

Subject Headings:

Trains; Assassins; Betrayal

Appeal:

Pacing: The novel is set at a speed that is similar to the speed of the Bullet Train itself. The story is set over the roughly five hours that it takes the Shinkansen to run from Tokyo to Morioka. With five main characters, there is action in every chapter.

Storyline: Conflict drives the plot of Bullet Train. With five operatives on the same train with conflicting missions. Many characters find that they have lost what they were meant to get or having to resort to violence in order to get the job done.

Characterization: There are certain defining character traits that you learn about each of the main operatives: Nanao is wildly unlucky, Lemon loves Thomas the train, Tangerine reads and brings a novel on every mission, the Prince is a psychopathic schoolboy, and Kimura is a drunk who has a young son that is hospitalized in a coma.

Setting: As the novel is set on the Shinkansen it becomes apparent that these operators are hurtling towards their doom as they near Moriaka and Minegishi.

Language/ Style: The novel explores the world of assassins at times. For example, other assassins in the "business" are called professionals. If Tangerine and Lemon know someone from the "business," they say that they know them from around the neighborhood.

3 terms that best describe this book:

Intricate Plot; Violent; Compelling

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works

The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer by Philip Carlo: Mafia hitman tells all, from killing over 200 people to his persona as a suburban family man.

Toppamono: Outlaw. Radical. Suspect. My life in Japan's Underworld by Manabu Miyazaki: Son of a Yakuza boss tells of all he has been through,

Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein: An American journalist takes a deep look at Japanese culture starting at the underbelly.

3 Relevant Fiction Works

The Escape (Snowpiercer) by Jacques Lob: Earth is encased in ice and the last remaining people travel the world on a train (translated from french, and is a critically acclaimed movie).

The Plotters by Un-su Kim: Set in an alternate Korea where assassination guilds fight for who controls the city.

Fairy Tale by Stephen King: Regular guy that is down on his luck gets shoved into unreal situations (much like Nanao).

“Often the case with people who don't read fiction. Hollow inside, monochrome, so they can switch gears with no problem. They swallow something and forget about it as soon as it goes down their throat. Constitutionally incapable of empathy. These are people who most need to read, but in most cases, it's already too late.”