Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka

Bullet Train written by bestselling author Kotaro Isaka released a while back in Japan (around 2010) and then, hit the rest of the world last year, dropping like a reverse-atom-bomb on our TBR list (Pardon the pun!) Because this book is perhaps, the most outrageous fun that I've had, in a long time with smart racy thrillers. Five assassins stuck in a bullet-train in Tokyo, who will reach the end of the line, reads the smart marketing by-line on this. Seductive enough for you, as a premise? I was taken in. And then to my pleasant surprise, the execution of the actual narrative does full justice to this explosive premise. 

So the non-stop action is set on this high-speed bullet train, from Tokyo to the city of Morioka and funnily enough, on board among the rest of the passengers are five deadly assassins. Kimura, an alcoholic wants to wreck revenge on the teenage schoolboy who had pushed his own son from the rooftop of a departmental store building, hospitalising the kid now in a coma. Then there is the killer duo, 'fruits' - Lemon and Tangerine who are on this train, after having saved the kidnapped son of a big criminal lord Minigeshi, to deliver him safely back to his father. Then there is Nanao, one of the most unlucky assassins on the job circuit, who's been handed a simple enough mission to recover a particular suitcase from the train and get off at the first stop on this 'Shinkansen'. Rounding off the cast is Prince, the schoolboy in question whom Kimura wants to murder, who is an absolutely cold-blooded sociopath, who is willing to go to any extent possible, to know the answer to the question about why murdering people is wrong. 

The propulsive narrative is set onboard the high-speed train and Isaka skilfully immerses us readers into the sense and atmosphere of this 'place'. From luggage racks, refreshment trolleys, to PA announcements about upcoming stations to toilets and the jerks and twists of the wheels-in-motion of this high-speed train; all of it becomes an organic aspect of Isaka's storytelling and are crucial to the narrative. For me, the best part about reading this one was the characters themselves. About how the author takes us deep into the past and the pscyhe of each of these five characters, to help us relate to them and the series of interesting events that befalls them on the trip. 

For example, Kimura - a recovering alcoholic doesn't want to embarrass his old retired father about his 'inability' to raise his own son Wataru right, without giving up on the bottle. And then there are the several instances of his own run-up against Prince, the schoolboy and his bizarre schemes to enact out his twisted fantasies regarding pain or how adults in the society react or respond to different types of pain. Prince is easily one of the best written characters. Cold blooded to the core, this fourteen year old comes across as disturbingly self-assured - all the more in contrast to this squeaky clean top-grader look (which frequently throws the adults off his scent!) His motivations are almost pure, as he convinces himself about this need to show the condescending adults their righteous place, to manipulate them in every way possible. Motivated by the Rwandan Genocide, he yearns to understand what motivates people. The best one personally, was Lemon and Tangerine. Lemon's mad obsession with this old TV show about different types of train and Tangerine's love for fiction and the filter of cold objective logic through which he views the world, is all fantastically set up. Nanao, the man personally chosen to be the groom of the goddess of bad luck, finds himself in the most unlikeliest of the situations. What Isaka always does so well, is to frequently throw us readers off the scent - For example, introducing many other famous 'assassins' in the gossips between these characters. 

But as we hurtle toward the end of the line, a lot of tiny hints dropped through the story become clearer. Unexpected twists, a lot of deaths and some interesting cameos keep things on the boil, unpredictable and delectable all the more for it. This one's like a shooting star, lit and flaming all the way to that glorious end, when the brakes grind and we alight at the final stop, we are grinning from ear to ear, shocked and surprised at the same time about how everything made sense, finally. Isaka's Bullet Train is a smart and pacy thriller that matches the title of the book, balancing elements of internal strife with the external struggles with ease and aplomb. Sprinkled with dark humour throughout, this one's bonkers fun and I guarantee that you wouldn't  ever want to get off, once the Shinkansen pulls off from the station. 

Highly recommended!