206 books
—
263 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Bullet Train” as Want to Read:
Bullet Train
(殺し屋 #2)
by
A dark, satirical thriller by the bestselling Japanese author, following the perilous train ride of five highly motivated assassins—soon to be a major film from Sony
Nanao, nicknamed Lady Bird—the self-proclaimed “unluckiest assassin in the world”—boards a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with one simple task: grab a suitcase and get off at the next stop. Unbeknownst to h ...more
Nanao, nicknamed Lady Bird—the self-proclaimed “unluckiest assassin in the world”—boards a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with one simple task: grab a suitcase and get off at the next stop. Unbeknownst to h ...more
Get A Copy
Hardcover, 432 pages
Published
August 3rd 2021
by Harry N. Abrams
(first published September 1st 2010)
Win a Copy of This Book
Bullet Train (MTI Edition): A Novel
by
Release
date: Aug 30, 2022
Enter for your chance to win one of 50 copies of the Movie-Tie-In edition of BULLET TRAIN!
Format: Print book
Giveaway ends in:
a
Availability: 50 copies available, 2442 people requesting
Giveaway dates: Jul 25 - Aug 18, 2022
Countries available: U.S.
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Bullet Train,
please sign up.
Popular Answered Questions
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Start your review of Bullet Train
no thanks
I wish I could tell you I didn’t choose to read Bullet Train because it’s being adapted into a “major motion picture” starring Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Joey King, and Lady Gaga, but that would be a lie and I wouldn’t do you like that.
The book itself is the translation of an uber-popular Japanese novel originally titled Maria Beetle, in which five assassins board a high-speed train headed to Tokyo and realize their missions might be linked. I’ve heard it compared to the style of Quentin Tarant ...more
The book itself is the translation of an uber-popular Japanese novel originally titled Maria Beetle, in which five assassins board a high-speed train headed to Tokyo and realize their missions might be linked. I’ve heard it compared to the style of Quentin Tarant ...more
Ladies and Gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts and get ready for an erratic ride on a bullet train in Japan 🇯🇵!
This great book by Kotaro Isaka deals with 5 hitmen on a Shinkansen (= bullet train), a suitcase full of money and a bunch of artful killing techniques. Not the usual bang-bang-boom-kinda-killing. NO, we’re talking Japanese sophistication here!
Kotaro Isaka makes your brain synapses connect stronger to challenge ethical issues while you race to solve the puzzle.
A page-turner full of witt ...more
This great book by Kotaro Isaka deals with 5 hitmen on a Shinkansen (= bullet train), a suitcase full of money and a bunch of artful killing techniques. Not the usual bang-bang-boom-kinda-killing. NO, we’re talking Japanese sophistication here!
Kotaro Isaka makes your brain synapses connect stronger to challenge ethical issues while you race to solve the puzzle.
A page-turner full of witt ...more
Sep 19, 2021
Joanna Chu (The ChuseyReader)
rated it
liked it
Recommended to Joanna Chu (The ChuseyReader) by:
Via
Shelves:
mystery-thriller
3/3.5 Stars
Thanks V for the book recommendation! I’ll definitely watch the movie when it comes out! I’m interested to see how they will portray the humour...for example will they use the same names (the Prince, Lemon and Tangerine) and the same references to Thomas the Tank Engine.
What I enjoyed:
• It was action packed and I had many “well, didn’t see that coming” moments.
• This was very dark and yet still had some humorous moments and characters, so the style reminded me of anime such as Demon S ...more
Thanks V for the book recommendation! I’ll definitely watch the movie when it comes out! I’m interested to see how they will portray the humour...for example will they use the same names (the Prince, Lemon and Tangerine) and the same references to Thomas the Tank Engine.
What I enjoyed:
• It was action packed and I had many “well, didn’t see that coming” moments.
• This was very dark and yet still had some humorous moments and characters, so the style reminded me of anime such as Demon S ...more
Former assassin Kimura is on the bullet train looking for the Prince. The Prince, a 14 year old sadistic psychopath, is on the train for undisclosed reasons. Lemon and Tangerine have been hired by a very wealthy man to bring his son and a suitcase to him. Nanao, who trails bad luck behind him, has been hired to steal the suitcase. That’s five killers on a single train, and you really can’t afford to turn your back on anyone on that train.
This was really an entertaining farce with guns, knives, ...more
This was really an entertaining farce with guns, knives, ...more
If you look for cinematic correspondences, then Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Luc Besson. If genre, then guignol, If literary - oddly enough, Agatha Christie with "Murder on the Orient Express". And all this will give only the most superficial idea of the "Bullet Train". Another important aspect: reading/listening will provide you with the opportunity to act as an expert when everyone starts talking about the book. And they will discuss it, because: Ta-Damm!
David Leitch made the film Bullet Trai ...more
David Leitch made the film Bullet Trai ...more
Utter lunacy in the best way possible. That’s what I thought when I’d finished Bullet Train.
If you read a crazier, more addictive novel this year I’ll be surprised.
So, there’s a train that moves as fast as the plot, little time at stations and strangely empty considering the number of seats available. Here though we will find a lot of nefarious people on nefarious missions who all end up in each other’s business and the nearer the train gets to its final destination the twistier and crazier it w ...more
If you read a crazier, more addictive novel this year I’ll be surprised.
So, there’s a train that moves as fast as the plot, little time at stations and strangely empty considering the number of seats available. Here though we will find a lot of nefarious people on nefarious missions who all end up in each other’s business and the nearer the train gets to its final destination the twistier and crazier it w ...more
5/5stars
This might be my new favorite thriller. This book was a perfect balance of humor, a character case study, high stakes, and incredibly smart interesting twists and turns but also bringing together so many different threads. The characters were so fascinating to me, especially the prince, and I thought the writing was both very smart but also very entertaining. Highly recommend!!
This might be my new favorite thriller. This book was a perfect balance of humor, a character case study, high stakes, and incredibly smart interesting twists and turns but also bringing together so many different threads. The characters were so fascinating to me, especially the prince, and I thought the writing was both very smart but also very entertaining. Highly recommend!!
'Steal someone's suitcase and get off the train. That's it.'
All aboard the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Morioka! Two hired goons have rescued a gangster's son from his kidnappers and are returning with the boy and the ransom money. Another killer has been hired to steal the suitcase with the money in it. And, just by coincidence, yet another killer has boarded the train looking for a psychopathic 14-year old boy who pushed his son off a roof, leaving him in a coma in hospital. So, steal the suitcase ...more
All aboard the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Morioka! Two hired goons have rescued a gangster's son from his kidnappers and are returning with the boy and the ransom money. Another killer has been hired to steal the suitcase with the money in it. And, just by coincidence, yet another killer has boarded the train looking for a psychopathic 14-year old boy who pushed his son off a roof, leaving him in a coma in hospital. So, steal the suitcase ...more
An inconsistent book, with absurd characters, unlikely situations and dialogues that seem to be thrown there at random, as they came to mind to a drunk author. I really can't understand how, and why, a reader would have to force himself to get to the end of such an absurd book; I, barely halfway through the book, felt cheated and stopped reading it. A really bad example of literature (but to call it literature is an insult to literature). The plot, chaotic and disordered, is also slow and repeti
...more
Special thanks to Brad Pitt and AMC Theaters for putting this book, and it’s upcoming film adaptation, on my radar.
You don’t need a lengthy review from me or anyone else to convince you to read this book. Let me just break down the plot for you briefly.
Five assassins enter a train.
Two of them are named after fruits, and they are returning a kidnapped son and a briefcase full of money back to the kid’s dad.
One of them is an alcoholic father seeking revenge on someone who put his kid in the ho ...more
You don’t need a lengthy review from me or anyone else to convince you to read this book. Let me just break down the plot for you briefly.
Five assassins enter a train.
Two of them are named after fruits, and they are returning a kidnapped son and a briefcase full of money back to the kid’s dad.
One of them is an alcoholic father seeking revenge on someone who put his kid in the ho ...more
Five contract killers all board the same bullet train. Each has his own individual mission and is unaware of the presence of the other killers on the train. As their paths start to converge, they begin to question if their objectives are somehow connected to one another’s. Chaos, rivalries, psychological warfare, and murder ensue. Will there be anyone left alive by the time the train arrives at its destination?
------
This book was utterly bonkers from start to finish! The premise drew me in, but ...more
------
This book was utterly bonkers from start to finish! The premise drew me in, but ...more
An implausible, stupid thriller, but a fairly fun implausible, stupid thriller. Kind of like if Quentin Tarantino made a Yakuza movie.
(Do not get any ideas, Quentin!)
(Do not get any ideas, Quentin!)
If you love Thomas the Tank Engine, this book is for you. One of the characters in the book often quotes lines from Thomas the Tank Engine. If it was once or twice, I might laugh but it happens too often that I skipped half of the book.
I can see this to be a good movie script but as a book, it's too painful to read. Maybe it's funny for Japanese people to hear about Thomas the Tank Engine but it's not funny for me.
...more
I can see this to be a good movie script but as a book, it's too painful to read. Maybe it's funny for Japanese people to hear about Thomas the Tank Engine but it's not funny for me.
...more
This is a really fun ride of a thriller! I felt like this was rather cinematic in its style and humor (I definitely see the Tarantino references here), and so as a book, I'm not sure this was as successful as I had hoped. That said, this was a good time and really made me excited to see the upcoming film adaptation
...more
Absolutely one of the best thrillers of the year, one minute darkly funny and the next deeply poignant, a real rollercoaster.
This reads very cinematically but I think you can't help but read it that way when you see on the cover that it's going to be a movie. It'll be a great movie. But sometimes a really cinematic novel just doesn't work at all because it isn't trying to be good at being a novel. This time, though, it really works.
It takes a little while for this to get going. Not plot-wise, i ...more
This reads very cinematically but I think you can't help but read it that way when you see on the cover that it's going to be a movie. It'll be a great movie. But sometimes a really cinematic novel just doesn't work at all because it isn't trying to be good at being a novel. This time, though, it really works.
It takes a little while for this to get going. Not plot-wise, i ...more
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.
This is a very fun and cinematic thriller that will be a movie in mid-2022 (though I have a hard time understanding what train all these white actors will be taking? are we on Amtrak or what?). I had a great time with the book and read it in one day. On its face, the plot seems very simple: five separate assassins board a bullet train out of Tokyo, and hijinks ensue.
There should be emphasis there on "hijinks," because this entire book reads like "I'm an assassin having a rough day at work." Ther ...more
There should be emphasis there on "hijinks," because this entire book reads like "I'm an assassin having a rough day at work." Ther ...more
Mar 27, 2021
Mobyskine
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
pansing,
japanese-literature
Such an exhilarating journey from Tokyo to Morioka. A 10-cars shinkansen, 5 killers and a suitcase full of money. Love the idea and its setting, compelling with an average intense vibe-- more to a fun and quirky rather than a serious crime mystery for me.
The chapters were told accordingly to each character's perspective, some are redundantly told because of the intertwined narratives but I think the author did great in making it enjoyable that I don't care much on the repetitiveness.
The charact ...more
The chapters were told accordingly to each character's perspective, some are redundantly told because of the intertwined narratives but I think the author did great in making it enjoyable that I don't care much on the repetitiveness.
The charact ...more
4.5 A dark comedy thriller about a group of assassins fighting over a suitcase on a bullet train. It’s actually quite funny, unpredictable, and very Japanese. The thing is, the book is surprisingly concerned with ethics and philosophy. Each of the criminals have a philosophical worldview and come into contact with one another, discussing the ambiguous, almost Kafkaesque merits of their mysterious goal. The characters are surprisingly complex, at times the writing reminded me of Koji Suzuki with
...more
Bullet Train (Shinkansen) by Kōtarō Isaka is one weird actionfilled ride like nothing else. Although it took me almost two thirds of the book before I felt this is good and hilarious. Never have I ever had so many assassins in one book. Nanao, nicknamed Lady Bird—the self-proclaimed “unluckiest assassin in the world” has a simple task of retrieving a bag and get off the train. Guess what? Easier said than done. This is one wild way to tell many stories and still get them intertwined. Rumor has i
...more
For the first time, I can actually say that I don't care about the characters or what is happening in the story. The pacing is so slow and the multiple POVS only made it worst. I can't say anything more than that because I only read 14% of the story.
...more
Synopsis/blurb ...
Five killers find themselves on a bullet train from Tokyo competing for a suitcase full of money. Who will make it to the last station? An original and propulsive thriller from a Japanese bestseller.
Satoshi looks like an innocent teenage schoolboy, but he is really a viciously cunning psychopath. Kimura's young son is in a coma thanks to Satoshi, and he's tracked him onto the bullet train headed from Tokyo to Morioka to exact his revenge. But Kimura soon discovers that he and S ...more
Five killers find themselves on a bullet train from Tokyo competing for a suitcase full of money. Who will make it to the last station? An original and propulsive thriller from a Japanese bestseller.
Satoshi looks like an innocent teenage schoolboy, but he is really a viciously cunning psychopath. Kimura's young son is in a coma thanks to Satoshi, and he's tracked him onto the bullet train headed from Tokyo to Morioka to exact his revenge. But Kimura soon discovers that he and S ...more
It's a high-speed bullet train running from Tokyo to Morioka. Former underworld heavy, Kimura has boarded the Shinkansen to mete out revenge after his son was pushed off a roof by the sociopathic 14 year old known as The Prince. Meanwhile Thomas the Tank Engine loving Lemon and his partner, the more erudite Tangerine, have left a bloody trail after rescuing the top crime boss, Mr. Minegishi's, son along with the ransom money in a marked suitcase. And Nanao, the self-dubbed "unluckiest assassin i
...more
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.
...more
4.75 out of 5 stars
How do I even begin? I was naturally very excited about getting to this book because I heard that it was being adapted into a movie and I’m honestly so glad I read it.
The premise of Bullet Train is in of itself very exciting. A train through Japan with the country’s deadliest assassins where chaos is bound to ensue? sign me up.
The writing was precise and to the point; ideal for any thriller. Isaka did a really good job at portraying despair, hatred and rivalry and was able t ...more
How do I even begin? I was naturally very excited about getting to this book because I heard that it was being adapted into a movie and I’m honestly so glad I read it.
The premise of Bullet Train is in of itself very exciting. A train through Japan with the country’s deadliest assassins where chaos is bound to ensue? sign me up.
The writing was precise and to the point; ideal for any thriller. Isaka did a really good job at portraying despair, hatred and rivalry and was able t ...more
Soon to be released as a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, and Lady GaGa, Bullet Train was a smash hit in Japan and will soon be available in a new English translation. The conceit is that there are five assassins on a bullet train and a suitcase full of money. It's an all-out grabfest for the suitcase and may the best assassin win. Each chapter shifts the point of view between them, often overlapping as scenes are retold from different viewpoints.
Darkly satirical, the no ...more
Darkly satirical, the no ...more
2.5 stars. Bullet Train is the English translation of an incredibly popular Japanese novel, in which five assassins find themselves on the same train heading out of Tokyo and realize that their missions may be linked. It's a fast-paced, adrenaline-laced novel, with quirky characters that wax poetic on everything from the meaning of life, to the novels of Virginia Woolf, to Thomas the Tank Engine. Yes...you read that right. I'm sure the fact checker had a fantastic time with this novel.
I, unfortu ...more
I, unfortu ...more
I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher, in return for an honest review. This review is based entirely on my own thoughts and feelings.
Overall rating : 5*
Writing skill : 5*
Plot: 4*
Pace: 4*
Characters: 5*
Suspense: 4*
Yes! Yes! What a book! This was the ultimate cat & mouse story full of suspense and mystery. Think murder on the orient express on crack.
We follow 5 main characters, all assassins, aboard a train. All there for personal and selfish reasons and all their situations overlap ...more
Overall rating : 5*
Writing skill : 5*
Plot: 4*
Pace: 4*
Characters: 5*
Suspense: 4*
Yes! Yes! What a book! This was the ultimate cat & mouse story full of suspense and mystery. Think murder on the orient express on crack.
We follow 5 main characters, all assassins, aboard a train. All there for personal and selfish reasons and all their situations overlap ...more
1. The story surrounds a group of shady characters on a Shinkansen towards Moroika. It’s mildly entertaining and has some moral philosophies weaves into the story, though I find it rather slow in certain sections.
2. Satoshi aka The Prince is only 14 years old but he has the heart of cadaver and is cooly calculative. He is a psychopath and is as evil as any hard core criminals. Call me sadistic but I am glad he got the ending he deserves. What do you expect when you are in cross fire with all th ...more
2. Satoshi aka The Prince is only 14 years old but he has the heart of cadaver and is cooly calculative. He is a psychopath and is as evil as any hard core criminals. Call me sadistic but I am glad he got the ending he deserves. What do you expect when you are in cross fire with all th ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Challenge Corner: Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka--Starting May 4th, 2022 | 18 | 8 | May 10, 2022 09:42AM | |
| J.D. Robb : Bullet Train Movie | 1 | 10 | Apr 16, 2022 12:42PM | |
| Japanese Literature: 10/21 Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka | 7 | 63 | Oct 30, 2021 05:24PM | |
| Huntsville-Madiso...: Hoopla Pick - August 5 - Bullet Train | 1 | 7 | Aug 05, 2021 06:55AM |
Readers also enjoyed
Kōtarō Isaka (伊坂幸太郎, Isaka Koutarou) is a Japanese author of mystery fiction.
Isaka was born in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from the law faculty of Tohoku University, he worked as a system engineer. Isaka quit his company job and focused on writing after hearing Kazuyoshi Saito's 1997 song "Kōfuku na Chōshoku Taikutsu na Yūshoku", and the two have collaborated several ti ...more
Isaka was born in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from the law faculty of Tohoku University, he worked as a system engineer. Isaka quit his company job and focused on writing after hearing Kazuyoshi Saito's 1997 song "Kōfuku na Chōshoku Taikutsu na Yūshoku", and the two have collaborated several ti ...more
Other books in the series
殺し屋
(3 books)
![死神の精度 [Shinigami no seido]](http://web.archive.org./web/20220728022103im_/https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385141894l/2712131._SX98_.jpg "死神の精度 [Shinigami no seido]")
![重力ピエロ [Jūryoku piero]](http://web.archive.org./web/20220728022103im_/https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385141826l/2712097._SX98_.jpg "重力ピエロ [Jūryoku piero]")
Articles featuring this book
Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we humbly endeavor to provide readers with book lists that will be useful, or interesting, or at least...
296 likes · 78 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“Often the case with people who don't read fiction. Hollow inside, monochrome, so they can switch gears 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.”
—
7 likes
“KIMURA Tokyo Station is packed. It’s been a while since Yuichi Kimura was here last, so he isn’t sure if it’s always this crowded. He’d believe it if someone told him there was a special event going on. The throngs of people coming and going press in on him, reminding him of the TV show he and Wataru had watched together, the one about penguins, all jammed in tight together. At least the penguins have an excuse, thinks Kimura. It’s freezing where they live. He waits for an opening in the stream of people, cuts between the souvenir shops and kiosks, quickening his pace. Up a short flight of stairs to the turnstile for the Shinkansen high-speed bullet train. As he passes through the automated ticketing gate”
—
2 likes
More quotes…
