Three Assassins: A Novel

by Kotaro Isaka, Sam Malissa (Translator), Adam Sims (Read by)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Three Assassins is a triple cat-and-mouse story where the protagonist, Suzuki, attempts to avenge the death of his wife with three assassins in his wake. But underneath is a testament to love, life and the lengths people will go to protect each other. You’ll breeze through this read and have a blast doing it.

From the internationally bestselling author of Bullet Train comes the high-octane new thriller, set in Tokyo’s criminal underworld, that pits an ordinary man against a group of talented and very unusual assassins.

Suzuki is an ordinary man until his wife is murdered. To get answers and his revenge, Suzuki abandons his law-abiding lifestyle and takes a low-level job with a front company operated by the crime gang Maiden, who are responsible for his wife’s death. Before long, Suzuki finds himself caught up in a network of quirky and highly effective assassins.

The Cicada is a knife expert. The Pusher nudges people into oncoming traffic. The Whale whispers bleak aphorisms to his victims until they take their own lives.

Intense and electrifying, Three Assassins delivers a wild ride through the criminal underworld of Tokyo, populated by contract killers who are almost superhumanly good at their jobs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798212187541
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	08/09/2022
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kotaro Isaka is a bestselling and award-winning writer whose books have sold millions of copies around the world. He has won the Shincho Mystery Club Award, Mystery Writers of Japan Award, Japan Booksellers’s Award, and the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize. His novel Bullet Train is the basis for the major hit film starring Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock

Sam Malissa holds a PhD in Japanese Literature from Yale University. He has translated fiction by Toshiki Okada, Shun Medoruma, and Hideo Furukawa, among others.

Adam Sims, Earphones Award–winning narrator, is an actor who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. His recordings for radio include Wenny Has Wings, The World According to Humphrey, and The Salamander Letter, all for the BBC. Film and theater credits include Band of Brothers on HBO; Lost in Space and The Madness of George III at the West Yorkshire Playhouse; Alice in Wonderland with the Royal Shakespeare Company; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regent’s Park; and Snake in Fridge at the Royal Exchange Theatre, for which he won the award for Best Actor at the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards.

Editorial Reviews

06/27/2022

Former math teacher Suzuki, the protagonist of this engrossing thriller from Isaka (Bullet Train), has an opportunity for revenge two years after a drunk driver killed his wife. He’s concealed his past to join Fräulein, a company that ostensibly sells beauty products for women. In fact, the firm is a criminal organization, and its CEO, Terahara, is the father of the man who killed Suzuki’s wife. Suzuki hopes his position will enable him to confront the killer, but then his supervisor informs him that he’s under suspicion and can only prove his loyalty to Fräulein by murdering two people. Things get only more complicated when someone pushes Terahara’s son into traffic, where he’s fatally run over. Suzuki’s assigned to track down the culprit. Meanwhile, two other killers are at work: the Whale, who has coerced more than 30 people to kill themselves, and the Cicada, who slaughters a family after its youngest member burns a homeless person to death. Isaka makes what could be an over-the-top narrative work through his depiction of an everyman protagonist in way over his head. Fans of Bullet Train won’t be disappointed. Agent: Yuma Terada, CTB. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

The world created here is highly imaginative and chaotic, with very engaging characters. This prequel to Bullet Train is a super fun and wild ride.”

BookRiot

Very well done . . . The plot is well-designed, the connections neatly made – and the intricacy is pleasing . . . the storyline in Three Assassins makes for a very enjoyable and quite satisfying read.”

Complete Review

Isaka cuts from scene to scene, injecting plentiful amounts of humor, pathos, and surprisingly deep musings on pop culture into his plot as it pinballs along . . .a wildly entertaining criminal romp with a surprisingly poignant ending. Recommended.”

Criminal Element

A delicate balancing act between this heady nihilism and his direct, propulsive plotting... Three Assassins feels like a fever dream that makes sense when you’re in it, but whose strange contours linger long after you wake up.”

Editors Choice Pick The New York Times Book Review

Tense and action-packed, Kotaro Isaka’s Three Assassins offers an exploration of just how dangerous and uncertain the quest for vengeance can be.”

Portland Book Review

[An] engrossing thriller . . . Isaka makes what could be an over-the-top narrative work through his depiction of an everyman protagonist in way over his head. Fans of Bullet Train won’t be disappointed.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A delicate balancing act between this heady nihilism and his direct, propulsive plotting... Three Assassins feels like a fever dream that makes sense when you’re in it, but whose strange contours linger long after you wake up.”
—The New York Times Book Review, Editors Choice Pick

“The world created here is highly imaginative and chaotic, with very engaging characters. This prequel to Bullet Train is a super fun and wild ride.”
—BookRiot

“Isaka cuts from scene to scene, injecting plentiful amounts of humor, pathos, and surprisingly deep musings on pop culture into his plot as it pinballs along . . .a wildly entertaining criminal romp with a surprisingly poignant ending. Recommended.”
—Criminal Element

“Tense and action-packed, Kotaro Isaka’s Three Assassins offers an exploration of just how dangerous and uncertain the quest for vengeance can be.”
—Portland Book Review

“Very well done . . . The plot is well-designed, the connections neatly made – and the intricacy is pleasing . . . the storyline in Three Assassins makes for a very enjoyable and quite satisfying read.”
—Complete Review

From the Publisher