I didn’t want to like this tale of assassins stuck on a Shinkansen, for some snobby reason, but I watched the pretty-good movie of this on a plane a few years ago, and was happy to see a copy of the 450-page book in the Haneda Airport departure lounge before a 13-hour flight to the UK. Think of it as an updating of Murder on the Orient Express for the internet generation. There were a lot of antiheroes on the train and a suitably evil 14-year-old villain to keep the pages turning while taking a far less eventful journey. Not particularly deep, but a satisfying crime thriller, though common to many Japanese thrillers, we don’t actually witness the resolution to the story, we must take other characters’ word for it and infer or imagine what happened. A set up for a sequel?
No. 9 of 24 books I intend to read and review in 2026.
I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly newsletter highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.
