Bullet Train

is a black humour thriller novel by Japanese author Kōtarō Isaka published in 2010 and later translated to English as Bullet Train. It follows several hitmen aboard a Tōhoku Shinkansen Hayate train, each on a different mission, interconnected in some way. The novel was well reviewed, and was adapted to the Japanese stage in 2018, as well as a 2022 American film. It is the second novel in Isaka's Hitman trilogy, after 3 Assassins (original Japanese title: Grasshopper), published in 2004, and before AX in 2017, with characters from the novel also being incorporated into the spin-off manga series Waltz, serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday from October 10, 2009, to February 10, 2012. Plot At Tokyo Station, Yuichi Kimura, a former hitman, boards the "Hayate" train on the Tōhoku Shinkansen bound for Morioka to take revenge against the teenage Satoshi Oji, who is referred to as "the Prince" by his friends. Kimura's six-year-old son, Wataru, is in a coma after the Prince pushed him off the roof of an apartment building for fun. However, the Prince knows exactly who Kimura is and actually lured him onto the train. When Kimura approaches, the Prince knocks him out with an improvised taser and ties him up. The confident Prince is a sociopath who likes to manipulate people, and when Kimura awakes, the Prince takes control of him, threatening Wataru's life; an acquaintance is watching over him in the hospital and will kill him if the Prince is harmed and unable to answer his phone. Tangerine and Lemon are an odd couple of skillful hitmen; Tangerine is composed and well-read, while Lemon is frantic and obsessed with Thomas & Friends. The pair just rescued the kidnapped son of mob boss Yoshio Minegishi, and they are returning the boy and suitcase of ransom money to Minegishi in Morioka. Lemon misplaces the suitcase, and Minegishi's son mysteriously ends up dead while they leave him unattended. At each station on the way, Minegishi's subordinates are also assigned to check on their progress, so Tangerine tries to think of a way out.