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.
My Rating:
☆☆☆☆☆
Dates Read: August 15-16, 2022
Initial Publication Date: July 2004
Translation Published: August 2022
Author Origin: Japan (Chiba)
Tone (via NovelistPlus): Suspenseful, Violent
Writing Style (via NovelistPlus): Compelling
Major Characters:
Suzuki
Cicada
The Pusher
The Whale
Iwanishi
The 'Actors'
Note to self, Bec is the EXPERT on this book. They read it three times within a year, AND wrote pages upon pages of notes and theories on various aspects of the characters and narrative. FOR FUN. Thus, they will likely find my lack of personal notes here disappointing. But what more do I have to say, other than I thought it was a fun read? Cicada was my favorite character of course, hands down, after Suzuki, and I enjoyed watching as the separate storylines came together. I found this one nearly as good as Bullet Train, but still enjoyed that book best, given its faster pace and humor.
I will say, it was well worth it to reread Bullet Train after this one, given that they're a part of the same fictional universe, so you've got some good connections to Three Assassins tucked away in there, even aside from the obvious Suzuki cameo.
It was adapted into a film in Japan in 2015, a revenge thriller titled Grasshopper, which may be worth checking out.
This is the only translated novel I read as an e-book rather than its print edition, during a weekend shift at work.
I stumbled across this book review of Three Assassins and thought it was particularly well-written and worth a read, in addition to the NYT article I've linked to this page.
"With its cavalcade of characters and dense, claustrophobic setting, “Bullet Train” steams forward with the frenetic chaos of a Scooby-Doo chase sequence. By contrast, “Three Assassins” is a sparser, sourer thriller, its slow pursuit distending across Tokyo and leaving plenty of time for dread."