Three Assassins

Those who read or watched Isaka’s prior English release, Bullet Train, will be at home in his realm of otherworldly assassins. The adrenaline level runs lower in this follow-up novel, as the main protagonists are a cocky young assassin who wants to make a name for himself, a man who murders by dolefully talking people into killing themselves, and an extremely clueless everyman forced to track down a silent and invisible killer. Adam Sims’s laconic, snarky delivery for all characters reinforces this slower pace. The introspective nature of the text allows Sims to bestow powerful anxiety on listeners as the murderers menace the neighborhood with their conflicting and ever-changing goals. Sims gives each character a distinct voice, reserving more pleasant ones for kinder characters and sometimes running to shrill for petty ones. Sims’s careful attention to each character will guide listeners through the almost surreal, slightly nonsensical world of Japanese assassins.