Crim Fiction – The Unseen Library

Publisher: Harvill Secker (Trade Paperback – 12 November 2025)

English Translation: Brian Bergstrom

Series: Hitman – Book Four

Length: 291 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

One of Japan’s most entertaining thriller authors, Kotaro Isaka, presents a great new entry in his shared crime fiction universe, with the wonderfully unhinged and entertaining Hotel Lucky Seven.

Kotaro Isaka is an amazing author who has dominated the Japanese crime fiction scene for years, thanks to his amazing and over-the-top thrillers that are filled with distinctive characters and entertaining narratives. In recent years, Isaka has gained more of a Western following as several of his books have been translated and released in English. This includes his best-known novel, Bullet Train, which was adapted into a particularly entertaining film with Brad Pitt a couple of years ago. While I loved the film, I am also a major fan of the original Bullet Train novel, which is very different from its adaptation in its own awesome way. Having really enjoyed Bullet Train when it came out, I’ve tried to read the other translated Isaka novels that have come out in his Hitman series, including the cool prequel novel Three Assassins. While I did miss out on The Mantis, I made sure to grab a copy of Isaka’s latest book, Hotel Lucky Seven (released in Japan under the title 777). Serving as a direct sequel to Bullet Train, Hotel Lucky Seven follows the terminally unlucky assassin Nanao, as he finds himself in a whole new mess.

Plot Synopsis:

A luxury hotel full of assassins – what could go wrong?

Nanao ‘the unluckiest assassin in the world’ has been hired to deliver a birthday present to a guest at a luxury Tokyo Hotel. It seems like a simple assignment but by the time he leaves the guest’s room one man is dead and more will soon follow. As events spiral out of control as it becomes clear several different killers, with varying missions, are all taking a stay in the hotel at the same time. And they’re all particularly interested in a young woman with a photographic memory, hiding out on one of the twenty floors.

Will Nanao find the truth about what’s going on? And will he check out alive?

In this original, gripping and inventive follow-up to the international bestseller Bullet Train, Kotaro Isaka demonstrates his unparalleled gift for unique characters and unexpected twists.

Hotel Lucky Seven was another very impressive outing from Isaka, as he once again wows with his outrageous array of assassins, fighting for their lives amongst a complex conspiracy narrative. Slick, relentlessly entertaining and very addictive, Hotel Lucky Seven was an amazing read, and one that I powered through in less than a day.

Isaka created another very fun over-the-top story for Hotel Lucky Seven that quickly drags you in with its fantastic action. Initially focusing on the main protagonist, Nanao, who has only recently recovered from his near-death experience on the deadly bullet train, the book sees the constantly unlucky character enter a hotel for a routine delivery, only to find himself in the middle of another quickly deteriorating situation. Forced to kill someone while delivering a birthday present, Nanao soon find himself drawn into a larger confrontation involving Kamino, a young woman with an impressive memory, who is trying to escape her underworld boss. Having accidently killed or incapacitated Kamino’s bodyguards while trying to flee the hotel to save his handler, Nanao soon finds himself reluctantly helping Kamino contend with a band of assassins known as the Six. This proves to be a great central focus for Lucky Seven, which Isaka further enhances with intriguing chapters focused on other amusing characters like the killer team of Pillow and Blanket, two effective body removalists who are stalking the halls of the hotel on their own mission, as well as some interesting interludes around a famous politician in the restaurant who is being interviewed by an ambitious reporter.

These interlocking storylines come together nicely as the book continue, and I liked how well the various chapters flowed into each other. Isaka keeps loading up the action as Nanao uses his unlikely combat skills against the various members of the slowly dwindling six as he desperately tries to escape the hotel. After some very entertaining antics, as well as a couple of over-the-top deaths, the author sets up for the big conclusion, with the surviving characters coming together for a big confrontation. While the story had been very fun, if relatively straightforward, up to this point, Isaka throws in an excellent twist that makes you re-evaluate the rest of the book. There was a ton of great build-up throughout the entire story, with your perspective of one character completely changing in the best ways. This really enhanced the overall impact of the entire story, and I came away very satisfied and intrigued by this impressive piece of Japanese fiction.

I really enjoyed the great style that Isaka utilised in Hotel Lucky Seven, which is reminiscent of the rest of the books in his Hitman series. Made up of fast-paced chapters that switch between the several main characters, Isaka moves his exciting story along very effectively, quickly grabbing the reader’s attention with his complex characters, entertaining action, and great humour. Serving as both an enjoyable sequel to Bullet Train and a fun standalone crime thriller, this is a very accessible novel for any reader to get into, even with its subtle yet noticeable Japanese aesthetics. Indeed, I felt that Hotel Lucky Seven had more of a certain cinematic edge than Isaka’s previous novels, no doubt a result of the success he had with the Bullet Train film, and this help to make this book a lot easier to appreciate for new readers. It also helped that some of the characters, such as killers known as the Six, would be fun to cast in a film adaptation, and the over-the-top figures terrorising a hotel with blowguns were particularly fun.

Speaking of awesome characters, I personally loved seeing the return of the unlucky killer Nanao, who was the best part of the original Bullet Train novel (where his role was a little less central than Brad Pitt’s in the film). Serving much more a central role in this sequel, Nanao was the heart-and-soul of Hotel Lucky Seven, and it was very fun to see him continue to get in trouble while trying to do the right thing. The rest of the characters are a little more serious, well as serious as people living in a world of killers can be, and I liked the certain philosophical edge that several of them had when it comes to their actions, especially the fun killer duo of Pillow and Blanket. Throw in a couple of interesting additional villains, none of whom are really what they seem and who benefit from some layered backstories and misdirection with their intentions. This extremely unique cast really fit the light-hearted vibe that Isaka loaded this excellent thriller with, and I had a wonderful time seeing their murderous antics and complex interactions unfold.

Overall, I had a wonderful time with Hotel Lucky Seven, which was one of the more entertaining and compelling thrillers I read last year. A very worthy sequel to Bullet Train, Hotel Lucky Seven was another incredible read from Kotaro Isaka that will keep you hooked right to end with his awesome action, brilliant humour and fantastic storytelling. It honestly will be interesting to see if Hotel Lucky Seven gets a film adaptation at some point, which honestly could turn into something very fun if they get a good cast for it.

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The Drowning Girls Cover

Publisher: Harper Collins Australia (Trade Paperback – 5 July 2023)

Series: Standalone

Length: 323 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Rising Australian crime fiction author Veronica Lando presents a particularly intense and captivating read in her latest gritty release, The Drowning Girls.

Port Flinders in the north of Australia is a desperate town, suffering from depleted fishing and a poor economic future. The only thing that is keeping the tiny town going is its infamous Drowning Girl Festival, which draws vast crowds of tourists to the town’s mangrove-lined shores each year. The festival honours a statue that is symbolically dropped into the water in a seemingly harmless bit of fun, recognising an old legend that a woman must be sacrificed each year to revitalise the town’s fishing. But not everyone thinks that the legend is untrue, especially as a tragic drowning of two girls 25 years earlier seemed to save the town.

As the new festival beings, Nate Bass arrives, set to temporarily fill in as the town’s sole teacher. Forced to take the job after an incident at his last school, Port Flinders is the last place Nate ever wanted to come back to, as he has history with the town and its sinister festival. However, the past has a way of coming back to haunt everyone, and soon a new development in the towns infamous history emerges.

A dead woman is pulled from the water at the height of festivities, but is she the victim of an unfortunate drowning accident, or has someone sacrificed her to the ocean? As Nate finds himself drawn to the case, he is forced to dive back into his tragic childhood to events that have haunted him for 25 years, especially when the identity of the drowned woman is revealed. To discover the truth, the past and present will need to come together, but is Nate ready to reveal his biggest mistake to the world?

The Drowning Girls was a very distinctive and captivating bit of Australian fiction by Lando which deeply impressed me when I checked it out. Set around a compelling rural Australian setting with some major baggage associated with it, The Drowning Girls has a great story to it that features an excellent blend of mystery, emotional dives into the past, and some major character moments that really drew me in.

The story itself is told through two separate perspectives, that of Nate Bass, the town’s substitute teacher who returns during the height of the Drowning Girl Festival, and a young boy nicknamed Tack, who provides an intriguing alternate perspective of certain events. Both get embroiled in the mysterious drownings that occur in Port Flinders in different ways, and their character-driven narratives swiftly come together to tell a story of tragedy, friendship, and secrets. Nate’s story serves as the central focus of much of The Drowning Girl’s plot, and his exploration of the town’s history, the mindset of its people, and the impact of the festival adds some great depth to the story, especially as the author introduces some excellent supporting characters/suspects in the case. The story revolving around Tack is an interesting coming-of-age tale, which shows the young protagonist trying to fit in around Port Flinders, while also learning about the mysteries of the festival. This secondary storyline is a little harder to get into at the start, but the intriguing inclusions it features have some fantastic and fascinating impacts on the larger story.

There is a great reveal about halfway through the book that completely changes everything you thought you knew about The Drowning Girls’ plot, and which brings the two separate storylines together in an outstanding way. I loved how Lando turned everything around at that point, and it led to a pretty addictive and exceptional second half of the book, which I honestly had a hard time putting down. There are even more excellent twists revealed towards the end of the book, as well as some deeper dives into the protagonist, as he explores all the trauma from his past, as well as the deadly events from 25 years earlier. The full extent of both the drownings in the past and the present are intense and very clever, and the elaborate and dramatic mystery that Lando came up with is extremely impressive and moving. This entire story comes together pretty perfectly, and the full extent of the book’s tragic and moving storyline results in some truly shocking moments. I honestly did not see the book’s big conclusion coming, and the Lando ensured that readers will come away from The Drowning Girls shocked and deeply moved.

There are a lot of great elements to The Drowning Girls that I enjoyed, and Lando has a real talent for writing and creativity that really connected with me. Her creation of the fictional town of Port Flinders is fantastic, and she does a remarkable job of capturing the feel of a dying tourist town in Australia’s far north. Everything about this town, including the crippling isolation, the rowdy tourists, the oppressive feel of the surrounding mangroves, and the various people who choose to call such a location home, feels highly realistic and it works into the dark storyline of The Drowning Girls extremely well. I also loved the intense feelings invoked by the mysterious festival that is such a key part of the book’s plot, and you have to love the dark symbolism that Lando chose to associate with it. You can almost understand the desperation that some of the town’s residents feel when it comes to the festival, and I felt that it was an outstanding and creepy plot focus that really stood out. However, one of the best elements of The Drowning Girls was the main protagonist, Nate Bass, who has a complicated past and a deep and traumatic connection to the town. Seeing the slow unravelling of Nate’s personal history is an outstanding and moving part of the book, and you really get attached to him as a result. Watching him unload his guilt, trauma and resentment is some of the most powerful parts of the book, and you really must appreciate everything that Lando puts her protagonist through. Thanks to the author’s great use of the split storyline, as well as the fantastic blend of drama and mystery that emerges throughout the narrative, The Drowning Girls’ story really shines through, and I came away with a huge appreciation for Lando’s style.

The Drowning Girls by Veronica Lando is one of the more unique and complex Australian crime fiction books I have so far read this year, and I was really impressed with how compelling and dark she was able to make it. Featuring a clever and twisted mystery with some major character moments, The Drowning Girls is a highly recommended read and easily one of my favourite pieces of Australian fiction in 2023 so far.

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