REVIEW: The Mantis (book) by Kotaro Isaka, translated by Sam Malissa

The Mantis is the third book in Kotaro Isaka's Assassins series. I suppose you could call it a blend of crime fiction and black humor. 

Review:

Kabuto is a highly skilled assassin who has wanted to retire ever since the birth of his son. Unfortunately for him, his handler, the Doctor, isn't about to let him go, nudging him towards high-risk jobs while hinting at the dire consequences should he decide not to follow through. Kabuto's wife and son, meanwhile, have no idea that he isn't just an ordinary worker at an office supply company.

Kabuto may be fearless while on the job, but around his wife it's another matter. His entire being is attuned to her mood. The one thing he wants to avoid is upsetting her, to the point that even his son has noticed how meek and submissive he is around her. At the same time, it's not that he dislikes being married to her. He does, however, find himself wishing to be properly understood, and so his few friends tend to be much like him, fathers with similar concerns and temperaments.

The book follows Kabuto as he lives his life and tries to figure out how to retire while also debating whether it would even be right/fair for someone like him to be free to live a peaceful life.

This takes place in the same world as Isaka's other Assassin books but, like the other books, could technically be read as a standalone. You'd miss out on some character and event references, but otherwise nothing too major.

I went into this expecting something with energy similar to Bullet Train, and instead I got something quieter and more reflective, similar to the Whale POV parts of Three Assassins, if the Whale had ever found someone he cared about. That's not a complaint, exactly, although it took me a while to adjust to this book's groove. 

While there were indeed some assassin vs. assassin battles, the bulk of the book was focused on Kabuto's internal concerns. He worried about his wife's mood, was proud of and pleased with his son, and had increasingly complicated feelings about his work as an assassin. I went into this expecting it to be more of a thriller, but there wasn't really much of a sense of tension until much later in the book. 

Honestly, this was a weirdly emotional read. Even though this wasn't at all the book I expected it would be, and even though I couldn't say I 100% understood Kabuto, this managed to win me over in the end. I did wish, however, that there had been more to the flashback at the end.