Tokyo Express
9780241439081
Penguin Classics
Paperback
148pp
Penguin Classics
196x128x10
Seicho Matsumoto Penguin Classics FFC|FYT Paperback 2023
Tokyo Express is an irresistible Hitchcockian gem: a fiendishly-plotted crime novel told in crisp, elegant prose
Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train
Japan's Agatha Christie. A gloriously complex case of a supposed double suicide that, at just 160 pages, you can whizz through in a day.
The Sunday Times – Laura Hackett
This classic of postwar Japanese crime fiction was banned in its day for its 'decadent western ideas'. Now, the fascinatingly detailed investigations of Inspector Torigai echo those of Simenon's Maigret in a pared-down narrative shot through with political critique
Financial Times
A labyrinth of convincing alibis and false leads… Matsumoto's classic status is richly deserved
Daily Mail
Hitchcockian… Seicho Matsumoto has been described as Japan’s Agatha Christie for a reason. A murder-mystery whodunnit which carries the weight and power of high literature
Standard, Best Reads for Summer 2024 – Saskia Kemslet
The appearance in English of Japanese crime classics such as Seicho Matsumoto's Tokyo Express is long overdue
The Sunday Times, Best Crime Books of 2023
The debut novel of bestselling writer Seicho Matsumoto, first published in Japan in 1958 and never out of print, is an ingeniously plotted railway mystery
Guardian
Seicho Matsumoto's brief and perennially popular Tokyo Express is a masterpiece of concision and tight plotting. . . exceptionally well paced and palpably tense, both features admirably preserved by Jesse Kirkwood in this fresh translation
TLS – Bryan Karetnyk
Wonderfully short… this excellent work begins with a lovers’ suicide on a Kyushu beach, but detective suspicions point to a crime linked to governmental scandal… a first-rate classic by a master of the Japanese detective novel. A very satisfying read
Critic – Jeremy Black
Tense, enigmatic, thrillingly weird – a glorious find
Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier