Description

Book Synopsis

Good dad or good assassin? Can he be both?

From the internationally bestselling author of BULLET TRAIN: A seemingly ordinary family man tries to juggle his home life with his job as a hitman.


Picture a mantis raising up its blades. It looks fearsome, but it's still just a tiny insect. The mantis actually thinks it can win. Even though it's tiny, it's still ready to fight to the death.

Kabuto is an ordinary guy; stressed with work, hassled by his wife and disrespected by his son. No wonder he visits his doctor so often. Except 'the Doctor' is actually his handler, and Kabuto is a hired assassin. The 'prescriptions' the Doctor hands over are his unlucky targets. Because although Kabuto may seem like a small man at home, he's really good at killing people.

Kabuto is worn out with the business of murder. He's trying to pay his way out of the Doctor's employment with a few last jobs. But the most lucrative contracts involve taking out other professional assassins and his final assignment puts both him and his family in danger.

'Unlike anything you're likely to have read before...white-hot with double-crosses' Financial Times, on Bullet Train



Trade Review
An offbeat but touching thriller, with a wonderful final twist * Mail on Sunday *
Unlike anything you're likely to have read before...white-hot with double-crosses * Financial Times, on Bullet Train *
Entertaining...high-speed...with lots of twists and turns...it has a Tarantino-meets-the-Coen-Brothers feel to it. * The Times, on Bullet Train *
Thoroughly enjoyable * Guardian, on Bullet Train *
Showcases Kotaro Isaka's Tarantinoesque blend of offbeat wit and stylised violence * The Times, on Three Assassins *

The Mantis

    Product form

    £17.09

    Includes FREE delivery

    RRP £18.99 – you save £1.90 (10%)

    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Fri 19 Jun 2026.

    A Hardback by Kotaro Isaka, Sam Malissa

    1 in stock


      View other formats and editions of The Mantis by Kotaro Isaka

      Publisher: Vintage Publishing
      Publication Date: 09/11/2023
      ISBN13: 9781787303928, 978-1787303928
      ISBN10: 1787303926

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Good dad or good assassin? Can he be both?

      From the internationally bestselling author of BULLET TRAIN: A seemingly ordinary family man tries to juggle his home life with his job as a hitman.


      Picture a mantis raising up its blades. It looks fearsome, but it's still just a tiny insect. The mantis actually thinks it can win. Even though it's tiny, it's still ready to fight to the death.

      Kabuto is an ordinary guy; stressed with work, hassled by his wife and disrespected by his son. No wonder he visits his doctor so often. Except 'the Doctor' is actually his handler, and Kabuto is a hired assassin. The 'prescriptions' the Doctor hands over are his unlucky targets. Because although Kabuto may seem like a small man at home, he's really good at killing people.

      Kabuto is worn out with the business of murder. He's trying to pay his way out of the Doctor's employment with a few last jobs. But the most lucrative contracts involve taking out other professional assassins and his final assignment puts both him and his family in danger.

      'Unlike anything you're likely to have read before...white-hot with double-crosses' Financial Times, on Bullet Train



      Trade Review
      An offbeat but touching thriller, with a wonderful final twist * Mail on Sunday *
      Unlike anything you're likely to have read before...white-hot with double-crosses * Financial Times, on Bullet Train *
      Entertaining...high-speed...with lots of twists and turns...it has a Tarantino-meets-the-Coen-Brothers feel to it. * The Times, on Bullet Train *
      Thoroughly enjoyable * Guardian, on Bullet Train *
      Showcases Kotaro Isaka's Tarantinoesque blend of offbeat wit and stylised violence * The Times, on Three Assassins *

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