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Tokyo Express

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Tokyo Express

By: Seicho Matsumoto, Jesse Kirkwood - translator
Narrated by: Eleanor Matsuura
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Stood in the coast's wind and cold, the police see nothing to investigate: the flush of the couple's cheeks speaks clearly of cyanide, of a lovers' suicide. But in the eyes of two men, Torigai Jutaro, an old and shabby detective, and Kiichi Mihara, a young gun from Tokyo, something is not quite right. Together, they will begin to pick at the knot of a unique and calculated crime....

A coiled mystery in the vein of Georges Simenon, Tokyo Express is Seicho Matsumoto's best-selling masterwork.

©2022 Seicho Matsumoto (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Classics Crime Fiction Mystery Fiction
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What listeners say about Tokyo Express

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Laborious and repetitive

Performance was fine, but the plot seemed very obvious from the outset and the constant repetition of the same facts became grating

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting

The author is actually known for his style where it’s not about who done it (well a little is) but more how it was done, it reminds me of the old Colombo TV series style I liked it

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very clever and entertaining

Love this book. While the narrator is unquestionably a good narrator, I always find Japanese stories work so much better when read in English by Japanese speakers. The accent adds authenticity - much better than the faux cockney we’re given in this particular book. Also, this story has a masculine feel to it, not wishing to sound remotely sexist here. I feel a Japanese, but English-speaking male narrator might have added something much more to it’s gritty telling. But it’s a great novel - one I’ve read as well as listened to. Can’t rate it enough.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Tenacious detective

I am very interested in Japan and it’s culture and have used Japan railways extensively which helps understand some of the issues explored here. The story is quite convoluted and somewhat OCD but I enjoyed it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping to lister. To

Enjoyed the change in culture difficult to get my head around all the different names but the solution was held right till the last page … excellent

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Thrilling

A brilliant, relentless police procedural in the vein of the Martin Beck and Maigret series. A great narrator brings the story to ebullient life.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

An awful lot about train timetables…..at least they run on time in Japan

The story is clever, but at times one despairs of getting away from train times.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Boring

Gave up in penultimate chapter- no drama, no character interaction, no suspense, no surprises, I learnt nothing about Japanese culture. So unless Japanese train timetables fascinate you I really wouldn’t bother.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

A Misconception

The basic idea of a crime novel based on railway timetables does not work because it is forensic and not interesting.
The “villain’s” whole plan, and hence the novel itself, are based on one crucial thing: that the victim couple are seen by witnesses from another platform, boarding a train; and this at a moment when it can be reliably predicted from the timetable, that there will be no trains on intervening platforms in the way… .
One appreciates the brilliance and atmosphere of Agatha Christie when an eccentric provincial detective appears, but is very swiftly ousted by a Tokyo professional, who is, frankly, conventional and boring.
There is no real drama or tension in this novel, and when the railway switches to an airline timetable, the author really has thrown in the towel, I slept through the last hour or so, neither heeding nor caring what would happen in the end. (By the way, we knew from the very beginning “whodunnit”!

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