Book Review: The Mantis by Kotaro Isaka

 Kabuto is a family man, living with his wife and a growing son and working in the sales department of an office supply firm. He tries very hard to please his wife, who always finds fault with him. His boy loves him very much but thinks of him as a bumbling husband who every time bends over backwards to appease his wife. But what they don't know is that he is also an assassin, one of the best in his trade, who specialises in taking out other professional killers. With his son growing up and his family's safety in mind, Kabuto wants to get out. But his manager, the Doctor, who assigns him jobs, is reluctant to relinquish him and tries every trick in the trade to retain him.

I have read the previous books of the Japanese writer Kotaro Isaka and like them very much for the craziness that they bring with them. Bullet Train, which is also made into a movie featuring Brad Pitt, is a crazy ride with the paths of many characters converging with each other, often ending up at each other's throats. Three Assassins is its prequel that focused a bit more on character development, though not compromising on the scale of thrills. That is the reason I was gleeful when the publisher, Random House UK, Vintage, offered me a review copy of the third installment of the series (christened Assassins) through Netgalley. The book is translated from Japanese by Sam Malissa. 

The Mantis thematically follows the path of the previous books on several fronts. It is located in a fictional (?) universe of professional assassins, featuring several of them with their own personal styles and morals. The novel tries to explore the moral code of characters who do essentially immoral activities like taking the lives of other humans. It uses black comedy very effectively to merge two universes—that of the common people who go on with their lives and the assassins who work in the underbelly of society. Narration of The Mantis also follows its predecessors by using a non-linear approach to story telling that uses multiple points of view, though at many points it made me wonder the need for such gimmicks in a novel that concentrates on a single character. We find the writer's entemophile compulsion of calling his hitmen with insect names continuing in this novel too.

As closely as the plot and structure follow the other books in the series, The Mantis also displays some major differences, which can severely affect the reading experience and the enjoyment that can be derived from it. For the majority of its length, the novel lacks a structured plot or cohesiveness. It revolves around the conversations between Kabuto, his wife, and his son. Most of the remaining time is spent between the Doctor and Kabuto, one trying to force a job on the other while the other trying to deflect it. The book is lacking in the shocking and breakneck action setpieces that were a predominant part of others. The plot focuses heavily on the familial story of Kabuto and his efforts to balance it with his secret identity. Although it is heavily implied that he is an efficient hitman, even when he displays his skills in certain scuffles, the narrative never tries to demonstrate it effectively.

It is the black comedy in the plot and the dilemma that the protagonist faces that become the saving grace of the book. Kabuto dodges his wife's questions and doubts better than he dodges the attempts on his life by other professionals. He is even in the process of documenting the wisdom that he has accumulated in years of working his way around his wife. His conversations with his son are insightful and warm. It is this relationship that pays off our wait in the final act, when events start unrolling. The part where he has to exterminate a hornet's nest at his wife's behest while he is targeted by a hitman who is also named Hornet is, for me, the most hilarious part of the book.

Of all the characters in all three novels by Isaka, I feel that the character of Kabuto is the best written. The author takes up more than half of the novel to establish him evocatively. He is funny, naive, loyal, dangerous, loving, philosophical, and tragic all at once. Even then, many of the nuances in his portrayal are cleverly hidden under his pattern of floundering behavior. His transforming moral stand from a ruthless killer to someone more compassionate, helpful, and regretful of his past misdeeds is depicted very effectively.

For me, The Mantis is equivalent to The Godfather 3, a decent and enjoyable enough attempt that fares far better than any average ones that populate the genre that it belongs to but is never able to attain the high benchmark that the previous installments already set.