Maria Beetle (Japanese: マリアビートル, Hepburn: Mariabītoru) is a dark comedy crime novel by Japanese author Kōtarō Isaka published in 2010 and later translated to English as Bullet Train. It follows several hitmen aboard a Tōhoku Shinkansen Hayate train, each on a different mission, interconnected in some way. The novel was well reviewed, and was adapted to the Japanese stage in 2018, as well as a 2022 American film. It is the second novel in Isaka's Hitman trilogy, after 3 Assassins (original Japanese title: Grasshopper), published in 2004, and before AX in 2017, with characters from the novel also being incorporated into the spin-off manga series Waltz, serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday from October 10, 2009, to February 10, 2012.
Adaptations (1)
Bullet Train was adapted into a 2022 film.
Bullet Train2022 · film · 127 min · dir. David Leitch · IMDb ↗Unlucky assassin Ladybug is determined to do his job peacefully after one too many gigs gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other plans, as Ladybug's latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe—all with connected, yet conflicting, objectives—on the world's fastest train.
