I enjoyed the heck out of Bullet Train when I read it a number of years ago, and I absolutely loved the criminally underrated film version that came out a couple of years ago. But I’m thrilled to say Nanao (aka Ladybug) is now back for another adventure. And like last time, he really has the worst luck. Like last time, it was only supposed to be a simple job. All he had to do was deliver a package to a hotel room. But in typical Nanao style, mistakes happen and things go wrong…and fast. And I mean fast. There is very little preamble to the start of this crazy tale. As with Bullet Train, Kotaro Isaka has filled this book with fast-paced, wild situations and some truly over the top characters (think Bullet Train type craziness only happening in a hotel instead of on a train). The book was translated by Brian Bergstrom and I think he’s done an admirable job. As for the audio narration, that was carried out by Pun Bandhu and he did an excellent job. This book is just so much fun, and I would absolutely love to see this one get the feature film treatment as well. I’d like to thank RBmedia | Recorded Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review an advanced copy of the audio version of Hotel Lucky Seven.

This is an interesting one.. overall this is a solid thriller. It has a lot of action and violence but also has some cheek to it.

That being said it wasn’t for me personally for several reasons. For one while it’s a very good translated book changing it into another language does interrupt the flow of the writing which takes me out of the story especially when there isn’t a direct translation for a part of the material.

I listened to the audio book and the narrator was fine although since two of the characters that start the story are females named Pillow and Blanket (which was another part I had trouble with hearing) and it is a male narrator which doesn’t mesh in my head well.
But he does a good job with the material. I sped it up to 1.25x to have a more natural pace.

Lastly, I have a fear of elevators and this book didn’t help! As I said all me personal issues! But I’m not going to allow my challenges affect the rating of a good book! I was also happy as one of my challenges is to read a translated book so now I can open my prize!

I am thankful to have gotten an audio ALC for free from Netgalley and Recorded Books to enjoy which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

What an exciting ultra fast paced novel. So much fun to read. With characters named Pillow, Blanket and Soda, how could you not love it! From the same author as Bullet Train, this was a rip roaring wild ride. Weapons such as blow darts, sheets and explosives. Multiple assassins at the same hotel trying to assassinate each other. Throw in a corrupt politician for good measure. There is lots of gore and violence.

The narrator (Paul Bandhu) was great. Very high production quality.

Thank you to RB media for the advance listener copy.