The Night of Baba Yaga

Translated by Sam Bett

Kill Bill meets Thelma and Louise in this gripping Japanese cult thriller

''A lean and mean tale of female empowerment ― think “Thelma & Louise” vs. the yakuza.'' LA TIMES

''A slick and brutal tale that delivers a short, sharp shock with wit and ingenuity.'' LUCIE MCKNIGHT HARDY

Fierce, mixed-race fighter Shindo has been kidnapped by the yakuza. After brutally beating most of them in an attempt to escape, she is forced to work as a bodyguard to protect the gang boss’s sheltered daughter Shoko, a strange, friendless eighteen-year-old who could order Shindo’s death in a moment.

At first Shindo derides Shoko’s naïvete, but as the men around them grow ever more bloodthirsty and controlling, she becomes ferociously devoted to her charge. However, she knows that if things continue as they are, neither woman can expect to survive much longer.

But could there ever be a different life for two people like them?

Akira Otani’s English-language debut is an explosive thriller that moves boldly across time and gender to tell an exhilarating story about devotion, violence – and getting free.

''Part kick-to-the-solar-plexus martial arts thriller and part poignant queer love story, Akira Otani’s spare, tightly plotted The Night of Baba Yaga is a violent and transgressive marvel.'' JOHN COPENHAVER

''A breezy, sleazy piece of revisionist pulp, more Takashi Miike than Takeshi Kitano in its lurid Looney Tunes depiction of Yakuza carnage. Hardboiled crime fans, of all orientations, will have fun.'' TOM BENN

''Otani’s artful, staccato sentences, deftly translated by Bett, draw readers in, and an unexpected time-jump midway through the novel gives it an ingenious jolt of life. This tender yet furious crime saga will leave readers hungry for more from Otani soon.'' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review