Exit 8

Inspired by a cult video game and now adapted into an acclaimed film, Exit 8 is an innovative work of storytelling, and an ingenious locked-room mystery unlike any other.

A young man is riding the Tokyo subway when he receives a life-changing text message from his ex-girlfriend. He exits the train, but extraordinary things begin to happen, and he finds he cannot escape. Why is he trapped? Is it related to the text message he received? Will he solve the clues before it is too late?

The subway will loop endlessly unless he follows precise rules:
Do not overlook any anomalies
If you find an anomaly, turn back immediately
If you do not find any anomalies, do not turn back
Get out through Exit 8

A mind-bending Japanese horror from three-million-copy bestselling author Genki Kawamura, Exit 8 traps its protagonist - and the reader - in a looping underground world where every wrong move could mean never escaping.349

Review

'Page-turning thrills and intriguing mystery ... a must-read for those who want to devour a story in one sitting' ― Radio Times

'Like Haruki Murakami at his finest, filtered through the fears and concerns of a whole new generation. Exit 8 takes tropes of gaming, anime and slacker fiction, mashes them together and strains the resulting blend into a shot glass' -- Richard Morgan ― author of Altered Carbon

About the Author

Genki Kawamura was born in Yokohama, Japan in 1979. In 2012, he published his first novel, If Cats Disappeared from the World, which has been translated into 35 languages and sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His other books include One Hundred Flowers, The Horse and I, and Whispering Rooms, co-authored with Marie Kondo. In 2022, Kawamura became the first Japanese filmmaker to receive the Best Director Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. In 2025, his second feature film Exit 8, inspired by a cult video game, was chosen as an Official Selection at the 78th Cannes Film Festival.

Born in 1991 in Bangladesh, Sameeha Anwar is a writer and translator based in Japan. She was awarded Second Prize in the 2025 Japanese Literature Publishing Project (JLPP) International Translation Competition. Her translation credits include the film Evil Does Not Exist (2024). She teaches translation at the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy in Tokyo.