Sam Bett is a fiction writer and Japanese translator. Working with David Boyd, he co-translated the Mieko Kawakami novels Heaven, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize; All the Lovers in the Night, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction; and Breasts and Eggs.

A Ms. Magazine Most Anticipated Feminist Book of 2024
Publishers Weekly's Spring 2024 Preview Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers
★ Starred Reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, BookPage, and Foreword Reviews

"Through a fresh lens, Otani spins a lean and mean tale of female empowerment -- think Thelma & Louise vs. the yakuza . . . Translated in bursts of vivid prose by Sam Bett, this mismatched pair becomes the reader's guide to a time-jumping outlaw tale that is both shocking in its violence and bracing in its depiction of a relationship that no one -- not the yakuza's minions, their boss or the women themselves -- see coming."
--Paula Woods, Los Angeles Times

"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. The two women at its center--the tough bodyguard Yoriko Shindo and Shoko, the yakuza 'princess' she's charged with protecting--couldn't be more different on the surface, but they awake in each other a desire to live free from the yakuza's cruelty. I read the novel in a breathless flash and still can't shake the sheer power of its ending."
--John Copenhaver, Lambda Award-winning author of Hall of Mirrors

"Otani's explosive debut navigates gender and time, offering a gripping, unbreakable thriller."
--Tokyo Weekender

"As thrilling as it is fast paced."
--First Clue Reviews

"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

"Otani paints a vivid, unsettling picture of the violent world of the Yakuza. A mashup of crime thriller and queer romance, this fascinating fairy tale retelling has a decidedly un-fairytale-like ending but showcases the power of two very different women who risk everything to be free."
--Library Journal, Starred Review

"The sharp prose conveys action sequences, tense exchanges, and tender moments with deftness and lively details. By turns terrifying and empowering, The Night of Baba Yaga is a dark thriller in which two women defy all conventions and risk much to regain their autonomy."
--Foreword Reviews, Starred Review

"Circular plotting, clear villainy, and primal motives evoke the Brothers Grimm's warning tales; this literary genre-bender will appeal to readers who favor fairy-tale adaptations, vigilante-justice thrillers, and queer crime fiction."
--Booklist, Starred Review

"The English language debut of Japanese writer Akira Otani, features all the elements you could hope for from a crime thriller set in the Land of the Rising Sun: a heroine spiritually descended from samurai stock; two pairs of lovers on the run; a beautiful and spoiled young woman treated like a hothouse flower by her doting father; and a yakuza presence that is gloriously, gratuitously violent, well beyond the traditional chopping off of a pinky finger for perceived insubordination."
--BookPage, Starred Review