A classic spy novel from the bestselling author, Trevanian, about a westerner raised in Japan who becomes one of the world’s most accomplished assassins.Nicholai Hel is the world’s most wanted man. Born in Shanghai during the chaos of World War I, he is the son of an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father and is the protégé of a Japanese Go master. Hel survived the … survived the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world’s most artful lover and its most accomplished—and well-paid—assassin. Hel is a genius, a mystic, and a master of language and culture, and his secret is his determination to attain a rare kind of personal excellence, a state of effortless perfection known only as shibumi.
Now living in an isolated mountain fortress with his exquisite mistress, Hel is unwillingly drawn back into the life he’d tried to leave behind when a beautiful young stranger arrives at his door, seeking help and refuge. It soon becomes clear that Hel is being tracked by his most sinister enemy—a supermonolith of international espionage known only as the Mother Company. The battle lines are drawn: ruthless power and corruption on one side, and on the other . . . shibumi.
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Good history mixed with a good spy novel.
Exelent characters,great story line.
Fascinating and intense. A page turner.
Read it years ago and LOVED it. A real page-turner.
This is my all-time favorite fiction/action book. Incredible characters, plot, and environment. I’ve worn out three paperbacks and finally found the hard cover.
and Thank You!
I had read this some years ago and reread it recently. Original and unpredictable storyline. About a man who speaks several languages, has no true home country, and works as a assassin. The friends and companions throughout is life are colorful and touching. Worth the rereading.
I’ve long said Trevanian was my favorite author – since I was a young teen in fact. Not by coincidence, Trevanian was my father’s favorite author as well. After twenty years, college, loads of books read, and now writing a few of my own, I decided to re-visit a few Trevanian titles, to see if the award of being my favorite still held up now that I wasn’t an impressionable youth. If you’ve read him, you’ll know, it did! Trevanian’s stories aren’t entertainment, nor are they educational, they’re psychological profiles, strung together in a narrative with themes you should live your life by. I immerge from my revisiting Trevanian solidified in my feeling of favoritism.
I developed a great empathy for the “villain”. Great story. I thought it was better than the Eiger Sanction.
One of my favorite books
One of my favorites!
fantastic
I read the paper back book years ago and had to re read it.
A book about consciousness and deep meaning in the shape of a great thriller. Read it in 79 when it came out, and again this week. Highly recommend.
I’ve read this at least a dozen times over the years (I believe it was first published in the 70’s) and it remains my single favorite book. Read the reviews on Amazon – you’ll see I’m not alone.
Trevanian gets into his professorial lecturing mode between action sequences. Too many of the lectures; I gave up. Good action sequences, though.
Fascinating character by a skilled writer who knows details matter. Really exciting especially if you like Asian themes
I have read … and re-read … this one for over thirty years! A timeless tale.
Trevanian rocks
Not my cup to tea
ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS IN THIS GENRE. HAVE READ SEVERAL TIMES OVER THE YEARS AND STILL FIND IT A COMPELLING READ.