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  • Published: 10 May 2005
  • ISBN: 9781400098033
  • Imprint: Crown
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 480
  • RRP: $39.99

Shibumi

A Novel

  • Trevanian



For Trevanian's millions of fans, as well as fans of spy novels, conspiracy thrillers, and the work of authors such as Robert Ludlum, John Le Carré, Ken Follett, and Dan Brown

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 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.

  • Published: 10 May 2005
  • ISBN: 9781400098033
  • Imprint: Crown
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 480
  • RRP: $39.99

Praise for Shibumi

Praise for Shibumi:

  • "It's hard to imagine a more nearly perfect spy story." --Milwaukee Journal
  • "Novels about international intrigue demand intricate plotting. Shibumi delivers." --Los Angeles Times
  • "Trevanian resoundingly succeeds in giving the reader a good time." --New York Times Book Review
  • "Trevanian is a master of international intrigue. This novel should establish his reputation in the forefront of the cloak and dagger genre." --St. Louis Post Dispatch
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