Shibumi

<b>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.</b> <p/>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 <i>shibumi.</i> <p/> 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 . . . <i>shibumi</i>.