Shibumi: A Novel

By Trevanian

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: May 10, 2005
• ISBN: 9780307238436

Reviews for Shibumi

[maryhollis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a good trashy book.....full of thrills and improbable characters and events. The perfect beach book.

[mcdenis-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic spy novel, tightly written with suspense, terror and all the accoutrements of a great adventure with a peek into the world of Go, the concept of Shibumi and caving.

[vulco1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very good read. Exciting, interesting. Had the feel of a Robert Ludlum novel.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up because I wanted to read "Satori" by Don Winslow, and this book comes before that one. Now I'm not sure if I want to read "Satori"...This book has LOTS of background, LOTS - of Hel, the Mother Company, China and Japan in WWII, and the Japanese game of Go. All well written, but not a thriller about an elite assassin, which is what I thought it was about. And caving? The caving chapter was very, very boring. I did like the plane hi jacking scene, but that didn’t occur until page 395! (of 453!) But this book is not for someone looking for action, assassinations, or thrilling activities of any kind. If anything, this book is more about philosophies of life, government, and intellect, none of which was what I was reading it for. Oh well, maybe Winslow can do better...

[n.w.moors-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read this book a few times and I only wish I could give it more stars. Each time I find more interesting and thoughtful aspects to the story. Nicolai Hel is a man of no citizenship who speaks multiple languages. He tries to achieve shibumi (a particular aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty) in all aspects of his life. He is a professional assassin and is proficient in Naked-Kill. He is a master at the Japanese game of Goo (or Go, as we might call it) and pursues his hobby of caving in mountains around the world, especially in the Basque region where he now lives. He is, as his friend the Gnome describes him a culturally Japanese medieval anti-hero:"Only in Japan was the classical moment simultaneous with the medieval. In the West, philosophy, art, political and social ideal, all are identified with periods before or after the medieval moment, the single exception being that glorious stone bridge to God, the cathedral. Only in Japan was the feudal moment also the philosophic moment. We of the West are comfortable with the image of the warrior priest, or the warrior scientist, even the warrior industrialist. But the warrior philosopher? No, that concept irrirtate our sense of propriety. We speak of 'death and violence' as though they were two manifiestations of the same impulse. In fact, death is the very opposite of violence, which is always concerned with the struggle for life. Our philosophy is focused on managing life; yours on managing death. We seek comprehension; you seek dignity. We learn how to grasp; you learn how to let go. Even the label 'philosopher' is misleading, as our philosophers have always been animated by the urge to share (indeed, inflict) their insights; while your lot are content (perhaps selfishly) to make your separate and private peace."Trevanian writes what are labeled 'thrillers'; his best-known work is "The Eiger Sanction" which was made into a movie with Clint Eastwood. However, while there are spies and action in his stories, there is also much more: ideas, philosophies, different worldviews not always comfortable or compatible with American values. I believe that reading Shibumi stretches the reader's mind in ways far beyond a simple thriller. The writing is also superb. The author is able to portray each culture with all its strengths and weaknesses. In Shibumi, he covers Japanese, American, and Basque mostly though most Western countries, as well as Russia and China, are treated with his acerbic wit and descriptive dialogue. The book was written a while ago and takes place from World War II to the 70-80s, but I've found it holds up well in rereads. The computer stuff isn't too dated, certainly not enough to take away from the enjoyment of the book. I noticed in the reviews that most people have reread the book several times; it's that kind of book. I expect that sometime in the future, I'll pull it down off my shelf and read it once more.

[dickmanikowski · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't think it was up to the level of the other Trevanian novels I'd read, but the insights into Japanese culture and aesthetics were quite interesting.

[davewilde-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Shibumi is a thriller like no other. Although on one level, it is a story about Middle Eastern terrorists and a desperate attempt to wreak vengeance upon them, it is also the story of a CIA controlled by and compromised by the Mother Company, a consortium of oil companies determined to do whatever it takes to keep the oil flowing, including embracing and supporting the amoral terrorists that have become the darlings of the Arab world. In writing about such things, Trevanian calls into question the values that lead the Western world to embrace materialism and consumerism to the expense of justice, morality, decency. It is also the biography of a unique man who is of no country and of no nationality. Nikolai Hel, born in the Shanghai of Nationalist China between the two world wars to a Russian Countess and a German adventurer, raised by a Japanese Imperialist General during Japanese Occupation. Hel is a European with Asian consciousness. Eventually, after years of torture and imprisonment, he becomes the world's foremost assassin and, although now retired and living in the Basque provinces, he is the one who perhaps can stand up to the machinations of the Mother Company. This is a lengthy novel and is large in scope, taking on numerous themes from the corporate military complex to environmentalism to consumerism to mysticism and finding inner peace.

[beckyjg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Shibumi has to do with great refinement underlying commonplace appearances. It is a statement so correct that it does not have to be bold, so poignant it does not have to be pretty, so true it does not have to be real. Shibumi is understanding, rather than knowledge. Eloquent silence. In demeanor it is modesty without pudency. In art, where the spirit of shibumi takes the form of sabi, it is elegant simplicity, articulate brevity. In philosophy, where shibumi emerges as wahi, it is spiritual tranquility that is not passive; it is being without the angst of becoming. And in the personality of a man, it is...how does one say it? Authority without domination? Something like that."Nicholai Hel aspires to shibumi, though his accomplishments make its attainment somewhat of a challenge. He is fluent in seven languages (although, having learned Chinese on the streets of Shanghai as a child he speaks but doesn't read or write it, and having taught himself Basque from books while in prison he maintains some pronunciation flaws the he can't shed, even after years of living in Basque country). He is a Go master. He is a mystic, who reads auras and has an unusual "primordial perception system" known as proximity sense, which enables him to know not only when someone is coming or has entered a building he's in, but, often, to know who that person is. He's a trained killing machine (and highly paid professional assassin), versed in many types of hand-to-hand combat and martial arts but, most frighteningly, he is master of the art of Naked/Kill and can kill using any ordinary object--a pencil, a paperclip, a folded piece of paper--at hand. And--oh yes--he's a Stage IV lovemaker.Does he sound too good to be true? Who cares! Nicholai Hel is one of the most fascinating and intriguing characters ever written. His father was a German count, one of his mother's many short-lived boytoys, discarded before Nicholai ever knew him. His mother was an exiled White Russian, a baroness. But despite his genetic Western heritage, Nicholai Hel is Japanese to his core, having been raised in large part by a Japanese General who was quartered in his mother's house during the war. Later, after his mother died and his Japanese foster father reassigned, Nikko was sent to live and study with a Go master, where he mastered strategy, discovered the meaning of his mysticism, and strove to get closer to his aspiration to achieve a state of shibumi.Shibumi is truly one of the most unusual spy novels I have ever read. There is killing, lots of it--bloody, violent, and in many cases quite creative killing. But in this violent novel, full of terrorists and war criminals and an evil corporate conglomerate that runs the world, giant swatches of gorgeous narrative are given over to Hel's fascinating background, from boyhood on. The story moves between Hel's past (Shanghai, Japan, three years in an American war prison) and his present. The reader is offered extended insight into Japanese culture and character and Basque history and traditions. There are also several long chunks that are devoted to the machinations of "The Mother Company," the aforementioned corporate conglomerate (which--ah, my paranoid heart beats faster at the thought--holds sway not only over all of the oil companies, but many government agencies as well).Trevanian, like his creation, is a master of many things, not least among them the art of storytelling. He has crafted a beautiful, flowing narrative, rich in detail and intrigue, with characters who--over the top though many of them may be--are convincing. This book shouldn't work. It's impossible to describe it without making it sound cartoon-y and superficial, and yet Shibumi is neither. It deserves to sit on the shelf with the best of the best in the genre, John LeCarre, Charles McCarry, any of the too-few writers who use the framework of a genre to create works of literature.

[antao-3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Authority Without Domination: “Shibumi” by Trevanian “Miss Swivven regretted two aspects of her career: this getting sunburned every week or so, and the occasional impersonal use Mr. Diamond made of her to relieve his tensions. Still, she was philosophic. No job is perfect.”

“Hana laughed softly. “Do call me Hana. After all, I am not Nicholai’s wife. I am his concubine.”

I’ve read "Shibumi" a long time ago. Its appeal was so great at the time that immediately after having finished it, I wanted to take up Basque lessons and learn to play Goo. Apparently and according to Trevanian, chess and Goo are utterly “different”:

‘”How would you compare chess with Goo?”
Nicholai thought for a second. “Ah…what Goo is to philosophers and warriors, chess is to accountants and merchants.”’

Read on, if you're not afraid to read hich-octane literature disguised as spy fiction.

[waldhaus1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first read this around the time it was published. I read his other books afterwords but this remains my favorite. It has the right mixture of philosophy and bravado. I know more about the Basques and about Japanese gardens now. The concept of shibumi remains captivating. Read as a paperback I believe. Very enjoyable as an audiobook.

[pattylee-621744 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Paltry and polemic. In spite of its size, not much in the way of plot or character and it’s like reading the anti-Ayn Rand, diatribe after diatribe for pages and pages.

[zoneseek-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Nicholai began work on a book called Blossoms and Thorns on the Path Toward Gô, which was eventually published privately under a pseudonym and enjoyed a certain popularity among the most advanced aficionados of the game. The book was an elaborate joke in the form of a report and commentary on a fictional master’s game played at the turn of the century. While the play of the “masters” seemed classic and even brilliant to the average player, there were little blunders and irrelevant placements that brought frowns to the more experienced of the readers. The delight of the book lay in the commentary by a well-informed fool who found a way to make each of the blunders seem a touch of audacious brilliance, and who stretched the limits of imagination by attaching to the moves metaphors for life, beauty, and art, all stated with great refinement and demonstrations of scholarship, but all empty of significance. The book was, in fact, a subtle and eloquent parody of the intellectual parasitism of the critic, and much of the delight lay in the knowledge that both the errors of play and the articulate nonsense of the commentary were so arcane that most readers would nod along in grave agreement."

[dbsovereign · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Magnificently dark and silly, but ultimately it still works as a wonderfully original voice in the spy genre. But then Trevanian seems to be the master of whatever genre he tackles. I thoroughly enjoyed this romp into the improbable.

[kukulaj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a masterpiece of the genre. OK I don't read spy thrillers very often - what, one a decade maybe? But this thing is marvelously put together. Nikko is what James Bond wishes he were. The whole thing is so over the top - it definitely crosses into being a spoof or satire, but it doesn't just stay there. It's got multiple facets that all fit together wonderfully.I like wearing a beret... I have a couple walking sticks, but maybe I need a makila, a Basque walking stick. That's one facet, just a lot of nice cultural description - Basque and Japanese mostly. Then there is caving - a rich description of the exploration of a particular cave in the Pyrenees. I've done a bit of caving - this felt very real. Nikko is an assassin and the bodies do pile up a bit here, but there is not much gore here at all. It's like one of those monster films where the monster is mostly off-screen. There is a kind of social philosophy angle here that reminds me of maybe Julius Evola, a kind of traditionalist verging on fascist - contemptuous of modern democratic enlightenment ideals. All this in a page-turning thriller! What a delight!

[christopherswann · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I first read SHIBUMI when I was around fifteen, and then I read it again a few years later. Almost thirty years later, I found a copy of the same paperback edition I'd first read, and opening the book was like opening a window to my earlier reader-self.

In many ways, SHIBUMI is a messy thriller. The first half of the novel jumps back and forth between third-person-limited points of view and between its modern storyline (late 1970s), 1930s Shanghai, and then pre- and post-WWII Japan. It has some ludicrous plot elements, like an early Bond film without the sense of self-aware camp just underneath the surface. Its protagonist, Nicholai Hel, has almost mystical powers of perception. It contains gross ethnic generalizations (maybe a polite way of saying "racist"), particularly about Arabs.

And yet...

While at fifteen I was already aware of stories with supposed good guys who were revealed to be corrupt or evil, those characters were generally the exceptions that proved the rule that the U.S.A. was good and fought a necessary and morally just war against evil, particularly the Soviet Union. SHIBUMI rips this view to shreds. It was the first novel I read that portrayed America and the Western world in such a cynical light. The real world power is the Mother Company, a monolithic conglomeration of corporations with a monopoly on the energy sector. The Mother Company essentially runs governments. Whatever it cannot influence or corrupt, it removes from the board, often messily. The CIA is a group of blundering fools under the thumb of the Mother Company. The PLO is a ridiculed but necessary ally of convenience. Israel and the Arab states are pawns on a chessboard, maneuvered in the interests of oil. The Soviet Union is hardly mentioned at all, surprising for a book published a year before the election of Ronald Reagan. Think of Enron or Halliburton running the world.

With the advantage of hindsight, I can see how this novel portrays the post-Watergate suspicion of government. There are no good guys, no tarnished heroes who strive for some sort of nobility in a dirty world of compromise. Instead, the story opens with a CIA cowboy and a giggling PLO liaison watching on film the assassination of a hit squad of Jewish agents in the Rome airport. The agents were on their way to take out a group of Black Septemberist terrorists who participated in the notorious murders of Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympic games. The CIA and the PLO operating together, killing four of their five targets and several civilians in the process? Maybe I was very naive when I was fifteen, but the novel made this idea both shocking and believable within the parameters of a thriller.

But this is all window dressing. The real story of SHIBUMI is the story of Nicholai Hel, described as the world's greatest assassin. His back story of growing up on the streets of Shanghai in the 1930s, then later in Japan before, during, and after WWII, is fascinating, dramatic, and philosophical. The child of a Russian mother and a German nobleman he never knew, Hel is a mongrel, a man of no nation. One might think he would then become American, which after all is a nation of immigrants, but Hel's view of the United States is formed by his view of American-made bombers leveling Shanghai as the Chinese and Japanese armies fight over the city, and later confirmed by the post-WWII Occupation of Japan. Americans are "merchants," loud child-men with money on their minds and a fascination with collecting and possessing objects. In contrast, Hel is "culturally Japanese," valuing the intellect, the spiritual and philosophical, and desires to attain a rare aesthetic state of paradox: an elegant simplicity. Along the way, as it were, Hel becomes a master linguist, a mystic capable of meditative transport that leaves him rested and refreshed, and the possessor of a "proximity sense" through which he can not only find his way through utter darkness but can also detect the presence of others and their emotional thoughts and intentions. Jedi meets ninja.

This all could easily be overblown mumbo-jumbo, and in the hands of a lesser writer, it would be. But Trevanian can write scenes of violence and cynical dialogue as well as clear and beautiful scenic descriptions, inner turmoil, and philosophical abstraction. His portrayal of the Mother Company operatives and their access to virtually complete knowledge of anyone via their computer system, Fat Boy, rings uneasily true today in an NSA world. Hel becomes our hero almost by default, but his desire for achieving "elegant simplicity" is an attractive goal, especially when compared to the Mother Company. Trevanian keeps all of these balls more or less in the air.

There's a lot more I could mention--the stark beauty of the Basque country; the author's apparent fascination with and incorporation of the Japanese game of Go; the tragic diminishment of pre-war Japanese life and ideals; Hel's beautiful courtesan Hana; his bombastic Falstaffian friend Le Cagot; the detailed scenes of Hel engaged in his hobby of caving or spelunking, which I found fascinating (and, at times, terrifying). But I'll end by saying that a few scenes from this book have stayed with me from the first time I read it three decades ago: the opening scene of the hit in the Rome airport; the first time we see Hel's mountain estate in the Basque region of France; Hel and Le Cagot negotiating treacherous caves far underground; a fatal encounter in the fog-shrouded Basque mountains. How many thrillers stay with you like this?

If you like THE BOURNE IDENTITY, you should read SHIBUMI.

[joephelan · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I do like a good junk-food book from time to time, but this one is just silly and contemptuous. I suspect the author was playing an elaborate joke on the reader, dressing up hollow nihilism and tired screeds against the bourgeoisie with second-hand Japanese mystic-chic cliches.

[nicdevera-16450 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Nicholai began work on a book called Blossoms and Thorns on the Path Toward Gô, which was eventually published privately under a pseudonym and enjoyed a certain popularity among the most advanced aficionados of the game. The book was an elaborate joke in the form of a report and commentary on a fictional master’s game played at the turn of the century. While the play of the “masters” seemed classic and even brilliant to the average player, there were little blunders and irrelevant placements that brought frowns to the more experienced of the readers. The delight of the book lay in the commentary by a well-informed fool who found a way to make each of the blunders seem a touch of audacious brilliance, and who stretched the limits of imagination by attaching to the moves metaphors for life, beauty, and art, all stated with great refinement and demonstrations of scholarship, but all empty of significance. The book was, in fact, a subtle and eloquent parody of the intellectual parasitism of the critic, and much of the delight lay in the knowledge that both the errors of play and the articulate nonsense of the commentary were so arcane that most readers would nod along in grave agreement."

[rexmedford · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book, but I did not love it. Trevanian spent alot of time explaining SHibumi, developing the main charachters, and gives an in depth picture of the Basque country, caving, post war Japan etc. His other charachters are a bit lame....the company...the diatribe against big oil, not very well develped, but his opinion against corporate America...as such the story fails to be on the level of Ludlum and Le Carre, although it has its entertaining moments.

[grazianoronca_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“It was ironic to realize that the destruction of the world would not be the work of Machiavelli, but of Sancho Panza.” (page 137)Shibumi (1979) is a novel written by Trevanian (Rodney William Whitaker).Nicholai Hel, the main character, was born in Shanghai. His mother is a deposed member of the Russian aristocracy. Nicholai’s adoptive father, Kishigawa, is a general in the Japanese Imperial Army. Kishikawa teaches to Nicholai about the concept of Shibumi.Shibumi (noun) - Shibui (adjective): one doesn’t tire of a shibui object but constantly finds new meanings and enriched beauty.“Shibumi has to do with great refinement underlying commonplace appearances. … Shibumi is understanding, rather than knowledge. Eloquent silence. … In philosophy, where shibumi emerges as wabi, it is spiritual tranquility that is not passive, it is being without the angst of becoming … And in the personality of a man, it is … Authority without domination?” (page 77)Wabi-sabi represents a Japanese point of view, or aesthetic: the main principle is about the acceptance of the temporary. When Kishikawa has to join the Japanese army in Manchuria, Nicholai becomes the pupil of a master of Go. So Nicholai learns to play Go.“Go is to western chess what philosophy is to double-entry accounting.” (page 165) Kishigawa is captured by the Russian, to avoid the trial Nicholai kills his adoptive father. Soon Nicholai is captured by the Americans and held in jail, where he is tortured.During his imprisonment Nicholai retains his sanity studying the Basque language. In jail he also develops a sense of proximity: he manages to feel people near him, although in darkness.After three years Nicholai gains freedom becoming a spy in the US Intelligence Service. Nicholai asks for the names of those who tortured him as payment for his service .Nicholai becomes a skillful killer, and in his fifties he retires in the mountain of the Basque country, living with his mistress, Hana, in a shibui way.Nicholai becomes an expert in caving, accompanied by his best friend Le Cagot.“This most primitive nightmares involve falling through the dark, or wandering lost through mazes of alien chaos. And the caver - crazy being that he is - volitionally chooses to face these nightmare conditions. That is why he is more insane than the climber, because the thing he risks at every moment is his sanity.” (page 235)Nicholai’s existence is interrupted by the arrival in his castle of Hannah, the niece of a man who saved Nicholai’s life.Hel, Hana, and Hannah: three hs, surrounded by another h: hate. And facing hate, shibumi; or, better, they are side by side. Although Shibumi resembles a spy story by John LeCarre`, the background and suggestions of the story expand the espionage ambit, such as fights between powerful organizations. Trevanian tells also about ways of life (shibumi), cultural anthropological (Basque People), and Anti-Americanism sentiment (Nicholai leaves Japan, protesting against Westernization of Japan; remembering the same idea of Yukio Mishima).

[joycepa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Advertised as an 80s-style international spy thriller, Shibumi has surprisingly little of the type of action expected from that genre, although there is some. Contrasting with pre-World War II Japanese traditional values and culture, Trevanian delivers an utterly damning, contemptuous critique of Western (i.e., developed world) mores and attitudes; he is particularly scornful of American culture, although Germany, France, and the British certainly come in for their share. The vehicle he uses for his story is Nicolai Alexandrovich Hel, the son of a White Russian mother and a Prussian father. Born in Shanghai, Nicolai is still a young, though street-wise, boy when the Japanese invade China and take over Shaghai . Brilliant, he comes under the protection of a Japanese general, who sends him to Japan to be educated by a Japanese Go master. Hel comes in contact (more like massive culture shock) with American culture when, after the war, he is forced to work for the Americans as a translator, and comes to hate everything American culture is.There is a long section on caving, Hel’s favorite “sport”, which is interesting even to someone like me who has never had nor ever will have any desire whatsoever to cave. It’s a fascinating look into that world--what it takes to explore and to claim discovery of a new cave system.I enjoyed the book a great deal, agreeing with much of what Trevanian has to say about the sterility of American values. While I’m not sure that was what was intended, I found the scenes involving the CIA to be funny; the whole organization from top down is portrayed as a sort of 80s Keystone Kops. This is a stand-alone book, not any part of a series, but I am intrigued enough by Trevanian’s attitudes that I intend to read more of his work just to see what he does in other genres. Don’t look for tremendous character development; this book is more philosophy well-disguised as fiction, but to my mind, entertaining while thought-provoking.Highly recommended.

[ryosode_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great read. This is not only a labor of love but a demonstration of Trevanian's cultural awareness.I believe writing a full review for this book is a major task. I will let it sit and sink in, maybe read it one more time, maybe even study a bit about Basque culture before writing a proper review.

[adno_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The good: Interesting topics. Good plot. Several memorable characters (particularly Le Cagot). Very readable.The bad: Pretentious. Most characters flat and stereotypical (particularly the women). Ending just passable.Overall: Certainly worth reading, but do not expect too much. That way, you will be pleasantly surprised at times. The story is essentially good and there is a lot of interesting details, unfortunatelly it pretends to contain some substance, which isn't there, at least not for me. I'd say that the author falls short of achieving shibumi or even its semblance.

[robnw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Possibly the best book I've ever read. Certainly the only book I've read multiple times. I'm not a spy novel reader but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The writing is very good (for the genre), the characters are well organized and interesting, and the storyline leads up well to the culmination.I read this for the first time back in the early 80s after someone recommended it because of the Volvo Bashing description. I read thinking it would be funny but got hooked on the story. I was especially fascinated by the development of a character like Nicoli Hel - a character so independent, so mentally strong and so self-assured that he could stand alone against the masses. Makes me wish at times that I'd been born in to his household instead of him.In summary: the story is about the development of the ideal assassin: from before his birth to adulthood and later, and the various factors that play a part in the creation of his character. And a nemesis of sorts, similar in kind as the assassin, but almost an opposite. Whereas one is ideal, the other is lacking; whereas one is quite and reserved, the other is bold and brutish. If you're looking for intrigue, this isn't the novel to pick up. But if you're looking for a well written story with strong characters, or a comparison of East and West, this might be the one.

[jwcooper3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Shibumi loses one star because Bill O'Reilly stated it was his favorite book, and another star for it's never ending descriptions and repeated disdain for everything American. I know this was written with a tongue-in-cheek perspective but I found myself flipping back and forth between engrossed and impatient.

[jimmaclachlan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

it's a good action/spy novel. The title word, 'Shibumi' is the main theme of the book & it's well done. I can't really explain without giving away too much of the book. I also can't give it higher marks because it's been too long since I've read it & I happen to philosophically disagree with the idea of 'Shibumi'. Your mileage could very well vary, though. As I recall, it was well written. If you like David Morrell's or Stephen Hunter's spy novels, you'll probably like this.

[tadad_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A rather horrid book full of caricatures of law enforcement officers, big-busted bimbos, a slow plot that ends with many loose ends, predictable villains, what feels a bit like an adolescent boy's obsession with sex, not to mention an absolute boatload of rants by the author on all things Western. If you're a spy-thriller addict and like your protagonists to be endowed with what are tantamount to superpowers (yet with none of the tongue-in-cheek humor of a Bond), perhaps you can stomach this. Well, at least I found the trusty sidekick, le Cagot, quite funny—the only good note in the book.

[nhoule_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Trevanian never dissapoints. The main character is no less captivating than Hemlock.