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Shibumi
Trevanian
Copyright 1979 by Trevanian.
Published in paperback by Ballantine Books, New York, 1980.

Paperback
The code of the perfect assassin. The secret of the perfect lover.
NICHOLAI HEL
Born in the  ravages of World War I China to an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father, raised in the spiritual gardens of a Japanese Go master, he survives the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world's most artful lover and its most accomplished -- and highly paid -- assassin. Genius, mystic, master of language and culture, Hel's secret is his determination to attain a rare kind of personal excellence, a state of effortless perfection ... shibumi.
Now living in an isolated mountain fortress with his magnificent Eurasian mistress, Hel faces his most sinister enemy -- a supermonolith of espionage and monopoly. The battle lines are drawn: ruthless power and corruption on one side and on the other...
Shibumi.
"One hell of a pleasure to read!" -- Washington Post
"One of the year's best novels of international intrigue. It's hard to imagine a more nearly perfect spy story." -- Milwaukee Journal
"A very unusual novel; action-packed from the very first pages, highly entertaining. Unique in its characters, it has great depth." -- South Bend Tribune
"Novels about international intrigue demand intricate plotting. Shibumi delivers."
-- Los Angeles Times
"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
"A classy suspense novel ... often outrageously flamboyant, always coldly and brilliantly controlled. And written with a precise elegance." -- Buffalo News
"Trevanian's most ambitious novel yet, a probing personality study of a most extraordinary assassin ... This is terrific." -- Publishers Weekly