Smart and Deadly, but is He a Man's Man?

TITLE: Shibumi

AUTHOR: Trevanian

GENRE:Fiction

PUBLISHER: Three Rivers Press

PAGES: 480

Please ignore this horrible cover. I read this as an ebook on my Kindle and the cover was of a Go board and in color...not sure what this crap is....

Also, this is my first review of the New Year for 2016!

Like any book lover, when I see books in movies, I am curious as to what those characters are reading. I discovered this book from the movie John Wick. I love this movie and have watched it countless times. I may even popped it into my laptop tonight. While the director of John Wick may have been inspired by Shibumi and the main character, Nicholai Hel, I will just discuss my opinion of the book.

This is the story of a man and how he came to be who he is. A man who strives for Shibumi after he learned the meaning as a young boy in Japan. He was a bright child and spent years in Japan. Now, the book points out many times that he is white and without a country to call his own, but he comes to embrace the Japanese culture as his own and this is how he lives his life. 

He grew up during wartime when Hiroshima was bombed and the years leading up to that. The reader sees what life was like for the Japanese then. Hel goes through so much as he grows up and all of his training, especially in the game of Go, helps him develop into the man he is. 

The book is filled with his amazing talents. Language, martial arts, mental and sexual abilities. All of those skills added him in his life as an Assassin. Like any good Assassin, he is still needed to do one last mission.

 There isn't really any part to be bored with. Probably sad and angry, but I never got bored. 

I have nothing bad to say about the book. I recommend it and the movie, John Wick!

I give this a 4 out of 5! I have already started Satori which is by another author about Hel.