Nicholai Hel, born in Shanghai and raised in pre-WWII Japan, is the son of a Russian aristocrat and a mysterious German father. He is Japanese in his manner, mysticism, and culture. He is also a genius, a Go master, and an assassin. After post-war imprisonment, where he spends his time study languages and honing his mysterious "proximity sense", Hel becomes a hired assassin. His training in Naked/Kill, a martial art using common objects at hand as deadly weapons make him a lethal weapon in any circumstance. After retiring to the Northern Basque Country on the border of France and Spain, he lives a life of peace with his long time companion, the beautiful Hana, until threatened by the "Mother Company", a sinister organization that controls intelligence activities worldwide by threats and blackmail. This is not a new book having first been published in 1979 but, with the exception of the hijacking of a Concorde, there is nothing to make the story dated. The addition of the characters of Hel's ebullient Basque friend, Beñat Le Cagot and Pierre, the frighteningly bad driver add comic relief to the seriousness of the story. I listened to the audiobook version which was well narrated by Joe Barrett.
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