Shibumi

By: Trevanian

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

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, 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 super-monolith of espionage and monopoly. The battle lines are drawn: ruthless power and corruption on one side and on the other, shibumi.

©1979 Trevanian (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Solo Narration (Male)

"It's hard to imagine a more nearly perfect spy story." (Milwaukee Journal)
"Novels about international intrigue demand intricate plotting. Shibumi delivers." (Los Angeles Times)

Great!!!

Read this many years ago and very much enjoyed it. Enjoyed it this time as well. Trevanian is a wonderful author. Barrett is a great performer.

No Ordinary Man Wrote This

Trevanian has insight of the world that 99.9% of the population in two lifetimes would not comprehend. Beware of the transformation that will occur following your completion of this journey. It’s disturbingly wonderful.

fantastic

i couldn't put it down. fantastic. witty writing, engaging characters, satirical version of classic outrageous spy novel. writing was visual, I could really see the situations in minds eye.

A Masterpiece

Trevanian is hard on America and Americans, whatever the plot, whatever the setting, whatever the outcome of his novels, but an honest reader will find it difficult to disagree with the argument.

Some reviews ignore the age of this terrific novel

Regardless of opinions of other listeners here, I have always loved this novel. It is one of my favorite spy/action novels and may actually be one of the first such I read! I find several of the characters well fleshed and I adore the backstory created for the main character. I read this early on and am listening again as I have about every 10 years. I've read hundreds if not thousands of books of every sort yet always revisit this one. Perhaps the author grabbed my imagination at such a young age that I re-create and embroider on the character every time we meet? I enjoy mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, biography, history, philosophy and various other areas writers have created for me to enjoy and this one has remained on my top shelf from first publication. I often read for a great escape and this book provides for such in spades. There are those with more action but few with such resonance if you let yourself slip into the

One of my favorite books

I’ve read this several times over the years. I thoroughly enjoyed having it read to be through Audible.

Near perfect

I gave 5 stars because of the lack of 4.5 stars. It is almost perfect. The characters, the historical settings, and details about various countries and cultures are very well thought of and researched. Niko might be the most charismatic character ever. But I had some problems with the end. The conclusion did not rise to the level of the introduction and the body. But it is still a 5 star (4.5 star to be exact).

The most uneven

Book of the year.
Spends way to much time on erotica
And drags out a pretty good story by at least three hours more than warranted

dated, not quite PC 2017 but mind expanding& cool

Colourful characters, lots of cultural comparisons for those who enjoy that kinda stuff. 'fun' ride.

Dated but good story

Not bad, went off into some odd directions at times but overall a good listen.