A westerner raised in Japan, he survived the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world's most artful lover and its most accomplished assassin. His greatest desire is to attain a state of effortless perfection . . . shibumi. But he is about to face his most sinister and corrupt enemy -- a supermonolith of espionage and monopoly bent on destroying him. . . . From the Paperback edition.
It is the summer of 1914. Golden days that look to roll on forever...who could hear the guns of August? Deep in the Basque countryside, a young doctor signs on at a clinic. His first case is simple, the consequences complex...for he meets a young woman, Katya, with whom he falls deeply in love.
Jonathan Hemlock, Professor of Art, world-renowned mountain climber and freelance assassin for the CII. Hemlock is sent to Switzerland on a mission to climb the notorious Eiger peak of the Alps, whose north face has meant death to many climbers. Hemlock's target: one of his three fellow climbers. The only problem is, CII can't tell him which one...