Japan, Japanese-lore, action-adventure, crime-fiction, suspense

Strong characters, history, suspense, and lots of action contribute to making this an excellent read! ( )

This book is an action/adventure novella with historical undertones. Taking place in Japan, a Japanese mobster boss nearing retirement wants to commit one last crime before he leaves for good. He had been trying to obtain a priceless samurai suit of armor for a long time that he believed had once belonged to an ancient samurai ancestor of his. Not being able to obtain it any other way, he decides to steal it from the museum it was on display at... and he would kill anybody who got in his way or dared to interfere. The hero of the story - Hiram Kane, a character much like those of Clive Cussler - is caught right in the middle when he befriends the family that owns the museum, and overhears the mob boss's underlings discussing the heist. He decides to stop them... no matter the cost.

This book is filled with vividly detailed verbal pictures, interesting characters, historic events and places, and fast-paced heart-pounding action scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat. I enjoyed it. However, I do have one small complaint about it, which is why it only gets 4 stars instead of 5. It has too much unnecessary foul language in it for such a short book, with 18 instances of the f-word (or its derivatives) being used, as well as several other foul words. Some would be understandable, but it has just too much, and it distracts from the story itself, which I would otherwise call a 5-star story. ( )