It is the fall of 1951 and the Korean War is in full swing. Nicholai Hel has just spent the last three years of her short life in solitary confinement by the Americans. Hel is a master of hoda korosu, “unarmed killing,” speaks seven languages fluently, and has honed his “proximity sense”—a supernatural ability to sense danger. He has the talents required to be the most formidable assassin, and now the CIA needs him... The Americans offer him freedom, money and a neutral passport in exchange for a very small service: Hel must surrender to Beijing to assassinate the Soviet commissioner there. The mission is doomed to failure, but Hel accepts. Now he must survive chaos, violence, and betrayals, while trying to achieve his ultimate goal: satori – spiritual awakening. Translated from the American by Christophe Mercier |
