The Ninja

Ok, Ninja stories are passe now, and so 80's. I'm sure Ninja is to the 80's what the vampire is to the 90's. But you should really read this book. The story is rich, the dialogue is fantastic and the action is beyond compare. The Ninja is entertaining all the way through, and it's well worth the price of admission.

This book is a really great reading for anyone interested in martial arts or Orient in general. The novel is action-packed, fast-paced and complex. This is the first time I read a book where ninjutsu was presented in real enough and complex terms. Although the scenes of sex and violence were vividly described, I believe they only added to the power of the novel.

Eric Van Lustbader's "The Ninja" has all the trappings of a cinematic thriller: a fast-moving plot, a villain skilled in the deadliest martial arts, suspenseful encounters, a narrative fuelled by passion and revenge, lashings of sex and spellbinding action scenes. Although it is regarded as a popular book, which is to say, "a good read" on account of its standard storyline and characterisation, its sophisticated language, with choice descriptions and refined diction, elevate to the altogether higher plane of literature.

This excellent read is the first in a series of six about Nicholas Linnear, a half-Oriental and half-Western man well versed in many martial arts. Through present-day plots and flashbacks to post-war Japan through the eyes of Nicholas's father Colonel Dennis Linnear, watch as the story unfolds. Nicholas is torn up over a Japanese woman he knew as a younger man and his present-day girlfriend Justine who is being hunted down by a ninja assassin. But who is behind the ninja's actions? How does Justine's father's company Tomkin Industries fit in, and what is the secret behind several ritual killings in New York? This book also introduces Nicholas Linnear's friend Detective Lew Croaker, who, in a related subplot, is investigating the murders. And to top it all, some explicit sex and stunning martial arts action scenes! The part where Nicholas hunts the ninja down through New York, is one of the best action and suspense scenes in literature ever. If you are new to Eric Lustbader, read this one first and then read the rest of the Linnear chronology in order, and I guarantee you'll become addicted to him! Awesome.

Lustbader really does spin a good story. I found the book hard to put down. The mix of archaic martial arts mixed with modern day scenarios. Just don't take the history of ninjutsu quite as it is put across.