<p>A gripping thriller that follows assassin Nicholai Hel across Asia as he fights to regain his freedom.<br><br>Sugamo Prison, Japan, October 1951. Nicholai Hel has spent the last three years in solitary confinement for the murder of his mentor. A formidable assassin as well as a master of hoda korosu or ''naked kill'', he has developed a supreme awareness of the presence of danger. Suddenly offered the chance of freedom, he feels it now as never before...<br><br>Overseen by Haverford, his American spymaster he must go to Beijing and kill the Soviet Union''s commissioner to China. In a landscape primed for war this is a suicide mission he has no choice but to accept.<br><br>Can Hel succeed in winning his freedom and if so, at what cost? And can he ever achieve his ultimate goal of satori - the possibility of true understanding and harmony with the world?</p>