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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780312992095
ISBN number: 0312992092
Label: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: October 31, 2006
Publishing house: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: October 31, 2006
Sale Popularity Level: 107287
Studio: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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It is a lost art, passed down by the ancients in great secrecy: Dim-mak. It is death, by the lightest touch of a finger. Sano Ichiro, tenuous in the new regime as the shogun’s second-in-command, does not have the luxury of skepticism?another senior official is dead, a fingerprint lightly glazed into his skin.
Sano’s wife Reiko has an investigation of her own: a beautiful, proud, and hopelessly poor woman has confessed to murdering her family. Yet the pieces do not fit, and as Reiko looks deeper into the woman’s life as a hinin?a moral outcast, shunned by the world?inexplicable connections appear between her investigation and Sano’s.
As Reiko’s questions spiral her further into the squalour of life as a hinin, Sano and Hirata?his most loyal samurai?pursure their prey, uncovering an intricate tapestry of betrayal woven into the highest levels of the new regime. But they are no match for the one who has mastered dim-mak, a warrior who will strike all those who cross him or his path?even Reiko.
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Rated by buyers 
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I've read all the books in this series, but this may be the last one. I acknowledge that this may stem more from my personal preference in reading than to Rowland's writing, but the evolution of the series is more of a devolution in my mind.
In the beginning, Sano was a noble and interesting character, surrounded by equally fascinating secondary characters like Hirata and, later, Reiko. As the series progressed, the plot lines involving political intrique have become repeatative and boring for me.
The characters have become darker and less sympathetic, and the entire mileue is more sordid and ugly. It's just TOO much after a while. Gone are any of the humanizing scenes of private life and the absence of any humour makes the story a task rather than a joy. In addition, the injection of perverted sex in each of the last few books -- and graphic sexual scenes -- has made the books less to my liking.
Again, those who like these darker, broody stories will no doubt have a much better opinion of this latest entry in the series, but those who prefer their fiction a bit lighter may share my dismay at the change in the Sano books.
Rated by buyers -
I have read all of Laura Rowlands books. I was disappointed with this one. In several of her books she has painted the wife, Reiko, as a martial arts master. In one of her novels Reiko is attacked by assassins and still manages to kill several before she is captured. In this novel a poor girl who is a murderer captures Reiko and threatens her with a knife however Reiko seems to have forgotten all of her karate skills. It does not follow the form of the other novels. Besides for that I enjoyed the novel as I have all of the others.
Rated by buyers -
One of the things that Laura Joh Rowland captures beautifully is the sudden political vagaries of late 17th Century Japan. Thus we find Sano Ichiro once one of the shogun's lesser investigators finds himself thrust into the position of chamberlain. While this high role has much to offer, Ichiro quickly notices that many men would like to hold his position and few would mind seeing him fail. Failure, in those times, almost inevitably meant disgrace and death, not just for him, but for his family as well.
When the chief of the Shogun's intelligence service becomes the latest of a string of officials killed mysteriously Sano Ichiro is assigned to remove the mystery. What little pleasure he feels from escaping his regular paperwork quickly fades when the investigation stubbornly refuses to resolve and he finds he must cross legal lines to get the information he needs. In addition, Reiko, his wife, becomes caught up in helping her father determine whether he should believe a woman's confession. This places her in the kind of company that could easily cause Ichiro to lose face. To the chamberlain is must seem that he is assailed on all sides.
This is a complicated tale that takes a hard look at Japanese social structure in during the shogunate. A period of great disparity, willful leadership, and remarkable accomplishment as well. Sano and Reiko pursue their investigation and find common threads while meeting with all classes of Edo society and the reader is the beneficiary, given equal helpings of history and mystery.
For all that this is a well written story with many twists and turns I feel that Reiko is overplayed. It's hard to imagine that she would fail to realize that she was putting her husband's standing at risk. This is a culture in which her actions could bring not just embarrassment but disaster down on her family, yet she pursues her quest while taking no security precautions, providing fodder for the chamberlains opponents. I think this could have been managed a bit better - it's one think to make it clear that Sano Ichiro's career is a risky one, but another to bring this up every fifteen pages or so.
Even with that criticism I found Assassin's Touch a pleasure to read. Rowland has a real grasp of this period of Japanese history and a knack in telling the story in a style congenial to Japanese tale telling. The result is a complex, engrossing novel.
Rated by buyers -
For nine books and six years, Sano Ichiro was Sôsakan-sama, the Shogan's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People. The perfect combination of brains and brawn, Sano is an honorable samurai whose pursuit of Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, continually forces him into a precarious balance between the political forces that vie to control the weak willed Shogun. In Laura Joh Rowland's tenth novel, The Assassin's Touch, Sano has assumed his new duties as Chamberlain, the second most powerful man in Japan.
The Assassin's Touch is Rowland's best novel yet. With her eye for detail and knack for political intrigue, she recreates the world of seventeenth century Japan. In this installment, Sano is commanded to find who is assassinating members of the new regime. He is assisted by Hirata, his loyal retainer who has replaced Sano as Sôsakan-sama. Reiko his wife who in the past has assisted in his investigations is doing her own detecting for her father, the Magistrate of Justice. Though Sano as Chamberlain is able to commandeer soldiers from the army to search for the invisible assassin, in the end it is his own will and wit that must defeat his enemy.
Rowland's sucess is built not only on her impeccable historical research and delightful writing style but her ability to build to an increasingly exciting and heart pounding climax interwoven with moral dilemma and ambiguity. Sano Ichiro is a good man in a world populated by egomaniacal backstabbers who seek only their own advancement. He risks everything--his honor, his position, his family, and his life--to do what is right and just. If only the real world were populated by such as him.
If you haven't read any of the Sano Ichiro mysteries, start at the beginning and work your way through while catching some rays on the beach. Red Chrysanthemum releases November 14th, just in time for a little Thanksgiving adventure.
Rated by buyers 
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Fantastic Item; Wonderful Condition; Very Heppy; Would do business with again; A+++++
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