I learned about The Ninja in 1995 from an acquaintance who said it was, in his opinion, one of the coolest books he had ever read. He regaled me one afternoon on the phone with a recitation of all the epic sex, sword fights, and Eastern mysticism that made it kick so much ass. Explaining in great detail about how the main bad guy disembowels a dude with a claw weapon so sharp it cuts vertically through a bullet-proof vest, Matt certainly piqued my interest in the story the way only a seventeen y...

THE NINJA was first published in Great Britain forty years ago (1980). It ended up in my hands as I bought it after reading the book “BE” by A.C. PING last year (2019) because he used a quote from the book that I thought was quite profound. In fact, it was a test for myself to read THE NINJA to see if I would find the excerpt in the book and underline it to see if it had the same impact on me. It did...here is the part that drew me to the book: “One cannot learn wisdom by sitting at another’s fe...

Mighty saga full of love, hatred and the contrast between Eastern and Western world. Who is the mysterious ninja that kills people in New York? What is the link between those killings? Follow Nick Linnear through a multi-layered story covering the past and present times. It's nothing for short story enthusiasts but a mighty volume. Here you get so much insight into Japanese culture like in no other book I ever read. The characters are very well drawn and the plotting is excellent. There is much

For 3000 years, love has been an art in the Orient. And so has Death Here is the origin of Nicholas Linnear, half English, Half Oriental, who is about to enter a terrifying world of merciless assassins bound by the blackest codes of honour and skilled in the deadliest martial arts.Caught between East and West, a past he can't escape and a destiny he can't avoid, he is trapped in a web of old lust and present passions that will converge on a terrifying moment of revelation and revenge...Early thi...

I remember my older brother bought The Ninja by Eric Van Lustbader in the mid ‘80s and I pestered him to let me have it. When he finally did let me read it I was blown away. The titular subject may have become a bit of a cliché since with everything even turtles adopting it but I still think with the story’s broad international sweep and large cast of characters it is an exemplar of a particular kind of thriller. When it was written, international travel was nowhere near as accessible and this a...

Definitely one of my all-time favorites and a must re-read every couple of years, even though I've pretty much memorized the key scenes by now (both the flawless action sequences and the original sex scenes). Even though I wasn't as charmed by the mystical, magical, ninja shenanigans as I used to be as a kid, the fights still read like a fine painting or a flowing piece of music. The writing itself might have gone off on random tangents at times and the dialogue was a little disjointed here and

Rather than just do a blurb, let me paste some points from a personal analysis I did of the story.OVERALL FEELING: Excellent understanding of the Eastern life and culture; great pacing; lots of intricate weaving of plotSYNOPSIS: Nicholas Linnear (notice the last name; straight as an arrow) is at a crossroads in his life; he has just left his job and met a younger woman with some psychological problems. To top it off, his old nemesis, who he doesn't know about, is on the prowl, wiping people out

Lustbader's The Ninja is like a direct-to-video early '80s action movie. Its got gratuitous sex, brutal ninja violence, a white ninja hero (well, to be fair, he is half Asian but-according to the book-you can hardly tell) and a black cop that talks so much jive it will make you want to call your nearest NAACP. The book excelled when it was reveling in its gratuitousness. When body parts were flying, it was a lot of fun. Where it gets bogged down is in all of its meanderings and flashbacks. If th...

I wanted to like this book. It has some of the goofy trashiness of an 1980s ninja movie -- sword battles, wall climbing, hypnotism, throwing stars, all that good stuff.Unfortunately for a book about ninjas it is overwritten and takes itself way too seriously. There's an overabundance of back story for the main character and there are too many unnecessary characters. It takes the focus from the sweet ninja action I want from a book titled "The Ninja." A good editor could easily chop 25% out of th...

I don't even know how to begin a review of this "book." It's a "book" only so much as it is a bound collection of words that form a "story" (I guess). Though to use either term in describing this incredibly juvenile masturbatory fantasy is an offense to books and stories everywhere. I started reading it at the behest of a neighbor with normally impeccable taste in books- he's previously turned me on to both Carson McCullers and Dow Mossman. Sure, I was forewarned that it wasn't very good but tha...

I received a free copy of The Ninja by Eric Van Lustbader from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This book was first published in 1980; Open Road Media is re-releasing some of the titles in the Nicholas Linnear series. The Ninja is the first book in the series. There are two more books available for the Kindle. Before I was completely finished with The Ninja, I purchased both those titles.It took a little longer than usual for me to get into this book, but once I did, there was no sto...

This book right here is not for anyone born after 1975. It's wrong in so many ways, it's 1980s through and through from Reagan America to our obsession with everything Japan. Lustbader took that Shogun/Bushido/Ninja obsession and ran with it on this Nicholas Linnear series and some of the other Asian based series that he wrote during this fertile period. Having said all that, I enjoyed this book.

I wanted to read this book ever since I was kid, somehow couldn't get my hands on it. One of the reason I found it so attractive, besides obvious (ninjas), was that it sounded like great, pulpy, trashy, action movie spanning across many pages - all good stuff for 12 yo.I was wrong. This is not kid's book. It's epic, complex, and very ambitious. Maybe even too ambitious for its own good. It's not for attention challenged. It jumps through decades, from intra to interpersonal, to global, internati...

A Ninja fantasy set in the 70s and 80s. Typical 70s erotic scenes described by the author. A martial arts that was pure fantasy and magical stuffs. A book written in the tradition of B Grade action movies of the 80s. A book written before the mobile phones and the internet . A good read to kill time .

And sometimes, you know you're in trouble on page 1. (Well, page 17, in fact, but it's the first page of the first book, after a three page prologue.)"On the way in, in the cab, his mind had been empty, his thoughts like ashes swirled in the dregs of last night's coffee."Oh, they did, did they? His empty mind. With swirling thoughts. Like ashes. Coffee dregs.But wait, maybe this momentary flourish isn't indicative of anything but a little "grab the reader with your ebullience" up front. Hmmm. No...

I loved this book when I read it back in the 80s, and had I reviewed it then I probably would have given it four, or even five stars. I remember being completely engrossed in, and enthralled by the Eastern philosophy, mysticism and martial arts mystique contained therein, as well as the epic tale that jumps back and forth between post-war Japan and present day (1980s present day) America. It stuck in my mind over the years as one of the best books I had ever read. Fast forward to 2018 and, after...

4-Stars - I really Liked It! I see no need to reduce my rating, despite the dnf, as this was actually a third-time read/listen of a book that I had previously rated @ 4-Stars.Eric Van Lustbader - Nicholas Linnear #1 - The NinjaAudiobook - 20:10 Hours - Narrator: Merwin Smith 1981Listened to: 10:05 Hours - Balance: 10:05 HoursDNF'd @ 50%First read in the very early 1980's, the last time I read this was probably 1990's. This is a third-time read/listen for "The Ninja", but half-way through I'm afr...

I read a lot of Van Lustbader's books as a teenager. Always a little shiver of "whoa, I don't think I should be reading this at my age". Sigh, that innocence is long gone.

I decided to read this book for two reasons: The title grabbed my interest, and I recognized the author as the guy who took over the Bourne franchise after Robert Ludlum's death.It starts out promisingly, with an intriguing assassination, but from there switches gears to protagonist Nicholas Linnear, who has just quit his job as an advertising executive, watching a drowned corpse being pulled from the ocean near his house, where he literally runs into his neighbor Justine. The next scene they sh...

This is an older book, but started a series for Von Lustbader that were kind of Jack Reacher-ish, but on a more international scale.A lot of Japanese culture and history which adds to the story and doesn't take away. Rather adult and the female characters a bit two-dimensional, more window dressing. Fans of John Wick would like this.