A review by omnibozo22
Satori by Don Winslow

4.0

I read Shibumi years ago, as well as the Sanction books, and enjoyed them. I wondered about this prequel, written by a different author, but I'd enjoyed Winslow's other writings, so I went for this one. While it didn't capture quite the savoir faire of the later protagonist, Hel, that can be discounted because this book is about Hel becoming the man in Shibumi. Lots o rollicking fun through Asia, with a smattering of philosophy and Winslow's analysis of the conspiracy of shits that led to US involvement in SEA. He is doing the same in his Border trilogy about Mexico and the dishonest US "war against drugs" bullshit. I'm in the middle of the second book of that series.