Samurai Strategy

by Thomas Hoover

(Bantam 1988)€A financial thriller right out of the headlines.€ Adam SmithA high-finance, high-tech thriller of Wall Street, murder, currency manipulation. A mysterious Japanese industrialist begins a massive 'hedging' in the US markets. Two weeks later, in Japan€™s Inland Sea, divers working for him recover the Imperial Sword, given to Japan's first Emperor by the Sun Goddess. Can a lone American lawyer stop him from bringing down the US?

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Amazon, Japan, Mystery Thriller

359 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published May 1, 1988

About the author

Thomas Hoover has a doctorate in oceanography and served as senior vice president of an architect-engineering firm in New York, where he has lived for several decades. His vices include being an avid sailor and a recognized collector of the classical music of India. He began his writing career with two classic non-fiction books on Far Eastern art and religion and then moved into fiction writing with two critically acclaimed novels about English sailors in the early Seventeenth century.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that this story had potential, but it got way too bogged down in details. I got sick of reading page after page of dry financial facts. I think that the author could have conveyed the basic premise of the financial strategies without writing what sounded like chapters from an economics textbook. I also found the characters to be pretty unrealistic and one-dimensional. I didn't hate this book, and it was a decent way to waste time while riding the subway, but I'm glad it was free. I read another of his books (Project Daedalus) and found it a lot more enjoyable - not amazing, but it was entertaining and a lot faster-paced and easier to read than this one.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samurai have a deep instilled philosophy of discipline, commitment to training, and above all honor. While you won’t find too many sword wielding warriors in today’s political skirmishes, there are still many followers of this way of life. Modern day Samurai choose their own battlefields. Matsuo Noda studied the terrain, he planned his strategy carefully, and for his battleground he chose Wall Street.

I’ve often stated that one reason that I like to read classic science fiction is to compare the predicted technology with what we do have today. Though this book was written only 25 years ago, the same theory holds true. America’s economy is in the toilet. The Federal Reserve is printing money with nothing to back it. This leads to inflation, which is not the fact that the things we buy are actually worth more, but that the dollar is worth so little. The only thing that America still manufactures in high quantity is people, and yet we still import those as well. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against immigrants, I just don’t understand why people are still coming to America when there are so few jobs available now.

This novel brings into focus what has slowly and subtly happened in this country. Corporations and their big CEOs are receiving high salaries and tons of toys – company owned limos, planes, boats, vacation homes, etc – instead of reinvesting company profits to update and improve products as available technology becomes more advanced. They end up with an item on the market which was incredible in its heydey but is now obsolete with newer and better versions being sold by competitors.

It is actually a bit scary just how closely author Thomas Hoover’s predictions in this book have become our reality. In this story a Japanese businessman takes the reins, begins buying up American companies after the stock market hits an all time low – which he instigated, jockeys into position for hostile takeovers if the administrators won’t roll over and play nice, and prepares to restructure the companies to make them viable and competitive again. But is his strategy really meant to benefit the American public or does he have a hidden agenda that will pull the rug out from under the American economy that already has the structural strength of a house of cards during hurricane winds?

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

A novel about a foreign power holding too much of the countries debt and the potential ramifications, told at a personal level? I thought for sure this "finance thriller" would be right up my alley. But around the time a guy chopped up a mainframe with an ancient....but not ancient enough for another part of the story....samurai sword AND felt the need to leave the sword in the machinery as some sort of "live by the sword, die by the sword" metaphor....was about the time I realized this was a bad book.

It had a lot of good pieces (market manipulations in multiple directions, the beginnings of bot financial transactions, a love triangle that made some sense, a good two person villian group who could play off each other) but man it just made a mess of the whole thing trying to do way too much and doing it pretty clumsily.

Was a good throwback to when Japan was going to take over the US Economy....we forget how that cycles through over the years but at the time it was a foregone conclusion...and then Japan hit the rocks and it moved to China.

Not worth the time (and it's pretty dense at times so takes quite a bit of time).

[Chris Bridson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anyone interested in finance would probably like this book. For those of us who aren't all that fascinated by money it's a long, slow-paced financial thriller that is sometimes hard to follow because of all the financial jargon. Even if you're just looking for an education about Wall Street I wouldn't recommend this book because it is written in a way that requires knowledge of the financial world.

[David Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read

Samurai strategy is an interesting journey into too cold choosing modern time I've been joyed some of these authors of the world as well could read for anyhoo enjoy intrigue

[Brad Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the book, it is fairly accurate in regards to its subject matter concerning the financial markets and trading, and the Japanese investment in American business. An entertaining read but more so if you have an understanding of the financial markets and are interested in global finance.

[Jak60 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a honest book, nothing more nothing less. What I found most amusing, more than the story itself - quite unoriginal indeed - was the world depicted in the novel. How cute to dive into a world where Japan was seen as a threat that could take over the rest of the world; when there was was no internet, no cell phones; where the hi-tech industry was represented by IBM and Texas Instruments; where the most sophisticated financial products where futures....well, I found all this quite entertaining and it is the thing that made me finish such quite a long book.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fair but okay. I actually finished it some time back but am just now getting on Goodreads to update. I liked it enough to finish it. It's an older book, so it was interesting to see technological advances once it was written (and supposedly ahead of its time). The ending was a little too contrived but I am a bit picky about how endings are handled. I am getting more discerning as to whether it's rushed, contrived, etc.

[Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read, but becomes less and less so towards the end. It is fantastical that a Japanese company aggressively pursuing markets is constantly referred to as unethical by a main character so laughably assured that the only valid ethic is total American supremacy.

[Michael and Susan Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice page-turner.


I found myself picking this up at every spare moment. There were a few typo's, but they were not distracting. Good suspense, and a premise that made suspending disbelief easy.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plausible, but I want it to be impossible.

You would think that this strategy would be impossible due to stop-losses installed by the SEC. But the defences have never really been tested. Here's hoping nobody is crazy enough to engage in this sort of strategy.

[Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was fun to step back into the the 80's, no cell phones, no internet...and it was fun to read while here in Japan!

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complex adventure involving manipulation of the international money markets.

[Thorian Vikas Chandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good thriller but slightly tapers of in the end ....

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, but got a little lost in some of the financial terms.

[Alke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindle for free - loved it so much, that I've downloaded all the other books of Thomas Hoover as well. For free.

[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ebook - Okay but too detailed on the historical details.

[Robbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jim gave this one 3.5 stars

[Vikas Datta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engrossing, no doubt, but a tad overlong and distracting with the jargon...

[Niles Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting look into the past, but written with way to much side commentary.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a very good book!

I enjoyed this book very very much! I am sur you are will enjoy it as much as I did!

[MR S Bellard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Samurai Strategy review

Good book well worth getting especially if you are into high tech thrillers will be keeping an eye out for more books by this author.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasonably fast-paced for a financial thriller. I wasn't enthused about the characters but did like the lesson in Bushido.

[Margreet Nannenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Integring. Very Integring.

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Wall Street Samurai

[Mr Roy Davidson · Rating 2 out of 5]

405 pages

[Papa Yaw Afriyie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The flow of the story was impeded at times by too much technical details but it was good overall.