I've been unsuccessfully looking for a book I read as a teenager. The book was a crime thriller. Fiction. I don't remember the title or the author's name. I read the book around 2005, but I think it was a bit old. Probably published in the 1990s or late 1980s.
The book is about a young Japanese man, heir to a giant multinational corporation. While with his family in the United States (I don't remember the reason), they are murdered. Only he survives. He immediately goes into hiding to avoid being killed. At the same time, he tries to find out who actually murdered his parents. I don't remember all the details. I think it's possible the young heir was falsely accused of the murder and went into hiding for that reason. The book goes on to describe how this young heir travels across the United States. His parents had been murdered on the West Coast, and he crosses the country toward California. His English is poor, and the book describes how he struggles to communicate. On one occasion, he hides in the trailer of a truck. When he is discovered (the truck is weighted, and the extra weight indicates there was a stowaway), the truck driver befriends him and helps him get to California. In California (I think it was San Francisco), he runs out of money. For this reason, he finds a low-level position at a branch of the same company his family owns. He gets the job through an interview in which he demonstrates his detailed knowledge of the company and its activities. No one knows his identity. There, he befriends an female employee who helps him speak English better and shows him around the city. He develops feelings for her. The book ends when the young man manages to uncover his family's murderers, people who wanted to take over the company. His identity is revealed and his name cleared. He then returns to the same company where he worked to search for the girl he fell in love with.
At that time, I read many books by Sidney Sheldon, and I remember that the writing style of this book was very similar.
The book was a crime thriller. Fiction. I don't remember the title or the author's name. I read the book around 2005, but I think it was a bit old. Probably published in the 1990s or late 1980s.
The book is about a young Japanese man, heir to a giant multinational corporation. While with his family in the United States (I don't remember the reason), they are murdered. Only he survives. He immediately goes into hiding to avoid being killed. At the same time, he tries to find out who actually murdered his parents. I don't remember all the details. I think it's possible the young heir was falsely accused of the murder and went into hiding for that reason.
The book goes on to describe how this young heir travels across the United States. His parents had been murdered on the West Coast, and he crosses the country toward California. His English is poor, and the book describes how he struggles to communicate. On one occasion, he hides in the trailer of a truck. When he is discovered (the truck is weighted, and the extra weight indicates there was a stowaway), the truck driver befriends him and helps him get to California.
In California (I think it was San Francisco), he runs out of money. For this reason, he finds a low-level position at a branch of the same company his family owns. He gets the job through an interview in which he demonstrates his detailed knowledge of the company and its activities. No one knows his identity. There, he befriends an female employee who helps him speak English better and shows him around the city. He develops feelings for her.
The book ends when the young man manages to uncover his family's murderers, people who wanted to take over the company. His identity is revealed and his name cleared. He then returns to the same company where he worked to search for the girl he fell in love with.
At that time, I read many books by Sidney Sheldon, and I remember that the writing style of this book was very similar.