The 47th Samurai (completed)

I have decided to try out a new genre for once: MYSTERY. I was looking for a science fiction book at the local libary when I came across The 47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter. The book starts out with a look in the past on Iwo Jima in 1945, when the Americans started their campaign to take over the Pacific area of Japan. Major Earl Swagger is enlisted as commander of a platoon of soldiers to eliminate the remaining Japanese soldiers on the island, under the command of Captain Yano. The the Japanese are pinned down, Captain Yano commands his soldier to be samurai, proud and vigorous warriors who embrace death. Just as the battle begins, the prologue ends and the reader jumps ahead sixty years into the future to Bob Lee Swagger, Earl Swagger's son. Bob is an ex-marine and a Vietnam veteran, who is now retired on his farm in Idaho. One day, Philip Yano, the son of Captain Yano from Iwo Jima, approaches Bob to ask him if he knows the location of the katana, or japanese sword, that Captain Yano used during the heroic battle of Iwo Jima. Accepting Philip's request, Bob locates the sword and travels to Tokyo, Japan to hand it over to Philip. Upon delivery, Philip inspects the sword to discover the fact that his father's sword is more than just a WWII standard military sword: it's a shin-shinto, a national treasure to the country of samurai. It's a priceless artifact that Bob will soon discover that it is indeed worth killing for. Bob arrives at a Japanese airport to suddenly get drunk on sake, Japan's national drink, and misses his flight. However, this is both a blessing and a curse on his part. The next morning when he wakes up, he discovers on the news that the Yanos' house has been burned to the ground. Bob later finds out that it was the doing of a Shinsengumi, a yakuza mafia group under Kondo Isumi, an infamous samurai that will kill anyone who gets in his business. In order to avenge the Yano family, Bob has to dive deep into Japanese culture and master the art of the samurai to survive in the yakuza world. Of course, he can't do this alone. He asks for the help of American-born Susan Okada and the cocaine-dealing journalist Nick Yamamoto in this fight of government corruption. But for now, I don't want to give away any major details on the story. The significance of the sword and why even the government would turn to the yakuza to retrieve it are all revealed in the story to provide a sense of excitement for the reader as he/she puts the pieces together to solve the mystery of the shin-shinto. This factor makes the book very enjoyable and I strongly recommend it to anyone looking for an amazing triller