What do you think?
Rate this book
Black Samurai #2
The Golden Kill
Alone and outgunned, Sand has two weeks to stop the largest gold heist in history The Chinese diplomat walks into the revolving door just a step ahead of the grenade. Samurai Robert Sand is too late to save him from the blast, but as the smoke clears he is hot on the grenade-tosser’s heels. In Central Park, Sand disarms the killer and knocks him unconscious. His name is Ivan Vanich, and he is posing as a Soviet operative. His real employer is a power-mad millionaire, who arranged the hit as part of a plot to upend a Russo-Chinese trading contract and seize the profits for himself. The diplomat in the revolving door was only the first to die. On special orders from an ex-president, Sand races to avert catastrophe. His hunt for answers takes him to a sprawling English castle, where the samurai comes face to face with the man who would let millions die for the sake of gold.
Mass Market Paperback
First published May 7, 1974
6 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Marc Olden
53 books40 followersMarc Olden (1933–2003) was the author of forty mystery and suspense novels. Born in Baltimore, he began writing while working in New York as a Broadway publicist. His first book, Angela Davis (1973), was a nonfiction study of the controversial Black Panther. In 1973 he also published Narc, under the name Robert Hawke, beginning a hard-boiled nine-book series about a federal narcotics agent.
A year later, Black Samurai introduced Robert Sand, a martial arts expert who becomes the first non-Japanese student of a samurai master. Based on Olden’s own interest in martial arts, which led him to the advanced ranks of karate and aikido, the novel spawned a successful eight-book series. Olden continued writing for the next three decades, often drawing on his fascination with Japanese culture and history.
A year later, Black Samurai introduced Robert Sand, a martial arts expert who becomes the first non-Japanese student of a samurai master. Based on Olden’s own interest in martial arts, which led him to the advanced ranks of karate and aikido, the novel spawned a successful eight-book series. Olden continued writing for the next three decades, often drawing on his fascination with Japanese culture and history.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 8, 2024
Robert Sand likes white silk turtleneck sweaters and works for an ex US president who lives in Texas on a 1,250,000 arce property. This is told multiple times, haha. Sand could smash your teeth out of your mouth and break every bone in your body. Sand studied in Japan for 7 years and was trained in all aspects of martial arts. His enemy lives in an English castle, one of the richest men in the world and wants to drop a deadly virus that would kill hundreds of thousands so to get his hands on 40 billion dollars of gold. Sand will use his trusty bow to launch arrows into throats, spraying beautifully colored blood through the air soaking the pages. His kicks like a speeding truck. Being a samurai he will use his sword slashing, cutting limbs off, cutting Achilles, ouch and cutting dicks. Yes he does. Olden knows his martial arts extensively having written a plenty but his men's adventure side is highly entertaining.
August 16, 2022
When you read such a book, you can foresee how it will end. But the interesting question is how this end will manifest itself. As usual, Robert Sand is "... a most unusual man. Hands, feet, and a brain." I liked this book as much as the first one.
July 23, 2024
Marc Olden's first Black Samurai novel had a lot of set up and, while very good, had bigger intentions than its pulp pedigree allowed. The second novel in the series, The Golden Kill, takes every pulp trope you could hope for, and maxes out the fun by taking out any unnecessary flashbacks or exposition. This is just pure action and it is a delight!
Robert Sand, the Black Samurai, has his sights set on the weirdly named Print Drewcolt, who owns a bunch of corporations, an English castle, and a head of security who talks to animals and has a pet hawk with knives strapped to its feet. James Bond would be getting hot and bothered with a set of villains like these!
The evil Mr. Drewcolt plans to disrupt a Russian/Chinese alliance to get at some Chinese gold mining rights that would help keep his struggling businesses afloat. And he plans to shoot, bomb, and if necessary unleash a deadly virus on Chinese officials to do it and damn the consequences for the U.S.!
The book is packed with action scenes interspersed with plot progression conversations between Sand and the money behind the Samurai's vigilante activities, ex-President William Baron Clarke. Sand does almost all of the planning himself, executing a pretty tight scheme to foil Drewcolt that relies on misdirection amid the punching and kicking. It's nice to see the main character in a pulp action series showing some initiative and just as nice for this to be one of the rare times it's satisfying to have a protagonist smarter than everyone around him.
The action itself is well written, though if you were expecting long sequences of martial arts mayhem, just know that most of Sand's fights are quick and efficient, which kind of makes sense seeing as he is a highly trained martial artist and most of the chumps he fights are not. We have plenty of standout scenes, including a battle at a rainy hanger and the big showdown in the medieval castle.
Things droop a little at the very end, with a rather brief confrontation with the main heavy, Talon, but it still packs an explosive punch.
This series is one of the few men's adventure series from the era written by and about a black man and it is a breath of fresh air in the typical angry vigilante genre. I cannot wait to read the next.
Robert Sand, the Black Samurai, has his sights set on the weirdly named Print Drewcolt, who owns a bunch of corporations, an English castle, and a head of security who talks to animals and has a pet hawk with knives strapped to its feet. James Bond would be getting hot and bothered with a set of villains like these!
The evil Mr. Drewcolt plans to disrupt a Russian/Chinese alliance to get at some Chinese gold mining rights that would help keep his struggling businesses afloat. And he plans to shoot, bomb, and if necessary unleash a deadly virus on Chinese officials to do it and damn the consequences for the U.S.!
The book is packed with action scenes interspersed with plot progression conversations between Sand and the money behind the Samurai's vigilante activities, ex-President William Baron Clarke. Sand does almost all of the planning himself, executing a pretty tight scheme to foil Drewcolt that relies on misdirection amid the punching and kicking. It's nice to see the main character in a pulp action series showing some initiative and just as nice for this to be one of the rare times it's satisfying to have a protagonist smarter than everyone around him.
The action itself is well written, though if you were expecting long sequences of martial arts mayhem, just know that most of Sand's fights are quick and efficient, which kind of makes sense seeing as he is a highly trained martial artist and most of the chumps he fights are not. We have plenty of standout scenes, including a battle at a rainy hanger and the big showdown in the medieval castle.
Things droop a little at the very end, with a rather brief confrontation with the main heavy, Talon, but it still packs an explosive punch.
This series is one of the few men's adventure series from the era written by and about a black man and it is a breath of fresh air in the typical angry vigilante genre. I cannot wait to read the next.
September 10, 2017
Another winner from Marc Olden. This man can really do no wrong. A time capsule from the 70's. High kicking action is virtually non-stop. This time around the former President of the U.S.A. set's The Black Samurai up against a giant company trying to take away a gold mining contract from Red China and Russia worth 4 billion dollars. The head of this multinational blood corporation uses murder to put a wedge between the two countries. All the usual action and dialogue are in use here which makes this book so good.
The only reason this did not get five stars from me is because of the ending. Not giving to much away, but this book is left pretty open. It just comes to a dead stop. Almost like Marc Olden said "hell, I wrote 100+ pages already, let's just park the bus and move on to the next volume." A big disappointment. Other than that this book and series is very highly recommended.
The only reason this did not get five stars from me is because of the ending. Not giving to much away, but this book is left pretty open. It just comes to a dead stop. Almost like Marc Olden said "hell, I wrote 100+ pages already, let's just park the bus and move on to the next volume." A big disappointment. Other than that this book and series is very highly recommended.
November 29, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. Action packed with pulp noir characters. A real page turner.
October 6, 2015
Great series of books if you're looking for a quick read with a lot of action.
July 31, 2015
Okay, but pretty good for the time.
Read first one when younger. Am much older now. One of few times a Blackman at that time was competent and intelligent.
Read first one when younger. Am much older now. One of few times a Blackman at that time was competent and intelligent.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews