The Shadow’s Edge

THE SHADOW’S EDGE

In the rapidly modernizing Japan of 1873, former assassin Takeda Hiroshi has spent five years carefully building a new life, attempting to leave behind the deadly skills that once made him the feared “Shadow Hand” of a powerful lord. But when witnesses to a government conspiracy begin dying and Hiroshi’s former master rises to a position of national influence, the past he tried to bury returns with lethal consequences.

Forced out of hiding, Hiroshi must navigate a changed Japan where samurai traditions clash with Western influences, and where his deadly skills are both hunted and needed. Aided by an unlikely alliance—a Dutch merchant with diplomatic secrets, a female doctor breaking social barriers, and a young swordsman seeking purpose in a changing world—Hiroshi races to find evidence of high-level treason before those he’s come to care for become the next targets.

As cherry blossoms fall across Tokyo, Hiroshi confronts not just his former master but his own identity: Can a weapon become more than the shadow that wielded it? Is redemption possible for someone with blood-stained hands? And in a Japan caught between tradition and transformation, where does a man belong when he stands at the shadow’s edge?

A historical thriller that blends action and philosophy, “The Shadow’s Edge” explores honor, identity, and the cost of change in a nation—and a man—caught between two worlds.