The Melancholy Samurai — John Boston

Is it possible for an executioner to have a pure heart?In a dystopian present-day world, filled with violence, dishonesty and growing vulgarity, a kind-hearted cable news reporter is haunted. His family murdered by terrorists, he stumbles through his days producing fluffy features and suffering semi-unrequited love for his Bay Area neighbor, Riley Benton. One night, hero and friends are out for a well-deserved night on the town. At dinner, they ponder a world grown ugly, mean and dangerous. Jerks, bullies, cheats, liars, perverts, and an endless variety of miscreants plague people around the globe. In a tony San Francisco restaurant, a friend draws a button on a cocktail napkin. The hero is asked by a friend: if he could push that cartoon button and rid the world of every villain - would he?The problem? The Button works. For centuries, the Vatican has imprisoned a mysterious and companionable enigma known only as Wesley. Wesley's escaped. The world's top intelligence agencies are frantically hunting him, including the hero's childhood best friend, the likeable assassin, David Forrester. Wesley is stalking the hero and explains that every few thousand years, someone emerges to drastically alter human events. The hero is that man. He has the gift of being able to spot an Adam Henry (the police radio euphemism for an irredeemable horrific soul). The hero humbly points out that every nut job who shoots up a McDonald's or straps on a TNT vest holds the unshakeable justification that he's doing the world a favor. In a series of adventures, Wesley sets out to convince the journalist to push The Button. The recalcitrant TV star refuses.The Melancholy Samurai is an international thriller and surreal mystery. Until the novel's turning point, it's light-hearted. But, meandering throughout is a timeless theme: People like quick, feel-good distractions and Facebook one-liners. They don't like to make tough choices.At stake? TMS is not about saving a president or pope, the Super Bowl or even New York City at the last possible minute. It's about failing to save that which is closer than breathing to you, that one thing you love. The Melancholy Samurai is humorous and fast-paced. But, it's also centered around an ancient zen koan about a samurai given the task of executing an evil shogun. A righteous warrior a thousand years ago leads a captured king to a cliff so he can view a beautiful ocean sunset. Just as he is about to behead the villain, the shogun turns and spits in the samurai's face. Enraged, the champion must take three days to find his center. Only then, pure of heart, can he execute the shogun. A former college fencer, our modern samurai must choose: when the oncoming apocalypse arrives, does he have the strength to choose who will stay and who will go?