"Shunichiro Kusaka plans to shape the future of the world. Using his intellect, charisma, and the family megacorporation, Kusaka speaks with pride of an Asian-dominated 21st century, based around control of oil reserves, in a vision that encompasses the "family" of "all Yellows"--from the rich, sedate Japan to the restless nations of Southeast Asia. Yet Shunichiro's own family, his own "strain," had to be eradicated first. It's first and foremost in his self-interest; when his father disappeared, Kusaka's bankers and elder directors attempted to back his half-brother Shingo for the succession, thinking he would be easier to manipulate. On a Malaysian trip, Shunichiro promptly framed Shingo for capital drug possession; believing him executed, he later moved to murder an old lover and her daughter who had ended up in the slums of Kuala Lumpur. But, through a quirk of fate, Shingo was not executed; instead he escaped and for three years worked as an assassin under the pseudonym Mayo, meaning "The Horse." Here is the second reason for Shunichiro winnowing out his "strain;" he believes it is dangerous, and that Shingo is an aberrant bad seed who even in childhood stalked human game. Betrayer that he is, Shunichiro may be right about his half-brother, who has won over the men he sent to eliminate Shingo once and for all. And with Shunichiro finding himself betrayed by his erstwhile partners in crime, his schemes may all unravel. The question is: who will tie the skein of "strain?""--back cover.