The Last Assassin [Unabridged] (John Rain Thrillers) [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Barry Eisler (author) (Author)

Book Description

Series: John Rain Thrillers | Publication Date: June 1, 2006

When John Rain, the Japanese/American "contract killer with a conscience" (Entertainment Weekly), learns that his former lover, Midori, has been raising their child in New York, he senses a chance for reconciliation, perhaps even for redemption. But Midori is being watched by Rain’s enemies, and his sudden appearance puts mother and child in terrible danger. To save them, Rain is forced to use the same deadly talents he had been hoping to leave behind. With the help of Tatsu, his friendly nemesis in the Japanese FBI, and Dox, the ex-marine sniper whose good ol’ boy persona masks a killer as deadly as Rain himself, Rain races against time to bring his enemies into the open and eliminate them forever. But to finish the job, he’ll need one more ally: Israeli intelligence agent Delilah, a woman who represents an altogether different kind of threat... Filled with "action-packed scenes worthy of a Jerry Bruckheimer film" (Sun-Sentinel), The Last Assassin is Barry Eisler’s most ambitious and most satisfying book yet.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Japanese-American assassin John Rain is growing tired of the killing game and wants to find a way out. When he tries to reconnect with Midori, the mother of the child he's just learned he had, he runs afoul of the Yakuza, who hope to use Rain's son as leverage against him. McConnohie narrates in a resonant, deep baritone using a plain American dialect, but when voicing foreign characters, he skillfully adds just enough of an accent to differentiate them. Throughout the book, Eisler keeps the action coming at a fast and furious pace, and McConnohie is up to the task; he brings the fighting sequences vividly to life with his measured and deliberate pacing, keeping the listener fully engaged and riveted. The novel works best when Eisler sticks with Rain's point of view, less so when he shifts to other characters. McConnohie, who does a fine job in every aspect of this recording, is also at his best when bringing Rain to life.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The fifth John Rain novel is the first not to feature the Japanese American contract killer's name in the title. Is this a sign that Eisler is taking the series in a new direction, or perhaps, given the seeming finality of the title, ending it altogether? The book begins with momentous news: Rain is a father, his brief liaison with Midori, the daughter of a man Rain killed, having produced a son. Now Rain sees his best chance of getting out of the killing game. But can he protect mother and child from his enemies, who are trying to use them as leverage to get Rain? And can he extricate himself safely from his relationship with Delilah, the beautiful Israeli assassin? This has been a consistently fine series, and its latest installment is no exception. Rain, the killer who wishes he could stop killing, is an engaging protagonist, and the author's depiction of the world of the assassin is vivid and well imagined. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc.; Unabridged edition (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593160801
• ISBN-13: 978-1593160807
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barry Eisler spent three years in a covert position with the CIA, then worked as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan, earning his black belt at the Kodokan International Judo Center along the way. Eisler's bestselling thrillers have won the Barry Award and the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller of the Year, have been included in numerous "Best Of" lists, and have been translated into nearly twenty languages. The first book in Eisler's assassin John Rain series, Rain Fall, is now a minor motion picture (kidding, it's reasonably major) starring Gary Oldman. To learn more, please visit www.barryeisler.com. Or Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rain in the Heart, June 5, 2006

By 

Colin P. Lindsey (Manchester, NH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Assassin (John Rain Thrillers) (Hardcover)

This is an excellent action-adventure novel that rips you from Barcelona to New York to Japan and back again, while the protagonist must contend with the Japaneze Yakuza, Chinese triads, the anger and bitterness of an ex-love, the jealousy of his current flame, and most difficult of all, the unaswerable questions in his own heart caused by the revelation that he has an infant son in New York. This is the fifth in Eisler's wonderful series featuring John Rain, the half-American half-Japanese professional assassin. This novel ties up some of the loose ends created in the first four outings and once again delivers a dose of the most convincing and lethal action scenes to be found between book covers.

If you are an action fan, but also like clear, entertaining, and super-intelligent prose, then this series is about as good it gets. The author obviously does his homework and studies close quarters combat (CQC) in detail in order to write believable, harrowing, and shocking combat scenes that are absolutely thrilling and riveting. Guns, knives, explosives, fists, feet and the everyday objects of life are used to write incredibly detailed and smart fight scenes. John Rain is perhaps as lethal a man as there is in literature, but he is also an intensely believable character because he is rational, intelligent, and above all else cautious and paranoid in amounts I have never seen before. Rain would spend hours doubling back on his trail and using tradecraft to insure there is no one on his tail simply to get out and get a whiskey. A man truly fond of single malt scotch and good jazz music, but who also flies to Barcelona five days ahead of his scheduled rendevous with his amour in order to scope out all the alleys and exits and ensure there are no enemies there first. While absolutely lethal in close quarters combat, Rain prefers to assassinate people by staging heart attacks or accidents for them so that no one even suspects they've been assassinated. When he does have to resort to using his fighting skills it is generally because he has made a mistake, one that makes him furious with himself. With his troubled and unsure heart, wondering what role he should have as a father for a son he was unaware of, Rain does make a few mistakes in this novel and he and his faithful friend Dox are suddenly plunged into a vicious war with Japanese and Chinese thugs. This book is a rocket-ride, so intelligently crafted, with such incredible actions scenes and fiercely believable characters, that it's both a joy to read and super fun at the same time. When you finish you're left wondering: why doesn't everyone write like this?

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rain's matters of the heart begin to overwhelm thrills of series, August 4, 2006

By 

Scott Schiefelbein (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Assassin (John Rain Thrillers) (Hardcover)

Barry Eisler's John Rain series used to be on a par with Lee Child's Jack Reacher series - both featured hard-boiled anti-heroes, shocking plots, exotic locales, fearsome villains, and some of the best action scenes out there. And Rain had the advantage over Reacher in that he got to travel the globe and use the CIA as a supplier of lethal weaponry. Perhaps that, along with Rain's appreciation for good whisky, gave Rain the edge.

But then, "The Last Assassin" came along, and suddenly Eisler's run of well-written, well-plotted thrillers came to a screeching halt. Where Child is comfortable with keeping Reacher more or less self-contained emotionally (and therefore occasionally unlikable), Eisler couldn't resist the temptation to make John Rain come to terms with his emotional side. True, he does so in a natural way - Rain has to comes to terms with fatherhood - but the emotional quagmire that results is a jarring flat note in this otherwise brilliant series.

When Barry Eisler writes about ops, he's as good as it gets. Rain is a master strategist and tactician, and Eisler's words flow smoothly when reconning an op site or describing gruesome hand-to-hand combat. He's also pretty good at writing a sex-ridden romp, particularly when the Israeli agent Delilah is involved. But when Eisler's writing about love, well, let's just say the cliches start flying and Rain is less an assassin than a frustrated teenager. And that's disappointing.

Rain actually says at one point, "I can change!" Yup - Oscar Wilde would be so proud . . .

The focus on love also renders Eisler's other characters more or less stereotypical supporting characters. Midori is the unattainable object of Rain's affection. Delilah is no longer an Israeli operative, she's the jilted lover, which isn't so interesting. And Dox spends more time as the drinking buddy sidekick than he does as the superlethal sniper we want to read about.

Only when Eisler focuses his story on the villain of the piece, the corrupt Japanese politician/warlord Yamaoto, does Eisler keep his focus . . . namely because Yamaoto doesn't care a rip about Rain's love life unless he can use it to hurt Rain.

Fans of the Rain series will read "The Last Assassin" no matter what this reviewer says. Here's to hoping that Eisler has gotten the Emotional Rain out of his system, and will take this series back to its exotic, lethal, enjoyable roots.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hopefully, not the LAST John Rain book!, June 7, 2006

By 

Dragon Lady "Claire" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Last Assassin (John Rain Thrillers) (Hardcover)

I have simply devoured all the John Rain books. THE LAST ASSASSIN arrived in the mail yesterday; as always, I couldn't put it down and finished it tonight, disappointed I'd reached the end.

John Rain is an assassin you get attached to, and even begin to understand. Another reviewer is apparently disappointed in the way Rain has evolved over the course of five books. However, the changes are simply evidence of Rain's maturing process. A couple of books ago, Rain met a woman, unwillingly fell in love, and now finds out he has a son. The emotional impact of these developments have forced him to start wondering if it's even possible to live a different kind of life, out of the "business" he's worked at for so many years. But in order to leave that life and ensure his son's safety, many obstacles must be removed in the only way Rain knows.

Barry Eisler is a gifted writer who has created wonderfully believable characters and scrupulously researched stories. The locales he describes are so easy to visualize, I almost feel like I'm there while I'm reading. And his knowledge of spycraft is fascinating. He's made a cruelly efficient, paid assassin actually likable, a man the reader can relate to, despite the viciousness of his world.

Although each John Rain novel can be read as a stand-alone story, I do recommend starting with the first, RAIN FALL, and following with HARD RAIN, RAIN STORM, and KILLING RAIN. Each story is edge-of-the-seat reading, and seeing the evolution of John Rain from the beginning is very satisfying. I'm just hoping that the title, THE LAST ASSASSIN, isn't Barry Eisler's way of telling us he's taken John Rain as far as he can.