John Rain, Barry Eisler's American-Japanese hit man for hire, makes his fifth appearance -- but hopefully not the last -- in "The Last Assassin." After deadly sojourns around Southeast Asia and on other continents, the Rain saga has come full circle, with surviving characters from Eisler's first work, plus new additions, converging on Japan.
If Rain hadn't mixed business with pleasure, his life wouldn't be quite so complicated. But he learns he had fathered a son by a Japanese woman, Midori, whose own father Rain had been hired to terminate in his debut appearance. Rain subsequently saved Midori's life and she moved to New York, where she works as a jazz pianist. But Rain's nemesis, powerful gang leader Yamaoto, is convinced that putting a watch on Midori will eventually lead him to Rain.
To protect his former lover and their baby son, Rain sets out to wreck the partnership between Yamaoto's gang and that of Big Liu, his Taiwanese drug connection. This is done with the tacit approval and partial assistance of Tatsu, Rain's high-ranking friend in Japan's National Police Agency. Rain, it seems, is so accomplished at killing people that governments are his best customers.