The Last Assassin

Read The Last Assassin Online

Authors: Barry Eisler

BOOK: The Last Assassin
3.63Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Praise for the Novels of Barry Eisler

The Last Assassin

“Body Count: A whopping 20. Worst Death: A double beheading via katana blade. Lowdown: [
The Last Assassin
]…certainly gives good gunplay. And don't let that extreme body count fool you: Eisler is just as keen on inner angst as on executions.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

“Eisler, a former CIA operative, has a knack for creating characters we like and for crafting grippingly turbulent plot.”

—
San Francisco Chronicle


The Last Assassin
is a terrific, fun read, full of modern spy craft (Eisler worked for the CIA for a while), exotic locales, hot sex, and violence. Not to mention an extremely well-defined character in John Rain, who seems like a pretty good guy, given his career.”

—
San Jose Mercury News

“Great characters, great action…. This is Eisler's best so far, and a great introduction to one of most gripping espionage series around. If you like your thrillers with an existential twist, Eisler's your man. Exceptional.”

—Shots Magazine

“Rating: A. I love these books. They contain everything I look for in a great thriller. Long live John Rain—and Barry Eisler!”

—
Deadly Pleasures

“It is possible that the most recent book in the series,
The Last Assassin,
is the best yet, though I have been an addict ever since the first one,
Rain Fall
…. Scenes of sudden violence and moments of nearly unbearable suspense are reminiscent of James Bond's greatest hits.”

—
The New York Sun

“Wicked action sequences, smoothly delineated local color, and moments of introspection capture Rain in fine, fraught form.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“It may be a true sign of Eisler's craft…that Rain's sumo brawls, romantic antics, and emotional encounter with fatherhood somehow merge seamlessly onto the narrative, perhaps even to the point of enhancing it.”

—
The Japan Times

Killing Rain

“Eisler unspools a plot full of warring secret government connections, cool spy paraphernalia, and vivid martial-arts sequences…exhilarating.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

“Steeped in exotic locales, charged with spasms of violence…unique and entertaining.”

—
Rocky Mountain News

“High-octane action.”

—
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“Pulse-pounding…. Rain should have a bright, bloody, nerve-racking future.”

—
Lansing State Journal

“Freelance assassin Rain, now an established presence on the thriller scene, confronts both menace and morality…plenty of good action…a thriller as straight as an arrow…thankfully, expect more Rain.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“Plenty of thrills and tense moments…a satisfying step forward for one of the genre's most gifted writers.”

—
The Examiner
(Washington, D.C.)

Rain Storm

“If Quentin Tarantino ever got to take a crack at the James Bond franchise, chances are the resulting film would resemble one of Eisler's novels about John Rain.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

“[A] superb thriller…an ultracool assassin.”

—
New York Daily News

“Eisler…is out to redefine what an international thriller can be.”

—
The News-Press
(Fort Myers, FL)

“A propulsive thriller plot…plausible, au courant, and creepy.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“What truly sets Eisler's series apart is its near total absence of formula and stereotype. Rain is a wholly original, cliché-free character operating in a world created only for him, serving as both his folly and his foil.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“The Rain series keeps on getting better. For espionage fans who favor adventure over ambiguity.”

—
Booklist

Hard Rain

“Entertaining and suspenseful enough to keep you turning the pages as fast as your eyes can follow…. He does a superlative job of making his story seem real.”

—
Chicago Sun-Times

“Action scenes that could make John Woo drool.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

“[A] relentlessly likable protagonist.”

—
San Francisco Chronicle

“Just plain fun.”

—
Rocky Mountain News

“Yakuza gangsters, ruthless bureaucrats, and shifty CIA agents—in a complex, suspenseful yarn.”

—
Phoenix News Times

“Captivating…. The nightscape of Tokyo is painted in beautifully dark tones…a fascinating, touching, and wholly believable character.”

—
Publishers Weekly

Rain Fall
A Publishers Weekly
Best Book of the Year

“It's got it all: dazzling plot, deft characterization, beaucoup originality. You should dig it.”

—James Ellroy

“Terrific…possibly the best cool-killer novel since
The Eiger Sanction.

—
San Francisco Chronicle

“A crackling good yarn, well-written, deftly plotted, and surprisingly appealing.”

—
The Boston Globe

“Fast-paced…. Readers will warm to Eisler's ruthless protagonist…quite the accomplishment.”

—
New York Daily News

“Rain is a definite three-dimensional hit man hero…compelling.”

—
The Tampa Tribune

“A brisk page-turner with some great plot twists and reversals.”

—
Palo Alto Weekly

“Rich atmosphere and believable politics…pleasantly fast and polished, in the John Sandford style.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

BOOKS BY BARRY EISLER

Rain Fall

Hard Rain

Rain Storm

Killing Rain

THE LAST ASSASSIN
BARRY EISLER

ONYX
Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2,
Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,
Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi-110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore,
Auckland 1311, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue,
Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Published by Onyx, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in a G. P. Putnam's Sons edition.

ISBN: 978-1-1012-1228-8

Copyright © Barry Eisler, 2006
Excerpt from
Requiem for an Assassin
copyright © Barry Eisler, 2007 All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARK
—
MARCA REGISTRADA

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.

For my brother and sister,
Alan and Judith

Other books

Prisoner of Glass by Mark Jeffrey
French Roast by Ava Miles
Chances Are by Erica Spindler
Amity by Micol Ostow