Eisler, Barry: The Detachment

Thomas & Mercer, 324 pages
1st published: 2011

The Detachment is the latest novel by Barry Eisler featuring John Rain, an assassin for hire who's been off the job for some four years when the book begins. He's lured out of retirement to take on a high-risk assignment, the assassination of a high-ranking U.S. government official. But the job soon morphs into a multi-hit deal and teams him with an old friend, Dox, and two new guys, linebacker-sized killers Rain can't trust not to turn on him when the time for teamwork is passed.

This is the first John Rain novel I've read, and it won't be my last. I love this type of protagonist, a smart bad guy who is extremely adept at his job. (He reminds me a bit of Richard Stark's Parker.) Eisler walks us through Rain's planning as he out-thinks various opponents: the book isn't so much action-packed as planning-for-action-packed, which I like a lot. The book is a bit preachy at times, which slows down the narrative, but apart from that I enjoyed it, and I'm excited to have discovered the series.