The Last Assassin

just finished listening to all three books written by Barry Eisler, involving the assassin Rain. They all hold your attention from page one. You can’t wait to find out how the story gets resolved. And yet, you don’t want it to end, because you enjoy the ride so much.

I do recommend reading the books in the order they were written. While it’s not crucial, there are story elements that are given away in the later books about the earlier ones. While it wouldn’t exactly spoil it, it would be better not to know anything before it happens.

The order is: “Killing Rain,” then “The Last Assassin” and finally “Requiem for an Assassin.”

It’s a different reader on the last one, Scott Brick. Though he’s excellent as usual, it took an hour or so to get used to, because Michael McConnohie’s reading brought the characters so vividly to life in his own way.

I highly recommend these books for suspense, plot and characters. It’s hard to describe, but you are just highly interested the whole time, and you never think, “Why would they do that?” Very intelligent and well-crafted. This applies equally to all three books!

i probably wouldnt have purchased this if i hadnt already listened to "killing rain." i hadnt expected to enjoy the characters of Rain, Dox and Delilah as much as i did, enjoying their interactions in both books. it is true that various assassinations are realistically protrayed, but then what would one expect of a story with the title "last assassin"? detailed enough to bring the locales and action vibrantly to life, but not unnecessarily gory .... plus a nice balance of psychological aspects included in the edgy lives of the assassins, themselves, pleasingly portrayed by narrator McConnohie.

It's rare that an Audible narrator is so poorly matched to its subject, but this one is a corker. Mr. McConnohie is a very good narrator, but not for this book.

The character is narrating in first person, and is an Asian American. Not that the narrator has to sound stereotypical Asian (whatever that is), but he should NOT sound like Walter Cronkite, or a voiceover for a TV commercial for anti-depressants, erectile dysfunction or high cholesterol meds. I keep waiting for him to advise me to "ask your doctor if Tetrahozalapine is right for you." In fact, he kind of sounds like Peter Graves or Robert Young, who were great actors and voiceovers, but ill-suited to many roles. The Ward Cleaver type just doesn't cut it as a lethal assassin.

Thus, I stopped listening after an hour.

I like Barry Eislers books. This is the 4th one I've listened to in the last month. I particularly like the ones he narrates. Unfortunately, the narrator on this book sounds just like the 8th grade science movies you had to sit through. It's more of a drone than a narration. I'm hoping after few chapters I dont' notice anymore.

This review applies to this book and the previous, "Killing Rain". Mr McConnohie is completely inappropriate as John Rain. He changes the character, the overall sensibility of the narrative, and quality of the writing (he would be okay for the character Dox). I found myself wondering if Barry Eisler had actually written books 4 and 5. The PERFECT John Rain was Brian Nishii--books 1 and 3. However, this is my subjective opinion. I would encourage new listeners to compare the samples for book 1 and either book 4 or 5.

Rain Fall (2002)
Hard Rain (2003)
Rain Storm (2004)
Killing Rain (2005)
The Last Assassin (2006)
Requiem for an Assassin (2007)
The Detachment (2011)

I tried hanging in there, but just could not get through this book. It was not my first in the series, as I did enjoy Killing Rain, but it will likely be my last.

Part of it was the narrator just could not pull off the female voices and they were integral to the story. I get the narrator is not female, but others pull it off.

And to top it off the story was not all that interesting. At times it was hard to keep track of the twisted plot that was more complicated than it needed to be.....I think? Way too much time was spent on the relationships of the main characters and much of it just didn't make sense or justify the emotions they exhibited.

In the end I could not finish this one. I think it's only the second book I have ever stopped listening too.

To be fair there may have been some awesome ending that would have made it all worthwhile, but I doubt it. Well at least there was no indication from what I read.

This book was different because it was written in the first person. It made listening to it different in a good way. I would definitely look for this author again. It had intrigue, love interests, comedy and good twists.

Barry Eisler really nailed it with this delightfully "noir" series. Its a combination of background moods - the existentialism, the urban loneliness, the always lurking danger, the moral question, the women, the single malt, the jazz. It all works. he contrives a good plot and keeps torquing it tighter. I first read the series from a random discovery in the library. Then when "The Detachment" was released on Audible, I decided to revisit them all in audio. My one disappointment has to do with the use of several different narrators. You'd like some continuity, as you go from book to book. But each one is good in their own right. Barry himself narrates the last book and does an excellent job as well, even uttering the random Japanese phrases with perfect accent.

I tried, really I did. I kept hoping SOMETHING would happen in this book that would be worth listening to. I really hate to admit that I wasted a credit. But after two hours of listening, I realized I was wasting my time. I found the characters one-dimensional. Maybe if I had cared more about any of them I would have listened a little longer.

Smooth moving & great change of characaters & discription of locations. Well written & well read by narraative!