The Detachment

Living in quiet semi-retirement in Tokyo, John Rain tries to avoid his old life as an assassin until a group of men approaches him with an offer difficult to refuse. Colonel Scott Horton wants the group to assassinate three targets who are attempting a coup: the director of the national counterterrorism center, the president%E2%80%99s counterterrorism advisor, and a Supreme Court justice. Rain and his companions%E2%80%94Dox, Larison, and Treven%E2%80%94discover they have unwittingly put the coup in place and are blamed for a series of false flag attacks on U.S. soil that spark national outrage. Full of twists, turns, and double-crosses, this team of assassins travels from Tokyo to Vienna to Washington D.C., avoiding secret prisons and presidential hit lists. Rain, Dox, Larison and Treven%E2%80%99s group dynamic is strong and their motives are always clear. Dox makes an excellent comic foil for Rain and the borderline-sociopathic Larison, but readers will find all four as sympathetic and likeable as one could possibly find a group of trained killers. Fans of Eisler will be thrilled, and new ones will be inspired to go back and look at his previous work. (Oct.)