The Last Assassin - Barry Eisler (John Rain Series #5)

At the end of the last John Rain book, Killing Rain, our half-Japanese hero discovered that an affair with the daughter of one of his victims resulted in a baby boy. At the beginning of installment #5, Rain learns that his son is living with his mother Midori in New York City, oblivious to the fact that Rain's yakuza enemies from Japan have her under constant surveillance. Rain, himself, has fallen in love (or as close to love as an emotionally detached trained killer can be) with a fellow assassin, the beautiful Israeli, Delilah. Torn between escaping his life of murder, and establishing a relationship with his son, Rain sets out to destroy the yakuza boss and regain his freedom. To do so, Rain must return to Japan to his dying mentor, and solicit the help of the irreverant and sometims obnoxious, but always loyal sniper, Dox. As with all the books in the Rain series, this one is filled with fight scenes, brutal murders, and tricky surveillance gadgets. But more so than the others, Rain really develops in this one as a human being - determined to remain dispassionate, but tormented by his conscience. The quote on the back of this one got it right - it truly is "the best one yet!"