by Barry Eisler
First published 2019
Detective Livia Lone gets too close to powerful figures while investigating an international child pornography ring. The FBI and Seattle Police joint operation triggers a hit contract that nearly kills her. The assassination job was first offered to John Rain, a retired killer who specializes in deaths that look natural. Livia suspects the FBI ordered her murder. She contacts former Marine sniper Dox for help. Together they build a team of deadly operators: Rain and his estranged lover Delilah, a Mossad honeytrap specialist, plus black ops soldiers Ben Treven and Daniel Larison with their former commander Colonel Scot Horton. The group travels from Japan to Seattle to Washington DC to Paris, fighting connected conspiracies that reach the highest levels of government. These killers struggle to work together with their conflicting goals, uncertain loyalties, and romantic complications. But against such powerful enemies, a collective of assassins might prove more effective than a traditional team.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, reluctant-hero
Setting: Japan, Paris, Seattle, Washington DC
Period: 21st-century
415 pages · Paperback · Thomas & Mercer
Content warnings: child-abuse, graphic-violence, sexual-assault