BOOK REVIEW: The Killer Collective
By Barry Eisler
Reviewed by Daniel Hoffman
In Barry Eisler’s new novel The Killer Collective, half-Japanese and half-American assassin John Rain leads a ruthless team with military and law enforcement backgrounds to deliver their distinct brand of justice to a sinister criminal ring operating inside the U.S. Government. Demonstrating extraordinary expertise in the art of espionage, special operations, and martial arts, which his fans and fellow practitioners have come to venerate, Eisler delivers another brilliant, fast paced thriller. Eisler elegantly shifts the dialogue from the first-person perspective of the protagonists, to conversation among them, and on to their insightful assessments of one another.
The Cipher Brief normally does not run reviews by people who are friendly with the book’s author. Eisler and I first met in training almost thirty years ago. Our paths diverged when Eisler departed government service and I embarked on a CIA career, which took me to multiple overseas tours in the former Soviet Union and Europe as well as combat zones in the Middle East and South Asia. We reconnected a bit when I was serving at CIA Headquarters on assignment shortly after Eisler’s first novel was published, though we are not close colleagues.
Eisler’s sophisticated understanding of the art of human intelligence or HUMINT was what struck me as I read his first few novels. Eisler had clearly immersed himself in his CIA training. He demonstrates an exceptional grasp of the finer points of espionage including surveillance detection, cover, elicitation, and operational site selection. Reading his books, I have routinely found myself making laudatory evaluations of his character’s “ghosting” techniques, use of empathy to gain advantage over unsuspecting enemies, and in the case of the female character known as Delilah, an uncanny ability to exploit her target’s psychological vulnerabilities.
Although Eisler writes fiction, his characters remind me of composites of the special operations and intelligence officers with whom and in some cases against whom, I worked.
And then there is Eisler’s meticulous attention to detail, nowhere more evident than in his description of the cities and the streets where the hero, Rain studiously develops area familiarization so necessary for his situational awareness.
Seattle, Washington DC, and Paris serve as the tapestry where the action and suspense takes place in The Killer Collective. But the story begins in the small town of Kamakura outside Tokyo, where the central character of Eisler’s novels is now living in “retirement.” The reclusive Rain cuts a disconsolate figure apparently because he has transitioned from his tumultuous past as an international assassin for hire.
Rain’s deep introspection is as central to his life choices as his judo techniques are lethal to his enemies. His angst only begins to dissipate after he rekindles his dormant relationship with Mossad agent Delilah. This is a new chapter for Rain, for whom an affair of the heart (see Eisler’s first Rain novel A Clean Kill in Tokyo) meant killing a Japanese politician by remotely controlling the man’s pacemaker to make it appear as though he had died from a heart attack.
The Killer Collective breaks new ground in its depiction of two parallel love stories, whose participants are loners deeply uncomfortable about relying on others for their safety, let alone their emotional wellbeing.
Bringing the killer collective together required a bit of serendipity. But in the end, they are one unit. As one of them says, they are “the kind of people you want on your side when you’ve gotten on the wrong side of someone else.” Here’s hoping that Eisler brings them all back for another mission. His characters are too well developed, getting better with age, like a fine wine, or in Rain’s case a fine single malt whisky, to go their separate ways without a reprise.
For a retired senior CIA Clandestine Services Officer still nostalgic for his espionage operations of bygone years, Eisler’s thrillers full of intrigue, adventure, and suspense, are a most welcome opportunity to get as close as is now possible to the real thing.
The Killer Collective earns a prestigious four out of four trench coats.
Daniel N. Hoffman is a retired clandestine services officer and former chief of station with the Central Intelligence Agency. His combined 30 years of government service included high-level overseas and domestic positions at the CIA. Follow him on Twitter @DanielHoffmanDC.
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