Of course, things don't work out quite as Rain expected. Belghazi proves easy enough to get close to, but removing him without leaving any evidence behind will be much tougher. (One of the reasons that Rain is the best at what he does is due to his mastery of the "natural causes" hit — when Rain kills you, nobody even suspects that you were murdered.) Part of that difficulty can be traced to the presence of an exotic, beautiful and appropriately mysterious woman who goes by the name Delilah, and is seldom far from Belghazi's side. She has her own designs on the Algerian smuggler, and she needs him alive to get what she wants. Since she proves herself to be nearly as skilled as Rain is at the art of subterfuge, Delilah is a formidable stumbling block.

An additional potential hitch in Rain's plan is presented by the arrival of another operative on the scene, a hayseed hit man known only as "Dox," a name he earned with his unorthodox methods of fighting and killing, involving a wide variety of styles, tricks and improvised explosive devices. In addition, Dox is a sniper, one of the best long-range killers around, something Rain knows well from the time they spent fighting together against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Now, though, Rain isn't quite sure which side Dox is on.

One of the real strengths of Eisler's writing is the time and effort this lawyer-turned-author puts into developing his secondary characters. Never content with a throwaway archetype or cliché, his creations are unique, multidimensional and memorable. Whether it's Delilah, Dox or Tokyo-based CIA agent Tomohisa Kanezaki, Eisler's characters are all given enough personality to make them full-fledged players in his stories. As a consequence, Rain's interactions and relationships with them are that much more meaningful and important.

Another area where this author excels is in the writing of action, especially fight scenes. As a highly skilled martial artist himself, Eisler knows intimately the techniques his characters employ and this expert knowledge adds considerable verisimilitude to his books. Witness this fight scene between Rain and his opponent:

[Belghazi] chambered his right leg, feinted, then returned the foot to the ground. He repeated the maneuver. And again. The upraised leg started to return to the ground and I saw my opening. I shot forward. But the third time had been no feint, or in fact it had been the real feint, and the leg reversed course and whipped in from my left. I covered up with my left elbow and the toe of his shoe caught me between the biceps and triceps. It felt like I'd been hit with a hammer. He retracted the kick, then shot it in again, this time toward my forward knee. I lifted the leg just as his heel landed, and, although it hurt, the impact was dissipated enough to prevent meaningful damage.