Requiem For An Assassin by Barry Eisler

I will be the first to admit that an opinion on one book may be tainted by the book previously read. And up front I will also say that right now, Roger Smith is a hard act follow. But pages 32-33 in chapter 3 were the final straw that made me put this title from the B/N bargain bin down.

A former sniper and contract killer named John Rain (the title character in 4 prior books, so the character has legs with an audience) is being sought by a bunch of mercs who kidnap Rain's best friend (living in Bali...figures as much) as a means of getting to him. Rain is now living in Paris (naturally) with his stunningly beautiful Mossad girlfriend (from previous books I've read, beauty must be a Mossad job requirement). Rain is trying to get her out of the Mossad, to wit:

"As my relationship with Delilah deepened, and as I gradually easy myself away from the mindset you need to survive in the life, it was as though the part of myself that was so adept in dangerous environments, the part that had kept me alive in the jungle of Vietnam and then in countless urban jungles afterward, didn't like what was going on. That killer inside me, that iceman who could always do what needed to be done, felt he was being marginalized, disenfranchised. But what could I do? I didn't know how to propitiate him, or even if I could."

Is that the best use of 'propitiate'? I had to look it up: " to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of ".

I'm not impressed. Give me a break . . . or rather a new story.

East Coast Don