The Last Thing He Wanted

The Last Thing He Wanted is a novel by Joan Didion. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1996.

The story centers around Elena McMahon, a reporter for the Washington Post who quits her job covering the 1984 Presidential primaries to care for her father after her mother's death. In an unusual turn of events, she inherits his position as an arms dealer for the U.S. Government in Central America. In this sparsely written, quick paced narrative, Elena struggles to cope with the spies, American military personnel, and the consequences of her father's errors that are waiting for her on a small island off the coast of Costa Rica.