The Last Thing he wanted is a novel published by Joan Didion.

The story centers on Elena McMahon, a reporter for The Washington Post who quits her job covering the 1984 US Presidential election 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 Antillas.