The Last Thing He Wanted is a novel by Joan Didion. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1996. The story centers on Elena McMahon, a reporter for The Washington Post who quits her job covering the 1984 United States 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 in the Lesser Antilles.

Joan Didion was an American writer and journalist. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism along with Gay Talese, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe.