Rating: 
Summary: Great Spy Thriller for Women
Review: For me, the best thing about this book -- and there's much in here that's truly terrific -- was the strong female lead, Midori Kawamura. She's tough, sexy, and smart, and stands out as a three dimensional character in a genre too often characterized by cardboard women characters. I loved her chemistry with John Rain, which was so strong and believable that in some scenes it felt like she was the book's protagonist, even though it's written in first person from Rain's viewpoint. I hope Eisler will bring Midori back in a sequel, or even consider giving her a book in her own right.
Rating:
Summary: Enthusiast
Review: Phenomenal story, exciting protoganist with depth and intelligence. The work is exceedingly well researched and beautifully presented. The author has an incredible understanding of human electophysiology (for a non medical person) - and uses it in ingenious ways.
This book leaves you wishing there were more - hopefully soon
Rating: 
Summary: old times
Review: I had picked up rain fall as a prop for use during some of my own SDRs. After a couple failed starts the book finally caught on. It was a pleasant, casual read that helped me reminisce about the fun times I've enjoyed as a special field ops agent turned merc for hire. I especially liked how authentic the cover story of regret that John Rain keeps bringing up. It is a shame that we can't freely let society know how much we truly enjoy killing at will.Discovering the inside jokes littered throughout the novel made it an even more fun read. To know that the author was selling out at some points, dumbing down the book for the layman, gave us a special connection, nay, dare I say, a bond, that flew off the pages. Fractal analysis as a decryption strategy - puh-lease...still, I find it difficult to remember when I chuckled so hard. Flip side of the same coin, I am proud that there was no use of the ever so popular fictional technology that allows the agents to zoom in to an arbitrary level of resolution from the worst video eqipment. Good to know that Eisler has limits. But I did have an issue with the apparent super sensitivity associated with rain's surveillance techniques. It seemed like the character would never be able to use a public restroom. And yet he does - with no explanation of how his paranoia is settled during the experience. From my own lifestyle, I can say that public restrooms afford far too much vulnerability (have you seen "the witness" with harrison ford?). That this complex negative feedback loop (the extra anxiety from the vulnerability makes it even harder to perform the task at hand in a quick and expedient manner) to be overlooked is really a horribly dark black eye for the novel. I think the author also would have been better served by sticking to real names for the areas around japan. Every mention of yoyogi had me distracted, as I couldn't help but expect that john rain would soon be riding on the heybooboo train, visiting jerrystone park, or some other ridiculously named thing. And the love hotels? I've always heard them referred to as the "really, really like hotels". But maybe I'm not as suave as john rain. And though I find myself respecting the character, I know I could kick his butt any day of the week.
Rating:
Summary: MEET JOHN RAIN--THE ULTIMATE ASSASSIN!!!!
Review: Half Japanese and half American, ex-Green Beret and ex-CIA, John Rain is now a professional assassin who lives in Tokyo, Japan and specializes in killings that appear to be death by natural causes. When he completes a simple assignment and kills Yasuhiro Kawamura, a vice minister of what used to be the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, Rain suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a national conspiracy that involves the Japanese government, the yakuza, and the United States Central Intelligence Agency. The dead vice minister had a disc filled with vital information concerning government payoffs to the yakuza, assassinations, and the CIA's role in all of it, and was planning to give it to a newspaper reporter. The minister hid the disc before his untimely death and now Rain's employers think the minister's lovely, young daughter, Midori, knows where it's located. They want Rain to find the disc and then kill her. The only problem is that John Rain has fallen in love for the first time in his life and is willing to risk everything to keep Midori alive. To do that, he will have to stay several steps ahead of his former employers and be willing to do battle against numerous odds in a fight to the death. RAIN FALL is Barry Eisler's first novel, and it's right up there with Trevanian's SHIBUMI, Richard Steinberg's THE GEMINI MAN, and the best of Robert Ludlum. This book crackles with avid suspense, in-depth characterization, unbelievable action, and an anti-hero who comes alive with his own unique code of honor that has the reader cheering for him as he takes on dozens of killers in hand-to-hand combat throughout the streets of Tokyo. It clearly shows that author Barry Eisler knows his Japan from first-hand experience. He gives the reader an insider's look at the country, its diverse culture, politics, criminal element, and the martial arts in a way that few other authors have ever been able to do. For those of you who enjoy a well-written novel with Japan as a backdrop, lots of authentic martial arts action, and a trained killer who knows when to draw the line and do what's right, then RAIN FALL is the book to read. Afterwards, you'll be waiting anxiously like me for the second novel in the series to come out.
Rating:
Summary: If You Like Originality and Action
Review: Every so often you read a book that refreshes your perspective on a whole category of writing. Eisler did that for me with respect to thrillers. John Rain is the first original personality in the thriller genre with the depth of character development and intensity of action that I can remember in some time. You end up caring about a character without sacrificing the thrills and intrigue a book about spies and assassins brings. The combination is both enjoyable and exhilerating. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: Thunder and Lightning
Review: This book is just outstanding. The descriptions of noir Tokyo are spot on and Eisler is fastiduous in describing the minutiae of an assassin's metier. The story really picks up after about the first 100 pages where Eisler lays out the story and gets you to know the characters. The balance of the approximately 200 pages of the book define the phrase "page turner" -- to the point where my hands started hurting holding up the book after several hours of laying horizontal and hanging on every page. Whoa! Now I know why James Ellroy, the author of L.A. Confidential heaped tons of praise which is emblazoned on the book cover of RainFall. Very evocative. Very cinematic. If Hollywood doesn't make this book into a movie, then they ought have their collective heads examined, cause this one's a winner folks.
Rating:
Summary: PAGE-TURNING, LITERATE THRILLER
Review: It's hard to imagine a cold-blooded assassin evoking sympathy in the reader, but John Rain, the protaganist in Barry Eisler's first novel, does. This is a page-turning, literate thriller that keeps the reader enthralled with its accurate and vivid accounts of Tokyo, jazz, single-malt whisky, Vietnam, and the process of killing. Once I started it, I could not put it down. There is nothing pat or formulaic about this novel. I look forward to hearing much more from Mr. Eisler and John Rain in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Modern Trevanian--and about time
Review: I liked this book because of (1) good writing; (2) interesting plot premise grounded in reality leavened with creativity; and (3)it made a contract killer not only interesting (which many books do) but admirable in many ways (which few books attempt and fewer achieve)
Rating:
Summary: Rain Runs Out of Time?
Review: If you enjoy intelligent and thrilling page-turners, this is your book. John Rain is the smart, historically damaged, struggling, bi-cultural assassin, underserving of our love or respect, hero who survives by always being two steps ahead. In short, the hero I've always wanted to be. He's the guy who necessarily checks his feelings so as to avoid any emotional involvement, yet is still driven by them as he methodically does what he does best -- assassinating men for money while living in the shadows. Problem: He falls in love with his last target's talented and beautiful daughter and must now not only save her life without exposing himself, but balance Tokyo's entire corrupt history on his shoulders. How can you believe a story like this? Only with the help of the author's gripping writing and intelligent twists. Barry Eisler taps into that part of our moral code that we don't always openly admit exist, a place where we find forgiveness under certain circumstances, despite a person's atrocious history. This story is expertly mined with twists, betrayal, and raw action. Rain must run the gauntlet and we are really left to wonder if he will make it. Time is always running out. Although Rain doesn't deserve our sympathy, he gets it because we are not given a choice. You will root for him because you cannot help it. Rain Fall is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Five stars for this Tokyo-based thriller
Review: If you treat yourself to one thing this summer, let it be this book! Rain Fall is a smashing read. Eisler's story kept me awake at night - no small feat considering I have two babies under the age of two. There is nothing to do now, but to wait for Eisler's next story....
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