Rain Fall

Rating:
Summary: Action Packed Book!
Review: This book is about a professional killer by the name of John Rain.He has an American mother and a Japanese father.He saw action in the Vietnam war as a member of Special Services.He has
become a hired killer who specializes in making his "hits" look
like death by natural causes.
Rain completes a contract by killing a "Liberal Democratic
Party" beaucrat in a Tokyo subway station.He attaches a magnet to his victim and causes his pacemaker to turn off.Unknown to
Rain his victim is carrying a disc that incriminates the Liberal
Democratic Party leadership.
Rain becomes romantically involved with the daughter of his victim.Various forces who want the disc try to snatch the daughter(a professional jazz pianist).Rain saves her several times.Rain encounters two men from his past.One is a policemen
and the other is a CIA station chief who had betrayed Rain in Vietnam.There is a struggle to keep the daughter safe and keep the disc out of the hands of the forces of evil.
This is a very good book that you should definitely read.John Rain is an excellent hero despite being a hired killer.

Rating:
Summary: Between two cultures
Review: "Hard rain" is Barry Eisler's first volume in the John Rain series. A blend of modern noir - written in the dry style of William Hjoltsberg's "Falling angel", for example - and political intrigue, this not-so-long book proved a fast and gripping read, with rapid-fire dialogue, lots of action sequences, and isights on the modern japanese culture and its relations with the present world.

John Rain, the main character, now living in Japan, is not entirely american, and not completely japanese. He has done a tour in Vietnam, where he learned how to kill and where he learned how to trust nobody and live with losses. Today he is a middle-aged contract killer, whose foremost especiallity is "death that looks like natural causes". Throw in political intrigue, corruption, modern technology and a beautiful pianist player and it's not hard to see that Eisler has the right elements to create a good thriller. And a good thriller it is.

Eisler seems to have spent some time in Japan, so his descriptions of the places Rain goes and the people he meets seem very accurate; japanese present culture - the mix of the ancient stuff, like martial arts, and the modern western invasion, corruption and capitalism, for example - are also well portrayed, and that gives credit to the story.

The good part is that there are at least two more John Rain books: "Hard rain" and "Rain storm", so the readers won't miss him in the near future.

Grade 8.2/10


Rating:
Summary: A Promising Example of Realistic Espionage Fiction
Review: Barry Eisler's first novel, "Rain Fall", introduces the audience to John Rain, a protagonist conflicted to the core by his own duality.

Half-Japanese and half-American, Rain finds no genuine comfort or acceptance in either homeland. A former Special Ops superstar in Vietnam turned principled mercenary, he continually wrestles with the hard facts about how he makes his living. From the difficulties growing up in a mixed-race family to the deceptions foisted on him by amoral superiors during his tours of duty, Rain has some pretty heavy baggage and understandable trust issues. When he's on the clock, he is remorseless and efficient - very reminiscent of the low-key intensity of Ian Fleming's early Bond books. Rain's history and its impact on his current decisions are revisited throughout the book and makes for some of the most interesting aspects of the story.

The setting is modern-day Tokyo and you can immediately tell that the author has spent a significant amount of time there. His appreciation of the city and of modern Japanese culture is apparent in the writing and is another strength of the book. The reader follows Rain to judo training schools, underground jazz clubs and backalley whiskey bars as he solves the book's central mystery. There are times where the directions and street names get somewhat heavy; hopefully future Rain books leave out some of this unnecessary roadmap detail.

The story itself is one of true espionage, which will appeal to many while likely turning off readers accustomed to over-the-top action, sexy liaisons and plot twists piled high. The primary tools of Rain's operation are stealth, anonymity, surveillance, and counter-surveillance. As a result, don't hold your breath for a lot of action ready-made for a Summer blockbuster. Suspense is built more subtly as Rain solves the case while fighting to maintain the anonymity that keeps him alive. He winds up caught in the middle of a high-stakes political turf war where alliances are very fluid. When some old names from his past resurface, Rain has no option but to forge a solution to the conflict, but can he find a way to do so on his own terms?

The key action sequences involve a lot of hand-to-hand martial arts, Rain's preferred method. This works well through most of the book, although the ultimate climax is a little flat after all of the built-up tension between Rain and his antagonists.

Eisler's a good wordsmith, especially when describing setting and following Rain's patterns of thought. Sections where Rain examines his own duality in terms of race and morality are particularly well done. Some of the dialogue is a bit stiff, especially between Rain and his female love interest. This may be intentional given the level of solitude that Rain's profession and background enforce upon him. The introduction of Rain's hacker sidekick resulted in some unfortunate meanderings into gadgets and technobabble that hurt the otherwise solid credibility of the story.

Overall, this was a very good first novel for Eisler and his John Rain character. Rain's backstory provides the depth necessary for many more interesting conflicts. Eisler has already gained a solid foothold into the slippery slope of crafting spy fiction that's believable as well as interesting. By the end, this book has set the table for Rain and his core team of occasional confederates. Hopefully, future Rain books continue to build on this promising start.

Rating:
Summary: Spies, assassins, conspiracies, with details based in fact
Review: If you like spies, assassins, conspiracies, suspense, and exotic settings as I do, read this book. In many ways the basic plot reminds me of something like the Bourne Identity, but Rain Fall is better than the Bourne Identity because the characters are more interesting and better developed.

I always look for plausibility in a novel. Nearly verything here feels plausible, including the way people think and talk, the locations (real places in Japan), and the political & historical issues. There were only a few things that forced my imagination to work overtime: for example, a few of the fancy spy gadgets seemed implausible and unnecessary, and the main character did make some stupid choices that you wouldn't expect somebody with his experience to make. But these were only minor imperfections and didn't detract from the story much.

I like the way this book is narrated in the first person, from the point of view of the main character/assassin. I prefer this to the narrative style used by some other authors, where they switch back and forth between what the protagonists and the antagonists are doing, thus ruining the mystery of what the bad guys are up to. This books sticks with the protagonist the whole time, so you only know what he knows. You put together the pieces of the puzzle along with him.

Rating:
Summary: Booooooring.
Review: Rain Fall involves a Japanese American hitman and a whole lot of boring plot convolutions. Barry Eisler's dialogue is crisp, but the book is chock full of explanations without much action to accompany them. For a thriller, it sure wasn't very thrilling. A few small-scale action scenes do little to propel this pedestrian novel. This novel is all plot, but severely lacking any narrative drive. Read one of David Morrell's novel's from the late 80s, early 90s for a more satisfying experience.

Rating:
Summary: John Rain -- A Killer of a Hero
Review: Barry Eisler's "Rain Fall" ushers in one of the most interesting leading men in recent fiction, the Japanese-American assassin John Rain. And lucky for us, Eisler treats us to a travelogue of modern Tokyo as well as a logical how-to expose of the assassin's trade.

I led my description of Rain with his ancestry, and this was on purpose. While Rain carries physical scars from his profession and his years in the Special Forces on the Vietnam-Cambodia border, his internal scars are far worse. Many of these scars stem from his mixed parentage -- Rain is a man who is not at home in the States or in Japan, just as he is not at home on the battlefield or in civilian life, either.

Rain is a man of shadows, whose highest attribute in his chosen trade is his ability to kill a man (moral - no women, no kids) and have the medical examiner rule the death by natural causes. This anonymity cuts both ways, as Rain learns, for even though his employers know virtually nothing about him, he also knows very little about his employers . . . or so he thinks.

A successful assignment leads Rain into a complex plot that exposes the links between the Japanese liberal government, the criminal element known as the yakuza, the American CIA, and a revolutionary Japanese leader who pulls the strings of those who pull strings. Eisler builds this creepy plot with great skill, as the meaning of clues become clear and the dots are connected, we feel as trapped as Rain does by the shifting sands of his reality.

Eisler also loves Tokyo, and his love for the city comes through in his various descriptions of the thriving metropolis, which almost becomes a character in the story.

The only thing that keeps this book from receiving a five-star review is a wee bit too much coincidence between some of the characters (mild spoiler alert). What are the odds that Rain, an assassin with a penchant for whiskey and American jazz, will fall for his target's daughter, who just happens to be a beautiful jazz pianist with a healthy appreciation for whiskey? And we also learn a little secret about her dead father that removes some of the blood from Rain's hands, which was unnecessary.

But this is a minor quibble. Rain is a wonderful character, full of awkward charm (he's no James Bond) and haunted by his past (including a mind-blowing "Apocalypse Now"-type experience in Vietnam). Eisler has apparently continued this series with two more books -- I can't wait to pick them up!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Very entertaining. If you like suspense, spies and assisins type books this one is a must read. John Rain is very likable and although the author does give quite a bit of detail about Japan its not boring at all. I read somewhere that they are considering making movie out of it, with Jet Li in the starring role. Now that I have to see!

Rating:
Summary: If I wanted to be a superhero....
Review:
This is the book I would write. The Hero, John Rain, is really the author, all fleshed out and heroic- according to the authors Bio, he and his protagonist share a suprising knowledge of Japan, the martial arts and a love for single Malt Scotch.

Rain, the standard Vietnam Special Forces turned CIA turned "what have you" kind of guy is man of mixed ancestry (Japanese and American) and mixed motives. As an assasin, he gets paid to murder people and has a knack for making it look accidental/natural. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the cold blooded killer becomes intensely fascinated with the daughter of his most recent victim.

In Spy novels, what ensues is called surveliance, but in the real world he becomes a stalker par excellance, bugging her phone, following her on shopping foray's in the intensely detailed Japan (this book is a guidebook to retail stores and Jazz bars) and gradually builds a relationship with her.

You already know she is beautiful and an up and coming Jazz musician ( no one falls for ugly mediocre people), but in a rather obtuse fasion she refuses to question anything about Rain, even after learning that he stalks her and quite likely had something to do with the death of her father.


The story revolves around a computer disk carried by said father that everyone wants. The Japanese Police, the CIA, the Yakuza, the Japanese Interior Department, some shifty behind the scene gangsters, and all of these people are at the same time working together and against each other, caught in the middle is Rain, who narrates events first person.

I get the impression that this is who the author wanted to be when he grew up. Rain is at once fantastically competent (inducing heart attacks, outwitting assasins, beating up several people at once) and a bit stupid- realizing only near the end of the book who his true employers have been all along.

Predicatable and tedious sometimes in the description of how to get from station to station on the rail system, which alleys to take and how certain neighborhoods grew up, its not a bad story, something akin to the "Stoney Man" books, but a bit longer.