Rain Fall

"Rain Fall" is a terrific debut about a Japanese-American hit man who works his profession under cover of being a "market-entry consultant" in Tokyo. John Rain is an efficient killer who will take on any assignment where the death needs to appear natural. But he's a killer-for-hire with particular rules of engagement, he only accepts contracts to eliminate principal parties and he will not touch women or children.

John Rain is a remarkable creation, a multifaceted killer with the soul of a poet. He is easily one of the most interesting characters to come along in some time.

A good blend of pulp, noir and mystery, set in Tokyo (mostly) and told from the traditional first-person point of view. A brief stumble into bad cliché near the end (and one that's a personal pet peeve, making it stand out for me) is the only thing that mars an otherwise terrific story, and everything else--including the ultimate resolution--is well done. Well above average both in terms of setting a scene and in characterization. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to care about a professional assassin, but Eisler does a good job of making John Rain human and likable. How can you not like someone who appreciates jazz and single malts? All that's missing from the trifecta is a love of baseball...

Another series I’ve heard about, but never read. This one features an assassin with a soul and is set in Japan. Recently Eisler regained his publishing rights and has retitled the books to be more in line with what he wants rather than the publisher. Latching onto the last name of our hero (?), they’ve all got Rain in their titles and Eisler never really liked that so he changed them. Good deal for him. I wonder if John Sandford is sick of the Prey thing? Since neither the Flowers nor the Kidd novels follow the same kind of pattern, I bet he is.

Anyway, I mostly liked this one, but it seemed a bit convoluted for convoluted’s sake. Lots of hidden motives, agendas and personalities. Also Rain seems to have a lot of baggage that is show more constantly seeing the light of day. Most of what we’re told feels like it’s coming from a psychiatrist’s couch session. Rain seems to be very aware of what his Vietnam experience has done to him. He’s conflicted about what he does, but only up to a point, the point where he justifies it all. “All the things I’d done made sense in the war, they were justified by war, I couldn’t live with them outside of war. So I needed to stay at war.”

Neat, that. So it made it all the more ironic when Rain is confronted with evidence that he’s been played his whole life, starting with his actions in the war. He thought he was receiving orders from one place, only to find out they came from another. This carried over into his assassin work and his realization that he was set up and used over and over again, was a big blow to his ego. He thought he was in control of his own actions and destiny; a rogue who can pick and choose his missions, but he was just another tool for the manipulators of the machine. Both sides got him to do what they wanted and he had no idea.

Dissolution came hard. It’s a long fall from that high horse. Rain bears it all tolerably well and I think that despite some whining, his psyche is basically teflon-coated so I don’t expect much of it to stick. If I do read more of the series, I don’t expect Rain to get hung up on the finer points of right and wrong too much. He’s an expert in justifying his actions to himself and since he’s already done so much outside of the rules, what’s a little more?

The setting, while interesting, got to be distracting simply because of its unfamiliarity. Slang, settings and place-names all needed me to think about them instead of the story. Someone more familiar with Tokyo wouldn’t have this problem. Rain’s character had some distinct elements to it, but of course he fights like Bruce Lee, screws like Don Juan and drinks like Carraway. The romance angle was nice, but doomed from the start so I didn’t get too invested in it. show less

Interesting story with enough twists along the way to keep me hanging in there through the at times wall-of-black descriptions. I felt Barry was trying too hard to show off his knowledge of Tokyo and all things Japanese, including overuse of Japanese long after it was no longer necessary to establish the setting. The assassin's dilemma, cliche as it may be, did ratchet up the tension considerably. Complex ending with lots of twists compensated for at times long, expository dialogue.

Barry Eisler recently reacquired the rights to his John Rain novels, gave them new titles and new covers and personally narrated new audiobook versions.

I was intrigued and decided to try the first book "A Clean Kill In Tokyo" which was published in 2002 as "Rain Fall".

It was a fun read all the way through, not least because Barry Eisler turns our to be an excellent narrator.

John Rain is a Tokyo-based assassin, who specialises in making it seem as if the men he kills die of natural causes. Rain had a Japanese father and a white American mother, was raised in both countries and is fully at home in neither. He lives an affluent but disconnected life, built on killing for money.

In this novel, he's the hero. That's not a role he has much show more experience of. He takes it on reluctantly and it doesn't entirely fit him. Even as a hero, his kill-rate is very high and causes him not a moments disquiet.

The foot-in-two-worlds aspects of the book are well executed and gave me an intersting blend of the familiar and the exotic..Tokyo becomes almost a character in the book. It's described the way someone who lives there would see it, with its peculiarities taken for granted. The tourist map of Tokyo has been overwritten by one that stresses the places that are important to John Rain: Jazz Clubs. Whiskey Bars and the intricate subway network that he uses to elude those trying to follow him.

The plot is a mixture of backstory, explaining how John came to be the killer he now is, and a protect-the-brave-independent-but-vulnerable-damsel-in-distress theme that's given a twist by the fact the Rain killed her father.

There is political intrigue, espionage, crime, corruption and lots and lots of fight scenes featuring martial arts, street fighting, knives, staves and guns.

I'm hooked now. Fortunately, there are eight John Rain books in print with a ninth coming out in July, so I expect them to become a regularly source of entertainment this year. show less

This book has a lot going for it. It really captures the atmosphere of Tokyo, as many other Japanophile reviewers have noted, with an exact recreation of time and place (the book was originally published as "Rain Fall" in 2003. It has well developed characters -- both the good guys and the baddies, though in some cases it's hard to tell the difference (that's particularly true of the central character. And it is powerfully suspenseful, keeping those pages turning and the reader glued to the plot. My only problem is the extraordinary level of violence, which is amped up not just by the plot but by the skill of the writer. Because the writing is so good, the violence feels much more graphic than is often the case. That's essentially a show more matter of taste, however -- the reviewer's problem, not the writer's --- and I will probably in any case forge ahead with the story. show less

I read the Library of Congress talking book version of this novel, and the narration of John Haag is superb! The book is well written and the main character, though an assassin for hire, is someone I came to love. Smoothe flowing prose nicely portrays his professional side and his very human side. John Rain has been inducted into my "favorite characters " hall of fame. My digital book contains the first five Rain novels, and I will be reading them all in one sitting...something I usually don't do. There are now two authors only that I can read continually until series completion: Barry Eisler and Ridley Pearson. Mr Eisler, do not take this lightly. Pearson has been my top author since the mid nineties. Only now does he share that show more spot...with you sir. show less