First in the series on John Rain, half American, half Japanese, Vietnam war vet, hitman extraordinaire, living and working in Japan.

John starts off with a successful hit, ordered upon a Japanese political figure, and soon finds himself mired in plots from various factions racing to find an encrypted disk of information that said politician was going to hand off.

A jazz and Scotch enthusiast, John finds himself enamored of an up and coming female jazz pianist. Who just happens to be the politician's daughter, much to his surprise. Does she have the disk? Does she know where the disk is? Does she know what's on the disk?

Murder, mayhem, blood, martial arts ensue.

While the author mentions some single malt Scotches in detail, his first references caused some pause as I believe the correct spelling is Caol Ila, not Cao Lila....

I started this series after hearing his short story on Audible.com. I really enjoyed that short story. This novel wasn't up to that standard, but this was his first. I am sure that Rain and the other books evolve. Still, I really liked the character of Rain and his outlook on life. It is hard to make a character like this sympathetic and likable, but he really does the job. Much like Jeff Lindsay and his character Dexter.

I love the foray into Japan and its politics. Japanese politics always seem so alien. They seem more so even after being given more information. The love story seemed a little strained, but the main plot was structured nicely and the villains were nasty. It read nicely and was very well-paced. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of a Jack Reacher novel in its pacing. Will definitely pick up the next one.

I'm just not feeling this one now.... maybe another time.

Eisler's John Rain isn't a cop or private detective or even on the "right" side of the law: he's a highly-paid assassin, well into middle age, stuck between the Japanese and American cultures represented by his now-late parents. That you can find sympathy for a hit man -- even one with ethics -- is a tribute to how well Eisler sets up his hero and, more importantly, his world, which is if anything sleazier and more corrupt than is Rain himself. The picture of Japan presented here is massively unflattering, one of a neo-Blade Runner swamp of corruption, organized crime, casual murder and slow economic collapse.

While Rain Fall bills itself a thriller, you shouldn't expect the usual modern-day thriller tropes. The world isn't about to end, the body count is reasonably low, and our hero isn't embroiled in big set-pieces every fifty pages. Much of the plot revolves around people talking to each other and trying not to be followed. "Intrigue" is the best description, one that doesn't sell as many books but more accurately sets reader expectations.

Eisler's Rain isn't entirely unique. He has the usual cool-guy qualities (a weakness for jazz and expensive whiskey, a complete lack of attachment to place, etc.) and of course attracts the affections of women young enough to be his daughters. Eisler clearly knows Tokyo well but doesn't always share this knowledge in a manner useful to his readers.

Still, despite these nods to convention, Rain Fall is a fine way to spend a few hours in the company of someone you might not want to be alone with in real life. Maybe he'd buy you a nice whiskey, but he certainly wouldn't tell you this tale.

Gostei do livro. É literalmente o típico filme de ação que se vê na televisão ahahah. Mas o livro em si é bom e divertido e é fascinante ler uma obra na perspectiva de um assassino.

Loved how twisty and plotted this was.
My only issue was how John Rain is such a smart competent protagonist and yet he was willfully blind to how he was being used.
Thinks he's smart, actually a pawn. :(
But a really great book, otherwise.

Just couldn't finish

I read this book because Amazon Prime First Reads gave me a choice of 6 books to read for free and I chose #10 in this series without realizing it was part of a series... This book was very hard for me to get into but thankfully it picked up about halfway through. I don't know why the author thought he had to put so much Japanese and translations of the Japanese into the book as it was really quite annoying and unnecessary. If you want to learn about Japan and learn some Japanese words/phrases, you might value that kind of thing but I don't feel it added to the story at all. Personally, if I hadn't already accidentally read half of Book 10, I probably wouldn't continue with this series, but I will just so Book 10 will make better sense as it seems to be a decent story.

All assassin novels are compared against The Day of the Jackal or Shibumi. And while this one didn't quite reach the 5 star bar, I'll continue the series.

Добра първа книга!

Excellent book. Great character dialogue and good plots. A true thriller.

Hardcore action all the way!