Another great hero to enjoy!!

Pleasure to read.
Of you are not into the Japanese culture though - you can skip it.

7/10

An interesting opening novel to a series I'll be happy to continue with due to a number of interesting factors. This is the first time I've read a novel about an assassin outside of the western world which opens up a whole new playing field and there was enough background information for the lead to make him an interesting but not unique character worth reading about.

I loved the Japanese setting for this, I don't know that world having never been there but I felt the book was described well enough for me to easily be drawn in and taken along for the ride with all the locations and traditions described well enough for me to easily digest them. I also liked the nuances of the lead, John Rain (also known by another Japanese name which I now forget), with him enjoying jazz music and whiskey bars and having a troubled background in Japan due to his mixed race of Japanese and American. These alone would have been entertaining to read about, without the action thrown in around it, and would have kept my attention long enough which I may have enjoyed even more.

The action is ok, some scenes are a little like paint by numbers and I felt like it was an episode of "Burn Notice" at times where they explain ad nauseam on the ways to outfox your opponent. These scenes floated by me but I really enjoyed the parts where he described himself as a soldier in Vietnam, some of which stood out as the best in the book.

I listened to this book and the author was the narrator doing a good job without ever being totally compelling. It felt that he spoke the Japanese parts more as a showing off device of "look at me and my bilingual skills" rather than adding anything but that is a small gripe. I would equally pick the next book up in either text or audiobook.

Overall a good start to the series with plenty of promise and I'll look forward to getting the next book to see if things can develop further. Worth a read.

If you like this try: "Transfer of Power" by Vince Flynn

Cliché and formulaic.
Horrible dialogue. Awkward and artificial romance. One dimensional characters: a stereotypical "hacker" character out of a 90s movie, a cardboard cutout love interest who becomes unbelievably obedient to the main character, John Rain, a handsome assassin with comically godlike fighting abilities and a troubled past. Also, some evil Yakuza and CIA guys.
I never write reviews on here, but this book has almost completely positive ones and I felt the need to disagree. I don't know why I read this. I don't hate all pulp thrillers, I remember enjoying Ludlum novels.

It's been a long time since I read a modern thriller - I guess that's the genre for this book. With all the bad-ass assassin books out there it's really hard to make one stand out. So Mr. Eisler really made the right choice by renaming this one A Clean Kill in Tokyo, cause that title is what caught my interest. (It made me think of a John Woo movie.)
At times I thought John Rain was gonna be one of those Jason Bourne type protagonist, with skill and knowledge that rival a Super-hero like Batman. And is like that to a point. This usually only works for me an movie but not always in a book so much. Also Rain was with the SOG in the Vietnam War, which was almost always the case for this types of action heroes, back in the 80's and 90's when I read a lot more of these type books.
Regardless, Eisler still managed to suck me in. Not sure what it is about John Rain, but I like this guy and he isn't really a likable guy. The action is a lot of fun and the plot twist really takes the story in another direction.

There are things about assassin John Rain's last kill that are bothering him. As he begins to investigate the things that are niggling his brain, he becomes obsessed with the victim's daughter. The more he finds out about the victim, the more it becomes clear that the daughter is also in danger and it also puts John on the hit list by several factions within Tokyo.

This was a decent first book to a series. I liked John's character - he's got some issues/flaws but he still retains a sliver of morality. I think what I liked best about him was his desire to feel like he belongs somewhere. Unfortunately, at the end of the book, he hasn't quite achieved that. My guess is that he will continue to search for that in future books and I'm invested enough to go along for the journey.

Almost gave this a 5-star. The story sticks to the action, even when it is flashing back to Rain's Vietnam service...however, there is still enough room left for character backstory....all nicely done. The hero is not one of the myriad politically correct heroes of most crime/spy fiction. This guy eliminates targets for money (his few rules include no women or children).

The setting is Tokyo and Eisler takes pains to give rich details of the areas John Rain visits. There is quite a bit of surveillance that takes place, giving ample time for details of the setting. The only question I had was why after so many successful missions was Rain all of the sudden quite sloppy in his actions. Regardless, this is an excellent first entry in this series.

3.5* A great book.

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.

This review was originally posted on  Books of My Heart
 



n  The purpose of Thrifty Thursday is to read a book which was free (at some point).n
Kindle freebie on April 12, 2013  (currently $7.99 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble as of writing this post)
Overall rating 3.96 with 12,503 ratings and 773 reviews
 

 



A Clean Kill in Tokyo is a freebie I have had quite awhile but it came up, I think because it is in Kindle Unlimited.  It is also available with Whispersync for $1.99, with the author as the narrator.  If I had realized I might have listened but then it wouldn't qualify for my Thrifty Thursday designation so maybe not.

I liked the story and may read on in this n  n    John Rain series.n  n It's written about 20 years ago, but doesn't hold up too badly. It's definitely written in guy mode. more action and plot, somewhat less emotion.  The writing was well done with the world and the characters. I enjoyed the Tokyo setting.  It's dark and gritty; it is about an assassin who served in the Vietnam War. It's not unlike the new movie Triple Frontier - what do guys do with that skill set once the war ends?

I like that John is smart and skilled. It's a bit crazy to think he survives everything which happens.  John has his personal issues, but he is not without feelings or compassion.  And I have to like a guy who prefers jazz.

The plot is interesting because John's regular life has been cruising along and now it's shot to hell. The underlying cause is the corruption of the Japanese government. This is fiction, but it is intriguing to think about how much of this is realistic with the government, the mob gangs and politics.

 



These are only Kindle freebies I get, or ones through author newsletters which anyone can sign up and get for free. I don't include things like Kindle Unlimited or Prime Free Reading (I do have it). Both Tantor and Audible have occasional free audios (to anyone) and I do include those.  Since I one-click on 1-2 freebies a day or probably at least 5 a week, I came up with this feature to make sure I start reading them.

So I have thought about doing a Thrifty Thursday Challenge someday. For now,  what I think would be fun is if you have read and reviewed  a freebie, link up to your review (Goodreads, blog, facebook or wherever) below.



Add your review link here: 

 
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DNF@ 39% Just not feeling the assassin in Japan thing. This was for the Popsugar challenge.

The narrator, John Rain, is a Tokyo-based professional assassin who performs jobs mainly for the LDP, Japan's dominant political party. His specialty is making deaths look natural. Rain is an interesting character: he's half American and half Japanese, grew up partly in each country, and was part of a clandestine US military/CIA operation in the Vietnam War that ran recon and sabotage missions into Cambodia and Laos. He's also an expert practitioner of judo.

The job he completes as the story begins seems to go well but sets into motion a chain of events that places Rain and the people around him in grave danger. One of these people is Midori, an attractive and accomplished jazz pianist with whom Rain becomes romantically involved. She is also the daughter of the man Rain has killed. The plot settles into a familiar thriller novel scenario: Rain must figure out who the bad guys are and what they want, and neutralize them before they can kill him and Midori.

Rain is always on the move around Tokyo, mostly on foot or by metro but sometimes by car. He does a lot of what he calls surveillance detection runs (SDRs): taking circuitous routes from point A to point B designed to expose any potential pursuers. The SDRs (so many of them!) are described in detail, so the book is chock full of Tokyo geographic references: streets, buildings, stores, hotels, train stations, etc. I'm sure this lends the book great verisimilitude for readers familiar with Tokyo, but for the rest of us the barrage of Tokyo place names sometimes feels overwhelming.

The story is clever and includes many creative elements and several interesting characters, but the plotting and pacing are sometimes clunky, and momentum was uneven. Eisler is an intelligent writer, and the two later books of his that I've read are excellent. But in this, his first book, he seems to have been still working to master the tools of his craft.