John Rain goes up against organized crime in Tokyo and the CIA also gets involved.

There finally seems to be some self-reflection for the John Rain character in this book, which makes me think there may be a little evolution from the cold blooded killer of the first book. The three significant people in his life, police chief Tatsu, love interest Midori, and faithful sidekick Harry all play a roll in this evolution.

I look forward to John Rain #3.

Torna l'assassino John Rain, che ha provato senza successo ad uscire dal giro e rifarsi una nuova vita, tranquilla e lontana da omicidi e complotti politici.

Ho trovato questo secondo capitolo, la naturale prosecuzione del primo, e a tratti anche forse più coinvolgente del primo.

E' molto bello in questi romanzi il conflitto interiore che spesso travolge l'animo di John e come il personaggio, attraverso una narrazione in prima persona, riesca più volte a farlo emergere chiaramente nel corso della storia.

Senza svelare troppo della trama, ammetto che anche stavolta ho apprezzato come viene narrato il coinvolgimento emotivo di John con un'altra ragazza che viene coinvolta nelle vicende di l'assassino si sta occupando.

E il finale del libro non può non incoraggiare a leggere il terzo capitolo della saga: "Pagato per uccidere"...

I liked this book better than the first one (Rain Fall.) The plot was more interesting, and resolved one of the threads from the first book. Also, Eisler began to show more of the protagonist John Rain's inate goodness. Does a nice job of making Tokyo come alive too.

The publisher backed at least 5 John Rain books for publication, and this one has a high enough Goodreads rating that I feel like I missed something.

At one point, a cop and John Rain are talking. The cop asks Rain if he knows what "pride fighting" is.

Normal conversational answer: "The mixed martial art? Sure."

Book answer: "Sure," I said. The Pride Fighting Championship is a mixed martial arts sport, based in Japan, with televised bouts held every two months or so. The idea behind the so-called mixed martial arts, or MMA, is to pit against each other a combination of traditional martial disciplines: boxing, jujitsu, judo, karate, kempo, kung fu, Muat Thai, sambo, wrestling. Audiences for Pride competitions have been growing steadily since the sport was founded, along with King of the Cage..." And long after I've drifted off, it just. keeps. going.

It felt like a paranoid Joe Friday having a conversation with himself that was frequently interrupted with extended exposition or Japanese to unnecessarily translate. I frequently fell asleep during the first 127 pages before giving up entirely.

At first I gave this book a one star because the rating screen came up several pages before the end of the book. I was astonished that I had lost the end of the book, so I gave it one star to record my disappointment. It turns out that I was able to read the last few pages. So I changed my rating. Meanwhile, WTF?
I have read many of the books by this author, and I love them, but removing the end of the book is pretty low, in my opinion. Knock it off!

Un thriller che comincia molto bene, nella sua aria di mistero e con un personaggio "invisibile"per poi perdersi un po' e scadere nel prevedibile e banale, un po' più di tre stelle ma non ancora quattro. La serie, di cui questo è il secondo episodio, nella versione originale gioca sul cognome del protagonista, John Rain, cosa che si perde completamente nella traduzione italiana dei titoli. Alla fine del romanzo la porta è apertissima e la strada spianata per successive puntate delle avventure di questo ex veterano, killer di professione dalle doppie radici nippo-americane.

Втора част от поредицата за наемният убиец Джон Рейн. Трябва да упомена, че тук до голяма степен историята следва предходната част от поредицата и не е удачно да се чете самостоятелно. Джон се е скрил в Осака след завършека на предната книга, но неговият добър познат от японското ФБР (кейсачу) го намира и моли за услута - елиминиране на дребен играч в Якудза. Това обаче не се оказва единична задача и зад нея след по-голяма конспирация. Отново са замесени и ЦРУ, както и интересите на чичо Сам. Хубава книга, а Джон Рейн отново се представи на ниво, като негов опонент беше свиреп гангстер, убиващ за удоволствие.

This second book in the John Rain series by Eisler hit almost all my buttons as a good assassin thriller. He depicted his action scenes artfully and with plenty of energy. It was tense and twists take you to the end. Eisler loses two stars for superfluous use of vulgarity and soft porn. Not necessary to carry this storyline. Eisler has a great command of the English language, so why waste it on Jesus Christ's name to create emotion. Foolish.

The big plot thing just sort of bores me which is why I hate James Bond and Jason Bourne. Why does everything have to be some huge geopolitical maneuver? Whenever the story started hashing out the “Crepuscular” (rhymes with Treadstone) angle my eyes started rolling back in my head and I couldn’t wait for another action scene. For my tastes the more complicated the plot the stupider it is.

He is much too casual with killing in these first two books. Rain murders a CIA agent in full view of another agent simply because they were following him. So he’s going to incur the full wrath of the world’s largest spy agency simply to make a point to the other agent he is interrogating? It doesn’t make much sense.

When he goes to the underground dojo to train and breaks the guy’s ankle was pretty stupid. I don’t care how hardcore your training you won’t get very far if both people are out to hurt the other. A broken ankle isn’t like a black eye or a fat lip; it’s a career-ending injury and not something anyone who isn’t a sociopath would inflict on someone they are training with, even if there are “no rules.” I’ve only met one fighter in my life (and never even heard of another) who probably wouldn’t hesitate to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the world: Rickson Gracie. I’ve spent a few years deconstructing the martial arts myself and when it comes to randori, or sparing, or whatever you want to call it you just never really know what might happen. I’ve beaten dudes much, much better and infinitely stronger than I am, at least once in a while but just enough to give them pause. Sometimes you just get lucky.

For the life of me I don’t understand why the author has bothered to change the titles of these books as both the old and new titles aren’t very good or reveal much concerning the contents of the individual novel.

Like I did with the first book, "A Clean Kill in Tokyo", I thoroughly enjoyed the character development John goes through from cover to cover. In the first book he's positioned as a highly-skilled highly-technical assassin with a very specific skillset and a tragic background that has deadened him inside to humanity. Through our first foray with Mr. Rain we experience the cracks in his armor through his relationship with Midori, a musician with a beauty to her John can't help but notice as he reminds himself that she is the daughter of a man he just assassinated. Throughout the book he experiences the full range of emotions all the way to a tragic conclusion that deadens him inside once again.

The rollercoaster of emotions manifests again in A Lonely Resurrection, aptly named. Featuring the same specificity and detail the first book provided, Eisler's ability to leave you feeling every word, every step, every through, every pang of fear, and every brutal blow delivered in the narrative once again leaves you wanting more at the end and with absolutely no doubt that Winner Take All, the third installment in the John Rain series, will deliver.

Crossroads Choices

John Rain is at a crossroads. He thinks he can get out of the "assassination game" alive and unfettered. But individuals who represent different agendas want him to stay in the Game, but concentrate on their own personal agendas. Each tries a type of coercion that puts the few people he truly cares about in danger. This is why his resurrection is so very lonely. Its setting the scene for team interactions, but whose team will he choose?? Because I learned about Rain through the Livia Lone series I already know he's going to think "outside" the parameters others are setting..but this book doesn't share what choice he's going to make yet. Great setup for next book in series. I'm thoroughly enjoying it...highly recommend it.

His turn of phrase is amazing! His descriptions are very pictorial, especially his vivid phrases about the city and its atmosphere. Alive and pulsating! John Rain is a complex character.

Tatsu had been upbeat. I wondered what deep wellspring fed his optimism. I wished I could share it...Fat droplets of rain started spattering against the city's concrete skin, against the glass windows of its eyes. A few people with umbrellas opened them. The rest ran for cover. I walked on, through it all. I tried to to think of it as a baptism, a new beginning. Maybe it was. But what a lonely resurrection.