"Um matador de aluguel tem uma repentina crise de consciência e resolve proteger a filha de um burocrata (que ele acabara de matar!), agora envolvida com a ocultação de uma prova que pode revelar corrupção nos mais altos escalões do governo japonês".

Confesso que quando li a sinopse não pareceu tão ruim assim quanto isto...mas a trama do livro infelizmente lembra muito aqueles filmes do Domingo Maior que devem dar traço de ibope. Nada a elogiar. Começo, meio e fim sofríveis...e imaginar que este é o primeiro livro da saga de John Rain!

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.

4.5 stars

John Rain is awesome! He is a highly skilled assassin who lives and works in Tokyo's underworld.

The story is fast-paced and excellent - love all the little details that make John untouchable and super effective.

I would recommend the audio version as it is read by the author and you can hear how all the Japanese is pronounced.

Looking forward to reading more of these!

I wasn't expecting too much from this book, but it turned out to be a surprisingly complex and well-written thriller that never lost its forward drive. It stands out from other books in this genre because of the atmosphere that Eisler has captured with his strong sense of place, his authenticity, and his articulateness. There are a few images in this book that are stunning, such as his description of Japan's lights at night.

Eisler has also managed to fill this book with soulfulness while never letting go of the action. John Rain is a highly proficient assassin, but Eisler manages to reveal his turmoil without weakening Rain's effective exterior. All the concepts fit together: his homelessness both because of his physical identity and the person he became through the atrocities he committed in Vietnam, his need to keep swimming like a shark, the ghosts that haunt him, why he must always live in the shadows. Rain's final scene with Crazy Jake left me in tears. After that, the karmic parallel between his former relationship with Deidre and his new one with Midori was an irony approaching the sublime. And with Midori, Eisler handles it beautifully so that I felt both the great (yet guilty) passion between these two characters and the fragileness of that link.

This book isn't perfect. Some of the dialogue is excellent and surprisingly funny, but most of the longer conversations are info-dumps complete with explanations of all the acronymns used. I can forgive the unrealistic dialogue, though, because it was still riveting to listen to the complex political machinations revealed. Plus, often dialogue was followed up with an insight that would blow my mind, for example how "practical objections" meant that the speaker had made a leap from 'not doing something' to 'how will it get done.' Finally, the spycraft is fascinating.

Overall, one of the best thrillers around.