Uciderea în sine nu-i partea cea mai grea. Membrii bandelor şi atâţia „câini turbaţi” o fac zilnic. Furia te umple de adrenalină, panica anulează logica, pui mâna pe pistol, închizi ochii, apeşi pe trăgaci… Hristoase! şi o maimuţă poate face asta, nici măcar nu trebuie să fii om.
tNu, adevărul este că uciderea în sine reprezintă partea simplă. Pe de altă parte însă, apropierea de ţintă necesită talent. Ca şi arta de a lăsa impresia că a fost o moarte naturală, care este specialitatea mea; nu am cunoscut decât un alt operator care o putea face în mod consecvent şi nu sunt sigur dacă ar trebui să-l pun la socoteală, pentru că eu sunt cel care l-a ucis. Şi nu-i tocmai floare la ureche nici să nu laşi urme ce ar putea duce la tine.
tCare-i totuşi partea cea mai grea? Partea pe care n-o poţi planifica, pe care o poţi înţelege cu adevărat doar când este deja prea târziu? Să-ţi continui viaţa, ştiind ce ai făcut. Să rezişti sub povara faptei pe care ai săvârşit-o. Asta-i cel mai greu. Chiar şi cu limitări ca ale mele – nu mă ocup de femei, nu mă ocup de copii, nu întreprind acţiuni împotriva unor ţinte secundare –, după aceea nu mai eşti aceeaşi persoană. Nu mai respiri chiar la fel şi nici nu mai visezi aceleaşi vise. Credeţi-mă, eu ştiu asta.

There are several authors that are writing books about hired killers. Some I like and some no so much.
This one was in the "not so much" category. Even though this guy kills for a good reason, the technical area of his reasoning was way long and way boring. It did get better three quarters of the way into the story, but by that time I was just looking to finish the book.
This too is one of a series.... I might read one more to see if i might like another better.

Recommended by David and it did not disappoint. Impressed with the author's knowledge of the Far East, including food, geography, and language. Will definitely be reading more of the John Rain series.

I enjoyed the facts given and the commentary about just about everything Rain encountered. That was all this story had, there was no foundation. I wonder what Eisler's contract with the publisher was? Clearly this episode was incomplete and not ready to publish on literature parameters.
As a reader, when I embrace a series, this is the negative side.

Spectacular Thriller

The antagonist fought the predators like a wild man. He watched carefully to find out where his adversaries were hiding. Then he killed them with various methods he learned from the masters. Removed most of these men with his bare hands.
Interesting story about the life of a hit man.

I checked out a few Barry Eisler audiobooks after thoroughly enjoying Livia Lone. Spy mysteries are among my favorite genre; unfortunately the Rain series isn't doing it for me. They're not bad, but seem a bit cliche and repetitive. I can't like Dox. Not sure I like Rain. Pretty sure I won't listen to any more than I have already taken the time to load to my iPod.

Fast paced action and clandestine ops

Excellent author narration. If you like clandestine ops, you need to read Barry Eisler's books. I am addicted! Action, great characters, excellent narrative.John Rain is an honorable but dangerous man.

Best yet

John Rain and his small band of conspirators just keep getting better. This was a satisfying story and the character backstories were excellent. Somebody needs to make a John Rain movie or three.

Very enjoyable

By chance I was in Phuket and Bangkok when reading this book which may have added to my enjoyment of it, but the travel is only one aspect. It's great to see the Rain character develop over the series. This is perhaps more interesting than the supposed main story - although that was enjoyable too (though I have to admit I sometimes find the level of detail in fight scenes too much).

Book 4, and free-lance assassin John Rain keeps getting better. Visits to the Phillipines and Bangkok (as well as a return to Hong Kong) highlight the travelogue.

I wouldn't recommend this without reading books 1 thru 3 though. It might still be enjoyable, but the backstory and foreshadowing add so much more.

Most excellent!

Another strong entry in the Rain series. Dox is such a great character.

I so enjoyed Tom Wood's series with Victor, that I went looking for another to feed my fix/need.

I stumbled across Barry Eisler and have read the entire 8-book series. And was very pleased. As such, this is the same review for all 8 books.


The author reads his own work, and after listening to Tom Wood's series with Rob Shapiro as the wonderful narrator, this took me a while to adapt to the reading style.

But don't let that dissuade you. Barry Eisler does a really really fine job of narrating, and you get to hear the different personalities, and understand who is who pretty quickly.

Barry Eisler has a nice knack of leading the reader on, enticing them to continue the story, and understand the predicaments the protagonist (John Rain) finds himself in. In addition, the growth of the character is wonderful. Kudos to Barry Eisler, and his real-life background that leads him to be able to write this well (check out his website as well!).

As I mentioned above, I have read all 8 books. Once I got through book 1, I could not put down the entire series.

I liked this series so much, I'd love to meet the author, and can't wait to read more of his works as well.