John Rain's is living in Rio as the story opens. He reconnects with Naomi, but it doesn't last as she the CIA finds him via his connection to her. He takes a gig with them and goes back to the far east (Macau) and a new series of assassinations and all manner of hand to hand combat situations follow.

He meets a new femme fatale who is just about his match and seems like she may stick around for another book as they were vacationing at the end. He also gets a new buddy via this caper and I suspect he will stick around.

All in all, another very good story with John Rain, top predator, again conquering all, but showing a little of the effects of his age as the story proceeds. I've read three straight books in the Rain series now and might take some time off to try another of those lined up in my que. However, I'll certainly be back and expect to quickly run through the other six or so.

It has a fine story, great action scenes, you don’t know who to trust until the last pages, the characters sound a bit more believable than in previous books (maybe for me because I’m a Westerner and this book deals a lot more with them than with the Japanese). This series has been a pleasant surprise, I’ll continue reading it :)

The premise of this book is similar to the previous book in the series – a meticulous description of one particular hit job. This time, he's been hired to take out an arms dealer by the CIA.

With new characters added to the mix, John Rain needs to decide who he can trust. One of the new characters gets his own series, so I'm glad I'm reading all the Barry Eisler books in order.

I liked this one about the same as the last, maybe 4.5 instead of 5, but they're all very good.

Another good thriller.

This can be a review of all his books. In addition to the thriller aspect which is always exciting, I enjoy the expansive vocabulary of this author. Plus he's teaching me some Japanese in each book in this series. Well developed characters and plot. Sometimes maybe too much filler, but sometimes it's also informative, and I love to learn while I'm being entertained. 4.5 stars.

One of the last superior Rain stories.

This was one of the last great Rain stories before the storyline started losing its focus and awesomeness. Rain is a fantastic character and the subsequent stories in this line we simply not up to par with this and earlier Rain stories.

I enjoyed getting back to the John Rain, professional assassin series again, after a long gap. But I find it somewhat perplexing that all these books have been renamed in the interim. Not sure exactly what the point of that was. So if you're looking for this one, you are more likely to find it under its current title, Winner Take All. Having read the book, I wouldn't say that this is particularly a better title for it. At least originally having "Rain" in the first four titles united them thematically.

Assassin who makes it look like natural causes. JR continues the missions across different cities.

It was an average book, to be honest. Simple & one plot, not deviating into any side plots, start and end as a quick short read. Nothing stands out in the book, nothing lingers in your mind as an afterthought or picks on your brain, a straight read from start to the end.

John Rain has been living in Rio in hiding from his past involving CIA, Japan & Midori, created a separate identity for himself and manages to live below the radar. But when he gets in touch with his old gf in Rio, CIA finds him and offers him a job as an independent consultant which he cannot refuse. The job is to kill a Belghazi, an Algerian-French arms dealer trafficking in illegal delivery of arms to the sensitive middle eastern countries. Rain arrives in Hong Kong where Belghazi is on a business (meeting clients) and pleasure (gambling in Macau casinos). Belghazi has a beautiful blonde companion with him, Delilah, who is a Mossad agent in reality. Rain’s plan to kill Belghazi is put on temporary hold by Delilah as she need certain information from Belghazi’s computer for an arms deal to happen in the next few days before which Delilah cannot allow Rain to kill him. Both reluctantly accept the truce, not before Delilah and Rain falling for a quick steamy one night stand.

But before Rain could wait out those few days for Delilah to extract the required information, Rain gets identified by Belghazi and attempts to Rain’s life happens via some Arab mercenaries. Rain pumps his handlers in CIA to get more information on his life attempt and finds that Belghazi receives protection from some department in CIA as he passes info on bigger (WMD-type) arms deals to CIA, if they are planned to happen against the US. Rain takes it on himself to remove the other party who passed information on Rain to Belghazi, then teams up with Dox, an unlikely ally from Rain’s Afghanistan days in the US Army and then plans to kill Belghazi in an elaborate ops.
The final showdown at Kwai Chung is quite interesting, Rain manages to kill Belghazi but not before he is seriously injured and rescued by Dox from the crime & shootout scene. The plan of taking the 5M USD as part of the weapons exchange deal goes bad as the American NOC in Hong Kong, who was helping Belghazi in overseeing the deal, steals it by killing the rest of the parties (Arabs) involved. But Rain survives the day only to fight another day.

The book ends with a soft touch where Delilah unites with Rain in Rio beach and they spend some relaxed time together. And Delilah reveals that she meets up with Rain not just for emotional reasons, but also for professional as she has a job offer for Rain. But that is for another novel which Eisler would take Rain’s journey forward.
Quick read, something which keep you glued to the pages though not a strong plot to rivet your interest (infact I struggled at one point to continue with the book till the end), but good enough for a quick read and forget it.

I was a little surprised at how this book started out with John Rain working for the CIA after spending the first two books avoiding "the agency." So, it was weird with it opening up with that. It gets explained later.

So, this book ranks higher than book number two for me and probably right up there with the first book in the John Rain series, and it all has to do with John coming to grips with people actually caring about him as a person and less on the fact that he is a cold and ruthless assassin. Maybe it also has something to do with the other characters in John's life. I have always liked Tatsu, and the addition of Dox coming into John's life really made up for the loss of another friend of John's.

I guess I like John, so I'm kind of rooting for him to find some roots. It seems people keep trying to befriend him, but John keeps pushing everyone away. It's kind of nice to see some of the other characters in the book prove to John that it is okay to trust others from time to time. I realize he has his reasons for staying distant, but I feel for the guy. It seems like he could use someone in his life to lighten it up.

Winner Take All really adds to the series, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next one.

Another awesome John Rain book!

I am really enjoying the John Rain series by Barry Eisler! One would think the story might get repetitive, but that would be a bad assumption. Eisler does a fantastic job of developing the character of John Rain through the exciting story line. I appreciate the research that is done, it makes for a great book that is hard to put down!

I read this as an ebook 8 years ago & reviewed it here. It was out of order & is on its third title, so no wonder there is some confusion. I hate it when books are renamed. In my other review, I gave it 3 stars & doubted I'd read it again. I am because now I'm listening to the books in order.

It was pretty good this time. It helped having the background of the first 2 books. Rain is a very careful character who is aging a bit & coming to terms with that plus other complications in his life. Kind of a sad guy in many ways since he can't fully trust anyone. Good, twisty adventure he's on, too.

DNF
Although I kind of like the John Rain books, this just couldn’t hold my attention. There were great parts of the book dedicated to giving background and the pace was far too slow for my likings.

More in-depth (counter) surveillance tactics, combat and some predictable couplings; but nothing new and not as good as the first two instalments. I gave up three hours from the end as I had lost track and interest of what was supposed to be happening.

Time to change authors for a while.