Solidly written first-person fictional account by an assassin-for-hire contracted by the CIA to take out a mysterious arms dealer. There are several incongruities that seem to get resolved by the book's dramatic end, though its hard to imagine various CIA agents working with such cross purposes, but I suppose in today's super-surveiled world it's possible. The author also did a nice job of leading the reader on with a few false leads without ruining the guessing game by way of a non-plausible ending. The finish featured a twist, but nothing unbelievable or outlandish or out-of-left field given what we know of the characters. Two of the major protagonists may have gotten a little too misty-eyed for comfort after their travails, but again it could be believed to be within the scope of their characters given all that happened.
The author's diction and atmospherics were excellent. The scenes really stand out with vivid descriptions and settings that almost emanate feelings, not just scenery or beauty.
Some technical aspects could use updating. This spy's assets would not appear as timeless as James Bonds' or Maxwell Smart's. But what really separates this book from many others is powerful character depictions. This one certaintly isn't gimicky or trite or annoyingly coy like many in the genre.

CIA mă angajase să-l „retrag” pe Belghazi, nu să-l protejez. Aşa că dacă lucrurile nu mergeau bine, următorul lor candidat pentru o retragere aveam să fiu probabil chiar eu.
tÎnsă după cum vedeam situaţia, salvarea lui Belghazi de individul pe care îl poreclisem „Karate” i-ar fi făcut o favoare Unchiului Sam. La urma urmelor, poate că Karate nu reuşea să simuleze un deces natural, ori era prins, ori făcea ceva de mântuială şi atunci ar fi apărut neînţelegeri, suspiciuni şi acuzaţii – exact genul de probleme pentru evitarea cărora mă angajase CIA.
tLa astea se adăuga desigur problema plătirii mele. Dacă Karate ajungea primul la Belghazi şi eu nu-mi puteam atribui reuşita, era posibil să rămân fără un cec, iar asta n-ar fi fost foarte corect, nu?
tÎl poreclisem Karate, fiindcă suspiciunile mele legate de el începuseră să se coaguleze când îl văzusem executând kata, „forme”, de karate în sala de fitness a hotelului Mandarin Oriental din Macao, unde stăteam amândoi şi unde Belghazi urma să sosească în curând. Evitând hăţişul de maşini Lifecycles şi Cybex, el preferase să se concentreze asupra unei serii de punciuri, blocaje şi lovituri cu piciorul în aer, care ar fi putut semăna pentru neiniţiaţi cu o rutină de dans marţial. De fapt, mişcările lui erau bune – fluide, exersate şi puternice. Ar fi fost impresionante la orice ins de douăzeci de ani, dar bărbatul acesta părea să aibă minimum patruzeci.

John Rain flees to Brazil but is pulled back into CIA affairs and finds competition for his scheduled hit. He takes out the hit man and runs into an Israeli agent trying to get arms information out of his target. He backs off to give her time and fends off six Saudi attackers. He enlists the help of another CIA agent and together they thwart the missile sale but lose out on the $5 mission payoff.

Another interesting plot.

Having started at the wrong end of the series, it took me a while to be willing to go back to the beginning and start with book 1, mostly because I loved the group of characters and wasn't sure I'd enjoy the books that were mostly about just one or two. I was eagerly awaiting the introduction of some of the characters I knew from later books. However, I really enjoyed John Rain on his own, making his own decisions and in full control of his own life without consideration for most other people. This book is the first one that introduces characters beyond John Rain himself that I know will be sticking around. (Actually, that's not true. The second book introduced Kanezecki, but I wasn't really counting him.) It was fun to watch them come onstage and experience them through John's eyes and learn a bit more about them than I maybe knew from the later novels in the series.

It is interesting watching John transform. I think he knows he needs to make changes and isn't sure how to make them; especially in ways that won't have lethal reprecussions for him down the road. I'm not sad for John to see the relationships I know are coming start to form. But I do think I have a bettet understanding now of why John so completely retreats from those same relationships periodically in the future books. With every gain (and it's human to need social connections and physical contact) there is a loss (John actually lived very well for a very long time with minimal connection and found alternate ways to cope and thrive - killing aside).

I reviewed the first book in this series saying I couldn't live the way John lives. This is still true. And it's still ridiculous that I can completely separate what he does for a living from my consideration of his lifestyle. The most basic reason I couldn't live the way he lives is I couldn't kill people for a living. But I set all that aside and considered the rest of his life. Because in the first book he seems to have lots of money and lots of free time. That hasn't really changed in this book, I suppose, except it's set up early on that the money is running thin. That's part of why he's agreed to the job he's doing. Only he spends a LOT of money during this story. I wasn't adding it up, and I know some of what he spends is reimbursable expenses, but it kind of seemed to me that he really wasn't going to end up making a lot of money on the job when all was said and done.

Spoilers -

And then he gave away everything he did earn. Generous. A nice indicator of the new trust he's got in his relationship with Dox. But I kept thinking, "wait - didn't you say you needed this money?!?"

It was hard to read that last fight. After two books of being nervous for John in multiple fight scenarios only to have him pull free; and knowing he's still a force to be reckoned with however many books past this one; I was more relaxed going into the final climactic encounter in this novel. And it turns out I shouldn't have been. It really allows for the trust to be established between John and Dox. To have that much at stake and Dox behave as he does is huge. So, I do think part of it was about character and relationship development. But I also think I shouldn't have been relaxed. On any given day anyone might win or lose a fight. Still, it's hard to watch your hero (John Rain is a very unlikely hero at this point in the series!) go down. Especially to someone who is in no way a hero.

Action is now taking the reader to new locations and and meeting a number of new people. Some of the new acquaintances will obviously be returning as the complexly of John's sphere grows.

The urge for John to live a "normal" live is pulling on him more than ever. But just as much, external forces are trying to nail him down to continue what he is best at, eliminating problem people.

LOVED this story as we travel with John to new location where his well verse skills in survival, judging people, pieceing together what is really going on are heavily challenged.

Rain Storm / Choke Point / Winner Take All is set in a time just after 9/11, with a late 40's main character connected to Vietnam and Afghanistan conflicts. I've enjoyed the series so far, though the reading has been *very* spread out.

The author's expertise in martial arts comes out clearly in the realistic and accurate fight descriptions. Locale descriptions are also lovingly done; the reader gets a real feel for the place. My favorite character in this book was Dox, and I'll be as interested in what happens to him in future books as for the main character, John Rain.

One of the strong points of emphasis in the first book were Rain's three rules. These are mentioned here, but otherwise ignored. While working for the CIA, can Rain stay independent enough? I thought his detour towards the end of the book was problematic, but it may be important for future plots. Hard to remember the previous book, but I didn't like this as much as the first one. 3½ stars, rounded down.

May tackle book 4 a bit sooner :)

A CIA contact killer who specializes in making it look like natural causes (and happens to be Caucasian/Japanese) is on the hunt in Macau. Someone else is after the mark and they work together. There are connections with the CIA and the Japanese Yakuza.

It’s hard to characterize this writing style of the ‘action’ genera. Nevertheless, I find it interesting. There are very detailed explanations of hand-to-hand fighting. The author writes in a way that is always very 'calm’ – in a Zen kind-of way. It’s very precise ... thinking chess-moves ahead. (The author seems to have an extensive knowledge – in minute detail – of the martial arts. There are moment-by-moment details/explanations, even naming the moves.) The style works well getting into the mind of the hit man/assassin.

I think that you would have to have read some of the prior novels in the series to fully appreciate this book. That being said, I have already bought the next one on the series.

At least I didn't have to read through tons of unnecessary Japanese words translated into English immediately after and descriptions of Japan that were entirely too detailed for the purpose. I think the author might just be improving! I will say, however, that I really detested the reference to "'Stan." Ugh. Afghanistan... I have never met anybody who has ever called it "Stan," military or otherwise... I just found it really annoying and dumb. The story was OK.

This was my first Barry Eisler book...I met Barry last month at the Pike's Peak Writer's Conference...was impressed with the man and now am impressed with the writer...an excellent work...Barry is an intelligent guy, articulate and personable. His characters are well-developed, interesting, and worldly. His vocabulary is somewhat elevated from the usual thriller...I liked that. The plot was great, the commentary was interesting and illuminating. I learned a lot of useful information, as well as just some interesting stuff --at the Air Force Academy, we referred to trivia as "little known and interesting facts"... there were a lot of those factoids as well...

I'll be honest, I bought the book because I knew it wouldn't hold me in a chair all night until I finished reading it. I read Hard Rain and was less than engrossed. But I did want to see how the conspiracy evolved.
Unfortunately the conspiracy does not continue in this book, so I still don't know and probably won't read another one.
Eisler is still bogged down in t0o much metaphoric imagery. Pages of descriptions of scenery while Rain takes long lonely walks to make sure he is being followed. I skipped most of it, and which at least made the pace of the book move a bit faster for me.
***Vague spoiler in next paragraph***
However, Eisler has improved his plotting and character skills. He does allow Rain to be weaker, so you at least get a sense of underdog on occasion. However, he still missed the point of the underdog. The underdog should win. He should overcome his burdens and triumph. Instead Rain is overcome, gives up and is saved by a friend. Gives up is the key there. Heroes don't give up, Eisler.
I'm not a fan of neurotic over thinking in novels. I am a fan of the maxim "Show, Don't Tell." Rain does A LOT of internal dialog and it drains the interest out of the plot for me. I skipped a lot of that too.

Fast moving addition to the "Rain" series (this is the third book in the series, it was previously released under two other titles: Rain Storm and Choke Point). Rain has retired to Rio for some much needed down time, but is found by his CIA employers. He is sent off on a new mission, to kill a Middle Eastern arms dealer in Macau. He re-ups with Dox (a super-sniper, who also provides some comic relief to Rain's deadly seriousness), and mayhem ensues, along with a mysterious beautiful unknown, Delilah.

Eisner keeps the reader zipping along, wasting little time on character development, but manages to fill out Rain enough to make him a sympathetic hero, despite his "job" as a skilled assassin. Of course, the politics are terrible...Arabs and Russian bad guys, Americans and Israelis are the good guys. But ignore the politics, and it is well worth the read.

Fun, informative and even thought-provoking

I'm enjoying Eisler's writing, story and character development and especially his good research skills and attention to detail. He may be trying to convince me of something, but his books show he's interested in the dialogue, not in being an in-artful sledgehammer.