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.

This second book in the series is slower, with more detail into John Rain's life. I'm surprised the ratings are this good. I loved it, but it's more of a character study while Rain decides whether he wants to "work" as a hitman again or not.

The book is called "A Lonely Resurrection," so you pretty much know where it's going.

I enjoyed the journey. I really like this character.

Barry Eisler is great at providing a lot of detail while keeping the reader completely engaged. He performs the audiobook as well, so he gets double my admiration.

I've already added the entire series to my queue, but the next two books are on sale at Audible.com. Yay!!!

Lonely Indeed

Great book. Great story. Great characters. All as usual. This one made me sadder than his others, justifiably so. Enjoyable, action packed and informative read, also as usual. Just more melancholy. Glad he is picking his own titles now.

John Rain is a bad ass. Good series.

Der zweite Teil der Tokio Killer-Reihe mit John Rain. Dieser hat nach den Ereignisse aus Teil 1 Tokio verlassen, doch die japanische Geheimpolizei spürt ihn mit Hilfe von Verkehrskameras auf.

Rain wird nicht verhaftet, sondern soll nun mehrere Mafioso liquidieren. Der erste Mord klappt schnell und reibungslos, doch das zweite Opfer erweist sich als durchaus ebenbürtig und tötet Johns einzigen Freund Harry. Für John Rain geht es nun um alles.

Wer kein Problem mit Serienkillern hat und flott geschriebene Actionkrimis mit viel japanischem Lokalkolorit, aber ohne allzu großen Anspruch mag, kommt auch hier auf seine Kosten. Daher 4 von 5 Sternen ****

Action filled and drew me in. I'm liking this series so far.

The second John Rain book, it was slow getting started, but really took off about a third of the way in, with the customary violence and some extra romance.

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"...

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.

Интересна еволюция на света на Рейн. Първата книга е оставила в мен лошо впечатление. Втората е по-добра, но по един начин, по който Рамбо 3 е добър филм. Нинджи, ММА, черно-бели образи. Рейн е невъзможен герой, нещата които върши са подходящи за Чигур, не за човек със съвест.

Смятам да прочета още книги от поредицата, защото серията за Рейн се преплита с тази за Ливия Лоун. Ливия Лоун е герой с известна дълбочина и ми допада, а и Бари Айслър описва с подготовка. В книгите му има референции към Дейл Карнеги, Гавин де Бекър и т.н.

John Rain is a hard character to like. He´s a cold, calculating, killer for hire. He´s a bit of a paranoid. He´s basically someone you wouldn't want to meet!
Barry Eisler´s writing is also sometimes hard to enjoy. He´s in love with Japan and takes you on a tour. You read about subway stations, train stations, streets, the characters use japanese expressions which are then translated to english. It gets tiresome and annoying fast.
With all this its surprising just how compelling this book is. Rain is like that disaster you cant help but look at. By disaster I mean the devastation that surrounds him. He kills without mercy, tortures, manipulates or threatens people and you can hardly wait to turn the page and see what he will do next. Then you get his walks through Tokyo, the night time, the bars, and suddenly you find yourself immersed, like you´re really there, through Eisler´s vivid descriptions. You can almost “smell” the whiskey Rain´s drinking, listen to the Jazz and feel the danger he´s in.
Its an elegant journey to a seedy, bloody existence.
The plot follows the events from the first book. This time Rain is a bit more human. Its a story of revenge. The enemy is ruthless. He´s a true “monster” and Eisler, who has made Rain an almost unstoppable killing machine manages to create a worthy foe, someone you truly believe is a threat and may be even better than our “hero”. Its a fantastic duel and an awesome build-up of tension until the satisfying conclusion.
The rest of the plot relies on a bit of spy stuff and its interesting enough. But John Rain is the star and the reason to read.
By now you get used to his way of thinking, his paranoid behavior and his own code of conduct.
To be honest, John Rain scares me. I just cant turn away. There´s something brutally raw in Eisler´s writing and the violence here has weight, feels real and even shocks you. Its a feat.
The book has a better pace than the original and there´s a bit more action. Its still not a book for everybody. You need to be patient with the still somewhat slow rhythm. You also need to be a bit twisted to be honest.
But be warned. You just might get addicted to the world of shadows where John Rain is waiting!

Great page turner

Having read the Livia Lone novels by the same author, I'm now working through the John Rain ones. These were written first, it turns out, but already in this novel I can see how the writing style has developed and stabilised into something similar to that in the Livia Lone novels. As I work on Japan and also set my novels (e.g. "Hijacking Japan") in Japan, I also found the book useful in thinking further about how to set stories and characters in Japan for readers who may be less familiar with the country.