I like this series. It has action and a unique protagonist. Little of the action involves guns and most on up close fights to the death. It also has stories full of espionage and a setting that is unique...Tokyo. Sometimes there use of Japanese words and customs gets a little thick, but it mostly comes across as new and interesting.

John Raines is a very good character and I don't mind spending more time that I usually like inside his mind. I think I will continue to read this series to the end and probably try some more of Eisler's novels.

BTW, the plot is dense and is completely impeded in the unique criminal and dirty political culture that is Tokyo and Japan.

This is a really great read. I highly recommend it. If you haven't read
the first John Rain thriller, " A Clean Kill In Tokyo,," I advise you to
open that up first. It gives a lot of background as to who Rain is, who
Harry is, and who Midori is. This book picks up where the first leaves
off. John Rain is an a former Vietnam War commando who grew up in
both Japan and in the states. He is also a deadly assasin. The book
details his life underground and the links from his past that lead him
out into dangerous waters. There is spy stuff, political intrigue, judo,
mixed martial arts, hostess clubs, and blackmail. It's John rain against
the whole Tokyo underworld. As with the first Rain book, this one takes
the reader on a journey into the depths of Tokyo, a place that I for the
first time find fascinating.

Another excellent book by Barry Eisler. His meticulous research and attention to detail is more than just impressive. The plot is intricately woven, and there are some devious minds at work here. I would hate to have Mr. Eisler as a chess opponent.

PROTAGONIST: John Rain, freelance assassin
SETTING: Japan
SERIES: #2
RATING: 3.5
WHY: John Rain is a half American, half Japanese freelance assassin. At the moment, he is situated in Tokyo where he is approached by any number of people about plying his trade. In what I viewed as a weakness. He's in constant danger and spends a large part of the book moving around in an effort not to be found by any of the other characters. He doesn't succeed in the case of the Japanese FBI agent, Tatsu, with whom he has an unusual alliance. This series vividly shows the world of the kind of person I'll likely never meet, an assassin. However, Rain didn't have a specific target that would drive his actions throughout the book, which I felt was a weakness, and his constant movement got repetitive.

This is book 2 of Eisler's John Rain spy series. It's 352 pages, rated 4.09/5.0 and I rated it 4.0. I really like the pace of this book. It's just the right mix of story to action. The story is set in Japan and has the added benefit of discussing a lot of Japanese culture. In the story, John is tasked with eliminating a really bad and cruel criminal. Along the way, people in his life are affected by his work in a way that causes John a lot of internal struggle, so we watch John long for a normal life, normal love, normal day, but it's not so easy for John.

Hard Rain, previously published as A Lonely Resurrection and Blood from Blood, is the second book in the John Rain series about a half American, half Japanese contract killer with a code working in Tokyo. I don’t think it’s essential to read these in order, but there are various returning characters from the first book and Rain’s personality and history are more fleshed out in the first one. This came out in 2003 but holds up pretty well in terms of technology.

Set about a year after the events of Rain Fall/AClean Kill in Tokyo, John has been hiding out in Osaka but is tracked down by his powerful secret policeman sometime ally Tatsu about a job. Rain specialises in “natural causes” assassinations and his mission introduces him to Murakami, a fearful gangster organising to the death cage fights who has links to corrupt politicians. With the CIA his tail, an old flame who thought him dead trying to find him, and his best friend in the the clutches of a glamorous bargirl, Rain will need all his tricks to come out alive…

I was first introduced to Rain as a minor character in the more recent Livia Lone books, so it’s been interesting meeting his younger, darker incarnation. He’s not quite an anti-hero - the first person narration means we are firmly on his side, but many of his actions gave me pause - casually killing a CIA operative apparently just doing his job, inflicting maximal violence on anyone who gets in his way, and being really quite nasty to a poor dog (admittedly it was trying to rip his arm off!) He is loyal to his friends, and has a weakness for beautiful women, jazz, and whiskey. The fight scenes are detailed and gory and often had me wincing.

The plot is complicated, with multiple bad guys to keep track of, as well as those walking the line between law enforcement and criminality. One of the aspects I liked initially got tedious after a while - the detailed descriptions of Tokyo - the city is very much a character here, but extended descriptions of every SDR (surveillance detection route) he takes just felt like padding. Eisler uses a lot of Japanese words which added flavour but I struggled to remember what they all meant. I’ve got the next two lined up and feel I will need to read them fairly soon while I remember who’s who. 3.5 rounded up for the interesting hero and atmospheric writing.

6/10

This is the second installment of the John Rain series, and I have to say it was even more enjoyable than the first. There was lots of fast-paced action, and the crime web that Yamaoto--who I am assuming is the series' ultimate villain--seems to be involved with seems to grow ever more complex. I have a notoriously short attention span when it comes to books, just because I'm moody, but I actually read this one beginning to end without pausing to read anything else. It had me that riveted. Four out of five stars.

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Listened to this audiobook, read by Dick Hill who does a terrific job with pronouncing Japanese. At least it sounds authentic. Not having any clue, I wouldn’t know, but the perception of authenticity is as good as reality. And, of course, I’ll misspell all the names.

Eisler recreates an authentic Japanese world and culture, at least the seamier side -- apparently, as again, I have no experience with reality. But then, the book is a chimera, and creates a duality from contrast of Japanese culture with the protagonist, a paranoid (can you really be paranoid if everyone is really after you?) assassin, hired by a government spook, Tatsu, his former nemesis to undertake some selective murder, but it’s all in a good cause.

Rain spends most of his time and effort in avoiding detection and circumventing security devices and people, a life which seems devoid of entertainment -- and here Rain is different from Parker and Quarry and Thomas Perry’s nameless assassin, -- except for his love of piano jazz. That struck me as a substantial chink in his armor as his predilection for a particular artist. Midori, daughter of one of Rain’s previous hits, would imply easy entry into his world. Nevertheless, Eisler’s description of Rain’s world is rich and revealing of Japanese cultural differences.

Rain has his own code (no children or women and the targets must be principals, not just “to send a message”) and few friends whom he trusts, one being Harry, the electronics genius, who figures prominently in this story. He also specializes in killing people so the result appears to be of natural or accidental provenance. (One always wonders whether the intricate detail in books like this become prescriptions for some people.)

Eisler muses on Japanese political culture and the relationship between the United States and Japan. Here one of Japan’s top policemen is embarked on a personal crusade to eliminate corruption, yet, as Rain points out Japan’s true power lies in the bureaucracy, and politicians are merely paid lip service. The CIA is also involved, running its own Iran Contra type of operation even setting up one of its own to take an Oliver North kind of fall. The plot is complicated with numerous subplots all nicely tied together by Tokyo’s ambiance.

As I read a particularly affecting scene as Rain recounts his first kill while a sniper in Vietnam, I realized that many of the aforementioned hitmen protagonists learned their trade in Vietnam and realized once out they had no marketable skills except killing, and that they had developed a particularly emotion-less view of life and death.

My sole complaint would be the the writing/reading descriptions of hand-to-hand combat and extreme violence are hardly credible as they often border on caricature. While one could read this as a standalone, I would recommend reading the first in the series, Rain Fall, for a better grounding in the back story of some of the characters.

I was looking for a new action series to start since I am all caught up on Reacher/Rapp/Robie/Milton and friends. I tried a few popular ones but didnt get past the first book. I had heard good things about Rain and havent really read an assassin series before...so glad I gave it a try! I am loving the books so far and the Japanese culture combined with scotch and jazz is awesome.

Definitely looking forward to reading all the books in the series and the spinoff characters as well.
For those confused about the book renames and reading order of the series, I have found this graphic from Eisler's website to be super helpful:

I liked this book better than the first one (Rain Fall.) The plot was more interesting, and resolved one of the threads from the first book. Also, Eisler began to show more of the protagonist John Rain's inate goodness. Does a nice job of making Tokyo come alive too.

eu já tinha lido, há algum tempo, o primeiro livro desta série, que achei mais ou menos. acontece que, mesmo não tendo achado o livro ótimo, ele foi um livro que deixou mais recordações que o normal, e eu vivia lembrando dele, com vontade de ler mais da história -- então me rendi, e comprei o volume 2 pra ler. adorei, adorei! este livro é bem sperior ao primeiro! tudo flui tão bem que li tudinho em dois dias bastante movimentados, em filas, em taxis, em esperas, no cabeleireiro, e à noite na cama, antes de dormir. foi uma leitura gostosa, rápida, e que fez com que meus dias ficassem mais curtidos mesmo com muitas filas e esperas :-) super recomendo! e já vi que lerei os outros livros da série...