Quite A Great Read | Rain Storm (John Rain Thrillers)

Eisler keeps getting better | Rain Storm (John Rain Thrillers) | Barry Eisler

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	• Rain Storm (John Rain Thrillers) Barry Eisler Signet, 2005 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 66 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A DASH OF K-Y JELLY-- THEN CLIMAX

The beginning of HARD RAIN is so slick its as if B.E. oiled the opening pages with a dash of K-Y Jelly. The reader eases effortlessly in to this work. The novel unfolds in the exotic former Portugese colony of Macao. This is a good backdrop for casinos and a hit. The book then sambas to Rio. Our hero John Rain is on the run from his past bad kharma. John is a brutal jujitso killer with a lonely heart and a fondness for single malt scotch, jazz, and designer demi-tasse. Though I was eased in as if with a marital aid the work is flagging around page 100. The slickness of the work feels to be a manifestation of Barry Eisler wanting to churn out pot-boilers as a vocation, and; a desire to provide scenic locales for a future movie deal. So 130 pages in Rain literally gets tired of being a "john" and ditches his prostitute cover Keiko. Keiko is a hottie who likes to shop and will gladly copulate with a smile for lucre. She is well trained in the water trade. Rain is an inedpendent contractor for the CIA ( " Christians In Action"). When 3 large "Arabs" appear in Brioni suits among a sea of slanted yellow eyes it can only mean 2 things-- Barry Eisler gets a politically correct target to give an ignorant and angry American Public catharsis for 9/11 ; and J.R. gets to happily snap bones like twigs and rapidly rifle bullets into craniums. Our "hero" dispatches all 3 Arab assassins with panache in the wink of an eye. Just as I was becoming disenchanted with B.E. along comes an article February 27, 2010 by Robert Baer in The Wall Street Journal. The article details the assassination of Hamas military leader Mahmoud alMabhough on January 20, 2010 in Dubai. "Nearly the entire hit was recorded on closed circuit TV cameras". The WSJ featured snapshots of all 26 assassins ( it looks like a college yearbook). The assassination had the hallmarks of an Israeli hit: namely, a large team of men and women and a flawless execution. After reading the WSJ today Barry Eisler gets his street cred back. I am going to give the novel a chance. After all, this is the world we live in after 9/11. Executive Order 12,333 outlawing CIA assassinations has been repealed in our post 9/11 world. It is time for Buk Guru to face the world we live in. Well our man Rain faces his reality by perfunctorily snapping the necks of his next 3 Sauidi adversaries in quick succession. He goes on the lam from Macau to a high-rent hotel room overlooking the scenic harbor in Hong Kong. J.R. gets a little R & R by polishing off a high end bottle of single malt scotch and having a sexual assignation with a beautiful Mossad spy named Delilah. By naming the female spy Delilah B.E. is telegraphing a message that J.R. better not let her give him a hair-cut. The book is now on Part 2. Suspension is building.

It feels like Barry Eisler is getting ready to pop the top off the bottle. The primary target for Rain is Belghazi. Belghazi is a half Algerian, half French arms dealer who is supplying the Islamicist fanatics who are the enemies of the US. But something is rotten in Denmark. Rain suspects that he has been betrayed by his handlers at t he CIA. As Eisler's readers know; when you cross Rain you are literally "sticking your neck out". Suspense is building and adrenaline is pumping.
Rain travels back to Tokyo to touch base with his handlers and find out who sold him out and sent a Saudi hit squad. The atmosphere of damp, dreary, grey and crowded Tokyo is well described by Eisler. In the Tokyo drizzle John Rain looks out up at " a sea of umbrellas". Rain walks his old haunts which he knows like the back of his hand. He frequents coffee houses, back alleys and seedy hotels. Rain discovers that his nemesis is a bureaucrat in Washington named Crawley. Crawley is part of a conspiracy to aid and assist the Saudis (even though it is long known and ignored that Saudi oil money funds radical and killer jihaadiis) that goes up to the highest levels of the US government. ( Think G.W.Bush III holding hands and kissing Saudi princes!) Well, in preparation for his trip to Washington, D.C. John Rain ruminates on his thanatopsis( i.e. his view of death). He talks about being too young a child to understand death when his father suddenly died. He said it took 5 years after after his fathers' death to understand the finality. Then it dawned on him that the images of this dominant figure would recede " like distant cave paintings". There is good writing here. Writings and character ruminations which elevate the series above a routine potboiler and transform it into a unique series engendering reader devotion and loyalty. Rain enlists in the US armed forces at a tender age. Killing and death become his constant companions. He receives a telegram while in 'Nam that his mother has died too. This one, that he is a motherless orphan does not penetrate his callous psyche. In these passages we gain insight into the metamorhosis of the psyche of a ruthless assassin. But yet, reflecting the dichotomy of the human soul; in these same passages our assassin is wistful for the touch, taste and smell of his lost love Midori. This insight adds depth to the character that is necessary in a successful series. Barry Eisler is pulling it off with aplomb. Enough of this mushy psycho-babble. The tension is building for a rip-snorting neck snapping finale. Rain traps Crawley in his D.C. apartment. He stuns him into submission and then shrink wraps him. He interrogates him by alternating fear and pain artfully. He toys with him like a cat plays with a mouse. Rain is close to uncovering the unholy collusion between Belghazi and the CIA. Well Rain dispatches Crawley with a dash of K-Y Jelley in an homage to KWAI CHANG KAIN goes auto-erotic. The book climaxes in a fight scene where French kick boxing(savateur) literally goes toe-to-toe with jui-jitsu. The novel generates a 4 star buzz here. The plot is wrapped up nicely. The fate of the world hangs in the balance as Rain is on the case of dirty bombs headed for the Mid East financed by Saudi money with CIA complicity. The plot is entirely credible and based on a news story about Alazan missiles. Rain teams up with a colorful good ol' boy sniper named Dox. They are a successful team. Victory is celebrated with man hugs. This work has the feel of Daniel Craig in CASINO ROYALE. While it does not have the raw adrenaline rush of HARD RAIN it is a fine book. I will eagerly read all the rest of the books in this series. The JOHN RAIN series shows no signs of being tired and is to be commended not only for entertainment style but credible subject matter giving me food for serious thought. Good job Barry. Keep this up and this can continue to be your exclusive day job.

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Quite A Great Read

When reading the John Rain series, begin with this one first, as it kicks off the series very nicely. I was quite happy to learn in the back of this novel that it continues in a sequel, which I had ordered the following day after finishing this one. Interesting and extremely well written, this entire novel takes place in Tokyo, and the names of streets and businesses are all real, it nearly places you there. And even though Rain kills people for a living, there's no avoiding truly liking the guy! I plan on buying them all again, but in hardcover editions because this series are all keepers and are more than worth reading again in the future.You will not be disappointed with this novel.

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Eisler keeps getting better

This is another excellent addition for John Rain fans, although Killing Rain is the best in the series.

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Top Notch!

I have read the first 3 Rain novels and I have to say that this one is the best of the 3 so far. It was just such a cool book with exotic locales, ferocious action and fight scenes, romance, and espionage. Overall, it is just simply a bad ass book and I hope the final 3 Rain books match up to it.

Eisler is among the best

Barry Eisler is becoming one of the best in the spy/thriller genre. His background as a CIA opperative and his exetnsive training in martial arts really comes out in his books. He pairs his knowledge in the field with very good writing ability and makes you feel like you are there with Mr. Rain, while he recants his life story.

In this, the 3rd installment, of the Rain series John takes up a contract to execute a bigtime arms dealer. However, what seem to be just another gig for Rain turns into something much larger and more deadly as several factions get involved and the hunter becomes the hunted.

Beautiful women, great combat, exotic places,espionage,thrills, and even a great amount of character detail: all things in this book and all things that make a great spy novel.

I give it 4.75 stars, as a fan of the genre.....4.0 stars overall.

NOTE: While this is the 3rd book in a series, you need not read the others. I happened on this one first before the others and had no problems. Eisler does a good job of making sure each of his books can be read as stand alones.

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John Rain flees to Brazil to find peace-but inevitably finds himself with a new assignment: take out an arms dealer in Southeast Asia.