John Rain - half-Japanese, half-American, raised in both countries but at home in neither - is trying to leave his life as a freelance assassin. After killing a CIA officer who hunted him halfway around the globe, Rain goes underground, hoping to find the peace that has eluded him. But then Tatsu, his old nemesis from the Japanese FBI, comes to him with one last job: to find and eliminate a killer at large, a creature with neither compassion nor compunction, whose activities could tip the balance of power in Japan's corrupt ...
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John Rain - half-Japanese, half-American, raised in both countries but at home in neither - is trying to leave his life as a freelance assassin. After killing a CIA officer who hunted him halfway around the globe, Rain goes underground, hoping to find the peace that has eluded him. But then Tatsu, his old nemesis from the Japanese FBI, comes to him with one last job: to find and eliminate a killer at large, a creature with neither compassion nor compunction, whose activities could tip the balance of power in Japan's corrupt politics and who seems to have designs on Rain's few friends. To protect them, Rain will have to pursue his most dangerous quarry yet through the crosshairs of the CIA and the Japanese mafia, where the differences between friend and foe and truth and deceit are as murky as the rain-slicked streets of Tokyo.
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Another good one from Barry Eisler. John Rain's character is fleshed out a little more. I was especially impressed that the author credits Marc "Animal" MacYoung and Peyton Quinn, authors of books on violence and "street etiquette." These two have a lot to offer. MacYoung has always said the best defense when faced with a knife is to run away, so Rain does not go "Hollywood" when he is faced with a knife. Quinn has described how predators "interview" their potential victims. Eisler has used the practical experience of these men, among numerous others, to make the incidents that occur in the novel credible. Rain is formidable but not fantastic. Eisler also credits LTC Dave Grossman, the author of "On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society," with helping us to understand why Rain, a Vietnam veteran, is who he is.
