Rain Storm

Barry Eisler has given us a new hero - Japanese-American John Rain, the cynical, romantic, conscientious assassin - one of the most clever and vibrant protagonists we've seen in years.  In this new novel, Rain has fled to Brazil to escape the killing business and the enemies encircling him. But his knack for making death seem to have been from "natural causes" and his ability to operate unnoticed in Asia continue to create unwelcome demand for his services. His old employer, the CIA, persuades him to take on a high-risk assignment: a ruthless arms dealer operating in Southeast Asia." The upside? Financial, of course, along with the continued chimera of moral redemption. But first, Rain will have to survive the downside: a second assassin homing in on the target; the target's consort, an alluring woman with an agenda of her own; and the possibility that the entire mission is nothing but an elaborate setup. From the gorgeous beaches of Rio to the glitzy casinos of Macau to the gritty back streets of Hong Kong and Kowloon, Rain becomes a reluctant player in an international game far deadlier and more insidious than any he has encountered before.

From Publishers WeeklyEisler adds a fine new entry to his standout series starring freelance assassin John Rain, who tracks quarry across the Asian capitals of the Pacific Rim. In the third installment (following last year's Hard Rain), Rain is lured out of self-imposed exile in Brazil, where he had hoped to find shelter from the killing business, when his old employer, the CIA, dangles $200,000 his way for the elimination of an Arab arms supplier known only as Belghazi. Rain takes the job, promising himself it will be his last, and travels to Macao, a Portuguese peninsula and islands off the coast of China, to begin tracking Belghazi. But Rain, a meticulous hit man equipped with all the latest gadgetry, hardly hits town before he discovers that not only is another assassin stalking Belghazi but somebody is stalking Rain himself. Rain, who specializes in fatal neck-snapping wrestling holds, makes quick work of all the intruders, but Belghazi, aided by a beautiful woman named Delilah (who knows a lot about killing too), eludes him. The action shifts back and forth between Macao, Hong Kong and Tokyo, each setting rendered in intimately warm detail, before catapulting to a chilling finale in which Rain narrowly escapes bleeding to death on a shipping dock. Along the way, the usually detached hero shows a new dimension—the possible seeds of a fascinating friendship with a fellow hit man, a life-of-the-party type named Dox. The two complement each other like black and white. Yet what truly sets Eisler's series apart is its near total absence of formula and stereotype. Rain is a wholly original, cliché-free character operating in a world created only for him, serving as both his folly and his foil. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From BooklistJohn Rain, the Japanese American assassin for the U.S. government, is back. Currently living in Brazil in an attempt to retire from the business of killing, he is approached by his former masters, the CIA, who need him to do one more thing for them: take out an arms dealer who is equipping criminal organizations in Southeast Asia. As always, there's a fly (or two) in the ointment, namely, a second assassin gunning for Rain's target and the target's beautiful companion, who seems to have a program of her own. Can Rain navigate the labyrinth of deception and double-dealing and carry out his mission? This is the third Rain novel, after Rain Fall (2002) and Hard Rain (2003), and it nicely develops the character of John Rain, adding a few more layers of mystery and motivation. Eisler's storytelling skills, too, are developing as he becomes more familiar with his character and the world he lives in. The Rain series keeps on getting better. For espionage fans who favor adventure over ambiguity. David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved