John Rain
Created by Barry Eisler
Poor JOHN RAIN. He seems
to be the ultimate divided man. Child of an American mother and
a Japanese father, he's a konketsu, or half-breed, a man
of honour who kills for a living, a soldier/assassin, samurai/ronin.
He's hard, disciplined, and also haunted and paranoid as hell.
He learned his deadly trade as a member of the U.S. Special Forces
in Vietnam, and is still bothered by memories of those years,
and the crimes he committed. Yet he makes his living killing people.
Go figure.
Rain lives his life of "meticulously planned anonymity" in a noirish version of Tokyo that's more than a littler familiar to moviegoers who've seen Bladerunner or Black Rain. Haunted by his past, ambivalent and conflicted by his presence, he trusts no one. But that paranoia and worrisome attention to detail also allows him to thrive in his particular field of expertise, that of the paid hit that doesn't look like a hit -- Rain's speciality is making murder look like death by natural causes.
Author Barry Eisler is an American lawyer who spent three years in a covert position with the CIA's Directorate of Operations. After leaving the CIA, he lived and worked in Japan, where he earned his black belt from the Kodokan International Judo Center. The John Rain novels have been translated into nearly twenty languages, and optioned for film by Barrie Osborne, Oscar-winning producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area, and assures us more novels featuring Rain are on the way.
UNDER OATH
NOVELS
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
Drop a dime. Your comments,
suggestions, corrections and contributions are always welcome.
"...and I'll tell you right out that I'm a man who likes
talking to a man who likes to talk."
