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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Entertaining, but felt quite predictable. Some plot twists were actually surprising, but the main one was very obvious.
This series was recommended to me by Author Stephen England on Twitter. I like to read a series in order so started with book 1. The writing is so good that I am still having a tough time believing that this is the author's debut book. The story easily flows from chapter to chapter and the pace is just right. The author spends time to build out the character of John Rain, his backstory and the locales in Tokyo where the story takes place - which I personally loved. The plot is totally believable and finishes very well. I eagerly look forward to reading more books in the series. It doesn't hurt that most of the series is offered as a part of my Kindle Unlimited subscription - but I would have gladly bought them even if this wasn't the case.
John Rain is a very complex and enjoyable character. He makes his living as an assassin but he has severe personal baggage. He is very good at his profession but there are a wide assortment of people out there that would like to hinder or stop (breathing) him. This series is very enjoyable and the locations add to the flavor of a character that really doesn't belong anywhere.
A different kind of assassin? John Rain enjoys jazz and single malt scotch. He has American roots, but lives in Tokyo. He's half Japanese and half American. He's also a deadly killer. This is the first book in the series. John is hired to kill a high-ranking government official, but when he does, he ends up entangled in a vast conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of the Japanese government. He also gets mixed up with his victim's daughter, who is caught in the same conspiracy. John uses his skills to try to get them out of the mess, but the mixture of noir and action leans a little heavily on the noir side.
The book also goes into a lot of John's back story, including his time in Vietnam and how he came to be an assassin. While the first book itself was just OK, it sets up an interesting character that I'd be willing to read again.
The book also goes into a lot of John's back story, including his time in Vietnam and how he came to be an assassin. While the first book itself was just OK, it sets up an interesting character that I'd be willing to read again.
WOW! Not sure how I came across this series, but I am HOOKED!
Assassin books are not in my specific search for new books. They tend to be the exterme details of the weapons, strategies, etc. what do not spark joy for me. But, a great action book with solid character development? I am all in.
John Rain is an intense person. His mixed heritage of Japanese and American works will with this personal storyline and later his command of two worlds with expands storylines. John is not a victium of circumstance as much as someone that has found what is he is best at. This story is a great introduction of a man who is pulled between what is great as (killing so it looks like a natural death) and a life of being "good" and "normal". Now that could have been written as the main focus and pretty predictable, but it was not. The mixed mind of direction is strong and there. But the book was a great action story that I loved.
Also surprising is that the Audible books are read by the author. He is great! First time I would be an author in the same catagory as my favorite narrators. I have been devouring this books since this one grabbed me.
Assassin books are not in my specific search for new books. They tend to be the exterme details of the weapons, strategies, etc. what do not spark joy for me. But, a great action book with solid character development? I am all in.
John Rain is an intense person. His mixed heritage of Japanese and American works will with this personal storyline and later his command of two worlds with expands storylines. John is not a victium of circumstance as much as someone that has found what is he is best at. This story is a great introduction of a man who is pulled between what is great as (killing so it looks like a natural death) and a life of being "good" and "normal". Now that could have been written as the main focus and pretty predictable, but it was not. The mixed mind of direction is strong and there. But the book was a great action story that I loved.
Also surprising is that the Audible books are read by the author. He is great! First time I would be an author in the same catagory as my favorite narrators. I have been devouring this books since this one grabbed me.
2.5 stars, it was okay, uninteresting in a lot of parts-don't dislike it, but don't really like it either
John Rain is a political assassin in Japan. He is half Japanese (his father) and half American (his mother). He sees himself as a perpetual soldier, a samurai, a warrior loyal to his overlord and carrying out his commands, fighting his battles. Personally, I think John Rain is full of s... er, self-delusion. But then maybe we all are to some degree.
I have a few problems with this book. First of these is, what is the time frame? If we were ever explicitly told, it must have been in a part that I rapidly skimmed over. (There were several such parts.) It is written, though, as if it were a contemporary story and since the book was published in 2002, that would mean 21st century. Now, John Rain is described as a veteran of the Vietnam War trained by the U.S. Special Forces. He was in Vietnam, we are told, for three years. He had lied about his age to join the military when he was 17, but any way you add it up, by 2002, John Rain would be getting a bit long in the tooth for some of the activities described here.
Secondly, Rain is a killer who has spent twenty-five years killing people on assignment for his employer who he thinks is the ruling political party in Japan. He's presented as almost preternaturally intuitive and smart, but he never suspects who is actually behind his orders? Plus, his specialty is killing people in a manner that will make the deaths appear like "natural causes." Judging by the death toll in this one book, over twenty-five years, he must have killed hundreds if not thousands of people, usually with his bare hands, and he never left a trace or a clue? A major suspension of disbelief is required here.
As we meet Rain, he is about to kill again. His target is a man on a crowded subway car. He accomplishes his assigned task, making it look like a heart attack, but soon things begin to get complicated for him. He inadvertently meets the beautiful jazz musician daughter of the man he killed and he finds himself drawn to her. Then he finds that his victim may have been trying to expose corruption in the Japanese government, that he may, in fact, have been one of the "good guys." To complicate things further, he discovers that someone is after the daughter, apparently believing that she may be in possession of the material that the now dead maybe good guy was going to use to prove corruption. Rain is drawn into the daughter's world and seeks to protect her from the bad guys - who are probably his employers! And then it looks like people are trying to kill him, too. Oh, it does get complicated.
Did I mention that the action takes place in Tokyo? There is rather mind-boggling detail of the streets and the mass transit systems in that city. As Abraham Lincoln is supposed to have said, "For people who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they will like." I'm sure there are people who thrive on intricate details about the subway system and that it adds a lot to the story for them. Those people will probably love this book.
I didn't love it. I didn't hate it either. It was just okay. It was the first in a series and Eisler has published several more in the series since then, but I doubt that I'll be picking them up.
I have a few problems with this book. First of these is, what is the time frame? If we were ever explicitly told, it must have been in a part that I rapidly skimmed over. (There were several such parts.) It is written, though, as if it were a contemporary story and since the book was published in 2002, that would mean 21st century. Now, John Rain is described as a veteran of the Vietnam War trained by the U.S. Special Forces. He was in Vietnam, we are told, for three years. He had lied about his age to join the military when he was 17, but any way you add it up, by 2002, John Rain would be getting a bit long in the tooth for some of the activities described here.
Secondly, Rain is a killer who has spent twenty-five years killing people on assignment for his employer who he thinks is the ruling political party in Japan. He's presented as almost preternaturally intuitive and smart, but he never suspects who is actually behind his orders? Plus, his specialty is killing people in a manner that will make the deaths appear like "natural causes." Judging by the death toll in this one book, over twenty-five years, he must have killed hundreds if not thousands of people, usually with his bare hands, and he never left a trace or a clue? A major suspension of disbelief is required here.
As we meet Rain, he is about to kill again. His target is a man on a crowded subway car. He accomplishes his assigned task, making it look like a heart attack, but soon things begin to get complicated for him. He inadvertently meets the beautiful jazz musician daughter of the man he killed and he finds himself drawn to her. Then he finds that his victim may have been trying to expose corruption in the Japanese government, that he may, in fact, have been one of the "good guys." To complicate things further, he discovers that someone is after the daughter, apparently believing that she may be in possession of the material that the now dead maybe good guy was going to use to prove corruption. Rain is drawn into the daughter's world and seeks to protect her from the bad guys - who are probably his employers! And then it looks like people are trying to kill him, too. Oh, it does get complicated.
Did I mention that the action takes place in Tokyo? There is rather mind-boggling detail of the streets and the mass transit systems in that city. As Abraham Lincoln is supposed to have said, "For people who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they will like." I'm sure there are people who thrive on intricate details about the subway system and that it adds a lot to the story for them. Those people will probably love this book.
I didn't love it. I didn't hate it either. It was just okay. It was the first in a series and Eisler has published several more in the series since then, but I doubt that I'll be picking them up.
Fairly entertaining, though the plot "twist" was predictable. Still, an interesting new anti-hero...it remains to be seen if he will progress into hero.
Eisler’s *Livia Lone* series might be one of my favorite series ever and John Rain showed up in book #3—inspiring me to give these books a shot.
Intriguing first entry, I'm down for more John Rain!
“I wandered the earth a mercenary, daring the gods to kill me but surviving because part of me was already dead."
“The person who returns from living abroad isn't the same person who left originally... Your outlook changes. You don't take things for granted that you used to. For instance, I noticed in New York that when one cab cut off another, the driver who got cut off would always yell at the other driver... and I realized this was because Americans assume that the other person intended to do what he did, so they want to teach the person a lesson. But you know, in Japan, people almost never get upset in those situations. Japanese look at other people's mistakes more as something arbitrary, like the weather, I think, not so much as something to get angry about.”
“People like to say the West is a guilt-based culture, while that of Japan is based on shame, with the chief distinction being that the former is an internalized emotion while the latter depends on the presence of a group.
Intriguing first entry, I'm down for more John Rain!
“I wandered the earth a mercenary, daring the gods to kill me but surviving because part of me was already dead."
“The person who returns from living abroad isn't the same person who left originally... Your outlook changes. You don't take things for granted that you used to. For instance, I noticed in New York that when one cab cut off another, the driver who got cut off would always yell at the other driver... and I realized this was because Americans assume that the other person intended to do what he did, so they want to teach the person a lesson. But you know, in Japan, people almost never get upset in those situations. Japanese look at other people's mistakes more as something arbitrary, like the weather, I think, not so much as something to get angry about.”
“People like to say the West is a guilt-based culture, while that of Japan is based on shame, with the chief distinction being that the former is an internalized emotion while the latter depends on the presence of a group.
I discovered this series by reading the Killer collective (book 10 in the series) and while I enjoyed the book you can see how far the author has come. I am hoping the progress of Berry Eisner as an author is a quick one because I plan on continuing the series and I truly enjoyed the Killer collective so I know he gets their in the end. It is nice to see how John Rain came to be sho he is.