Rain Fall (Eisler)

If you’ve never heard of Barry Eisler, and you like thrillers, you’re missing out. His first book, Rain Fall is the story of John Rain, a half-American/half-Japanese assassin living in Tokyo. The plot details, although interesting, are secondary to Eisler’s outstanding scene descriptions, characterizations, and dialogue. His descriptions of Tokyo by night are superbly evocative, right up there with James Lee Burke’s descriptions of bayou thunderstorms. Rain is a complicated character; it was initially tempting to write him off as a cardboard killer-with-a-heart-of-gold, but as the novel develops, his character is more fully revealed. Highly recommended; if you’re not convinced, Eisler’s web site has the first chapter available– a move which I heartily applaud.