Barry Eisler

Quiet Storm

Quiet Storm

Joined
May 17, 2002
Messages
5,757
I recently acquired one of his books because of recommendations on another forum and I was immediately hooked - ordered a second one while I was about halfway through it...ordered no. 3 and pre-ordered the paperback version of his fourth novel as well as check the ETA of his fifth while I was reading the second (which I've finished in the meantime).

(I'm glad that Amazon Germany doesn't charge for shipping books...)

If you like Clancy's stuff, chances are you'll love Eisler's. Eisler used to work for the CIA, and he gives credit to renowned instructors like SouthNarc for advising him on combatives in his books.

The anti-hero in all of his novels is John Rain; half Japanese, half American hitman with a taste for fine single malts, good jazz music and beautiful women. He used to serve in Vietnam, and now works as an independent contractor (expert for making deaths seem like they're due to natural causes), partly for the CIA.
Rain doesn't holster a "pistol" and use a "flashlight" to light up dark corners, he holsters a Glock and uses a Sure Fire E1E. :D

The novels (in chronological order):
Rain Fall
Hard Rain
Rain Storm
Killing Rain
The Last Assassin (scheduled for June '06)

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a very well-written, gripping techno-thriller!
 
Gotta check those out, I always keep a Clancy book around for those "can't decide what to read moments".
 
I'll second the recommendation--I also found out about this series on a forum, too. Interesting stuff, even though the last book drags just a bit, IMO.

The Jack Reacher series by Lee Child is also fun; an ex military policeman is voluntarily homeless and rootless. Tougher than nails and smart as a whip, trouble has a tendency to find him. Fun!
 
JohnG said:
The Jack Reacher series by Lee Child is also fun;
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I've read good things about his books before, except for his first Reacher book which reportedly contains unrealistic gun stuff.

Could you recommend a worthwhile novel of his (or three)?
 
TheKnifeCollector said:
Those sound like GREAT books to read!!
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The most authenic writer of the military I've read in my long life. Used bookstores have them as well as new-reprints. I started many,many years ago reading " The Corps " set in the gunboat diplomacy/fishhead & rice era when world powers had a grip on some of China during the Japanese invasion in the '30's . [ I followed it in the newspaper ] The series has continued through today .

He has covered the services excepting the U.S.C.G. & is well versed in the way the military works. My only complaint is he gets wordy when writing field messages & orders but they are written the way I remember the few I ran across .

Uncle [ old memories ] Alan
 
Quiet Storm said:
I've read good things about his books before, except for his first Reacher book which reportedly contains unrealistic gun stuff.

Could you recommend a worthwhile novel of his (or three)?
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I think there's 9 or ten books already, so why not start in order? But I liked the recent ones--"Without Fail" as an example--a lot.

The books really are a bit unrealistic--I don't think Lee Child, the writer, is a gun guy or done a lot of hand to hand--in some of the hardware and fighting scenes. Reacher is an ex military policeman, and until the later books that background wasn't really explored. Child has done some research and it's developing nicely, I think.

The thing about a series like this is there really is a sort of synergy going the more of them you read. While each book needs to be weighed on its own, much like the Eisler books, or Andrew Vachss' Burke, or the Destroyer series, to name a few, once you're familiar with the background of the characters and the backdrop, you can actually get a deeper appreciation of things .
 
uncle Alan said:
The most authenic writer of the military I've read in my long life. Used bookstores have them as well as new-reprints. I started many,many years ago reading " The Corps " set in the gunboat diplomacy/fishhead & rice era when world powers had a grip on some of China during the Japanese invasion in the '30's . [ I followed it in the newspaper ] The series has continued through today .

He has covered the services excepting the U.S.C.G. & is well versed in the way the military works. My only complaint is he gets wordy when writing field messages & orders but they are written the way I remember the few I ran across .

Uncle [ old memories ] Alan
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This is my all time favorite writer. I have absorbed more history from W.E.B.G's. books than from all my history classes in school. And the Philadelphia Police Department series is not bad either.

Nolan
 
You're welcome--PM or email me with an address and I'll send you one of the books so you can see for yourself!
 
I just finished finished reading the 3rd John Rain novel - called Choke Point in the UK. This is now my favourite thriller series. A lot of thriller series have martial arts trained heroes but the only ones that ring true are John Rain and Hap and Leonard from Joe R Lansdale's books. The rest have people using head high roundhouse kicks all the time.

Rain is a grappling specialist who loves neck cranks, works out with BJJ and Furey's combat conditioning.

Hap and Leonard are boxing, kenpo and hapkido guys. Their fights are a bit more like brawls but they have smarts and skills.

More here:

www.barryeisler.com

http://www.joerlansdale.com/shenchuan/shen/Shen.htm

Check 'em out
 
I have traded several e-mails with Barry Eisler -- he's a very nice guy and a superb writer. I've read and will publish reviews of all the books in the Rain series, including the latest one (not yet available to the public).
 
I heard the Rain books have been optioned for movies. They would be great movies if they were true to the books and more in line with a movie like Spartan. The problem is, who the hell could play John Rain? He's a half American, Half Japanese, very-fit, middle aged guy.
 
A John Rain movie would be awesome!

Another book I highly recommend to anyone who likes Eisler's works is Marcus Wynne's No Other Option.
 
I just finished my pre-press copy of The Last Assassin. It was very good. The Hideaway knife and several other pieces of hardware you'll all recognize figured prominently in the novels -- Rain has become quite the knife-toter in his advancing years.
 
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