Hard Rain: A Thriller (Vin Cooper)

• ISBN13: 9780553590029
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In his critically acclaimed Rain Fall, Barry Eisler introduced half Japanese-half American freelance hit man John Rain, a "dashing and dangerous hero...as likable as he is lethal."* Now Eisler's back. So is Rain, the master of death by "natural causes" whose new target threatens the fragile political balance of an entire country.Barry Eisler's half-breed freelance assassin John Rain returns to Tokyo for a second outing in Hard Rain, the sequel to Eisler's stunning 2002 debut, Rain Fall. Once again Rain is working with, or at least parallel to, Tatsu, a wily veteran of Japan's FBI equivalent, who aims to cleanse the Japanese government of its systemic corruption. To further this goa! l, he's persuaded the ever-cautious Rain to take out Murakami, a brutal gangster and hitman who specializes in making his killings look like suicide, a specialty Rain thought was his alone. Liquidating the dangerous and elusive Murakami proves to be a difficult task, however, one that leads to personal loss for Rain, and sets the plot on course for a climax that hits with the power of a well-delivered roundhouse kick.

Eisler builds on Rain's self-enforced isolation and loneliness as he expertly shows the reader Tokyo as channeled by Chandler, transforming the burgeoning metropolis into a noir catacomb of dimly lit hostess bars, scheming bureaucrats, shadowy intelligence agents, and outlaw martial arts dojos where thugged-up yakuza train for illicit death matches.

While the plot becomes complicated toward the novel's conclusion, Rain is a refreshing and complex character whom readers will want to see return for another installment. If you've a yen f! or a thriller that mixes suspense, intrigue, and action with a! Japanes e flavor and a hardboiled American attitude, Eisler's Hard Rain is an excellent choice. --Benjamin ReeseIn his critically acclaimed Rain Fall, Barry Eisler introduced half Japanese-half American freelance hit man John Rain, a "dashing and dangerous hero...as likable as he is lethal."* Now Eisler's back. So is Rain, the master of death by "natural causes" whose new target threatens the fragile political balance of an entire country.Barry Eisler's half-breed freelance assassin John Rain returns to Tokyo for a second outing in Hard Rain, the sequel to Eisler's stunning 2002 debut, Rain Fall. Once again Rain is working with, or at least parallel to, Tatsu, a wily veteran of Japan's FBI equivalent, who aims to cleanse the Japanese government of its systemic corruption. To further this goal, he's persuaded the ever-cautious Rain to take out Murakami, a brutal gangster and hitman who specializes in making his killings look like suicide, a specialt! y Rain thought was his alone. Liquidating the dangerous and elusive Murakami proves to be a difficult task, however, one that leads to personal loss for Rain, and sets the plot on course for a climax that hits with the power of a well-delivered roundhouse kick.

Eisler builds on Rain's self-enforced isolation and loneliness as he expertly shows the reader Tokyo as channeled by Chandler, transforming the burgeoning metropolis into a noir catacomb of dimly lit hostess bars, scheming bureaucrats, shadowy intelligence agents, and outlaw martial arts dojos where thugged-up yakuza train for illicit death matches.

While the plot becomes complicated toward the novel's conclusion, Rain is a refreshing and complex character whom readers will want to see return for another installment. If you've a yen for a thriller that mixes suspense, intrigue, and action with a Japanese flavor and a hardboiled American attitude, Eisler's Hard Rain is an excellent cho! ice. --Benjamin ReeseIn his critically acclaimed Rai! n Fall, Barry Eisler introduced half Japanese-half American freelance hit man John Rain, a "dashing and dangerous hero...as likable as he is lethal."* Now Eisler's back. So is Rain, the master of death by "natural causes" whose new target threatens the fragile political balance of an entire country.The setting is the flood-ravaged, evacuated town of Huntingburg, where Tom (Slater), an armored car driver, is in deep danger. A gang of thieves (led by Freeman) figures the flood is their chance to heist the money Tom is transporting from local banks. But there’s one thing the gun-carrying criminals didn’t count on â€" Tom. Come hell or high water, he’s determined to deliver the money entrusted to him. But before he does, he’ll have to survive a relentless pursuit filled with close calls, floods, uncertain loyalties and heart-stopping heroics.It may not be a disaster movie, per se, but this terminally silly thriller is certainly disastrous, and would be pointless without the ! novelty of its setting in a flooding Midwestern town during a torrential rainfall. Physically impressive but idiotic in every other respect, the movie pits an armored truck courier (Christian Slater) against a smart leader of thieves (Morgan Freeman) and a corruptible town sheriff (Randy Quaid) who are vying for possession of $3 million in cash. A waterlogged game of cat and mouse, the plot is so contrived that even the most impressive action sequences--such as a jet-ski chase through flooded high-school corridors--are robbed of their already tenuous credibility. Before long you'll be yawning as incompetent accomplices are systematically dispatched by their own stupidity, in the kind of movie where the use of power boats inevitably leads to at least one death by outboard motor. What's impressive here is the physical production itself--the effect of flooding was created by building a huge replica of downtown Huntington, Indiana, in a huge, watertight aircraft hangar in Palmd! ale, California! --Jeff Shannon Twelve bones are missin! g.
 
When a U.S. colonel is found murdered in his Istanbul home, the grisliest detail is the one that links his murder to another that soon follows. To Special Agent Vin Cooper, it looks like there’s a serial killer at large in Turkey.
But looks can be deceiving.

Onetime lovers, now the uneasiest of partners, Vin Cooper and Special Agent Anna Masters follow a trail of clues from Istanbul to Iraq and beyond. The victims were not selected at random. What looked like ritual was rife with clues. As evidence of a conspiracy snakes up the chain of command, these two seasoned special agents must dodge bullets, defuse bombs, and avoid being buried alive in their desperate effort to short-circuit a plan for world domination more audacious than they could ever have imagined.