Hard Rain, Eisler's second John Rain novel, more than fulfills the promise of the first. Rain—half-Japanese, half-American, raised in both countries but at home in neither—is trying to leave his life as a freelance assassin. After killing a CIA officer who hunted him halfway around the globe, Rain goes underground, hoping to find the peace that has eluded him. But then Tatsu, his old nemesis from the Japanese FBI, comes to him with one last job: to find and eliminate a killer at large, a creature with neither compassion nor compunction, whose activities could tip the balance of power in Japan's corrupt politics and who seems to have designs on Rain's few friends. To protect them, Rain will have to pursue his most dangerous quarry yet through the crosshairs of the CIA and the Japanese mafia, where the differences between friend and foe and truth and deceit are as murky as the rain-slicked streets of Tokyo.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Rain...has sinned and suffered enough to make his soul-searching moving. [He] is still a true samurai at heart-one yearning for a master worthy of his devotion, a cause greater than himself.
Kirkus Reviews
Hard-boiled down to the ice-cold core of his survival-oriented soul, [Rain] is not much more than a machine, but expertly engineered at that, and fascinating to watch in action. [Eisler will] likely develop a decent-sized and loyal following with this series. Slick, moody stuff, with a plot that slips out of memory even as the pages turn.
Publishers Weekly
Eisler acknowledges the help of experts in many areas, but it's his own impressive literary skills that make his John Rain such a fascinating, touching and wholly believable character.
Library Journal
After triumphing with his debut, Rain Fall, Eisler is back to put half-Japanese, half-American protagonist John Rain through his paces. Here, freelance assassin Rain's devout wish to quit the business is not granted.
Recent Reader Reviews
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by Anonymous
The research is there, and the tension, and the insights, and ideas, but immediate scene is lacking. I feel there's too much narrative, not enough action, though the tenison is building, the expectations rising. The genre has something to do with... Read More
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