Rain Fall (A Clean Kill in Tokyo)

In Barry Eisler's a Clean Kill in Tokyo (aka Rain Fall), the first installment in the John Rain thriller series, this would hook you on the first page and keep you in suspense right to the end. John Rain is a half-Japanese, half-American assassin, who's specialty was giving his victims "natural causes." It all started when he went after his mark on the subway in Japan and gave him a "heart attack" in Tokyo. Then he gets involved with Midori, a beautiful jazz pianist in a band. When while he tried to get one stop ahead of the people before him, he later learns that she's at risk of being targeted. It had something to do with her father's death and the disk he kept in the special pouch. Between them, they discover what lurks in the dark for them in their past and to get to know each other better. John sets out to meet a journalist who had met with Midori's father before he died, and what was special about the disk. Hot on the trail, they were people who were out to get John and Midori and didn't want the disk to be uncovered and exposed. In a heated moment, Rain went up against William Holtzer, an evil man who wants to see him dead. But not if he could see to it first, when he's apprehended and what's really on the disk, when everything about John's existence had to be erased and to end his love affair with Midori.


This was a great debut into the John Rain thriller series and published with a killer new title and cover art. This would take you into the world of International espionage. I really cared about John Rain and his vivid backstory into the dark world of being an assassin. I also cared about Midori, too, though something weren't meant to be in the end. I loved the brief locations in Virginia and the vast settings throughout Tokyo, above and beyond. This past-faced thriller would make you turn your head and the page and propel you to keep on reading right to the end with non-stop action, suspense, drama and plenty of intrigue.

Will you be a witness to see a clean kill in Tokyo?