Rain Fall Barry Eisler 2002 ISBN 0-399-14910-4 Putnam

On the first page you'll be sucked into a vortex of taut prose and a fast paced description of Tokyo that will convince you that you've lived there. Prepare yourself to build strong attachment to an assassin and his complex story.

John Rain is a Japanese/American half-breed at home nowhere. His demons from a stint in the Special Forces in Vietnam haunt his existence and tinge his relationships. You'll look over his shoulder as his stark, yet uncomplicated life slowly unravels with a hit that seemed on the surface routine. It brings into his life a beautiful jazz pianist, a ghost from his past and a reckoning with all he's tried to forget.

This book will is a spy thriller on a level with Bond and all his gadgets. It is a study of the Japanese culture and it's place in the modern world. Mostly, it is the study of a troubled man living in shadow, forced into daylight and eminent danger.