Hard Rain: John Rain Thrillers

Having read one other Rain novel with Scott Brick at the mic, I can honestly say that this narrator was even better. The japanese pronounciations were wonderful and you felt more like you were actually in Japan than the other novel. The Action was a little slower but the further development of John Rain was very good.

I started the series with book one (Rain Fall) because of audible's 4.95 'check out a new series' promotion and really enjoyed it. (I'm hooked on yet another series. :-) I am really enjoying this book as well. However, I was a little disappointed to realize the narrator is different. (I quite enjoy Dick Hill's work - discovered him in another series starter I picked up for 4.95 - The Black Echo.) The first narrator (Brian Nishii) heightened the atmosphere in a way that Dick Hill does not. Nishii read with a distinctly non-American pacing (a LOT slower than I as an American am used to or expect). His inflections and tone coupled with the fact that he speaks Japanese without an American accent came together to take that audiobook to the next level.
While I think Dick Hill does a wonderful job here, I don't have that 'transported feeling'. I really miss Brian Nishii.

I’ve never read a novel by Barry Eisler before, and the description sounded like something I would like, and I’ve heard Dick Hill read other novels: I enjoyed them; he is a generally good reader. THEN shortly into the novel, I found out that the main character is Japanese. Rain is actually part American/ part Japanese, but he lived most of his life in Tokyo. Now, had I known that going in, I would not have selected to listen to Dick Hill, with his marked American drawl voice this character. Rain is a “citizen of the world,” and I could buy him as virtually accent-less, but Dick Hill is just wrong, wrong, wrong for this character. The book itself is fine, and I’ll listen to the whole thing; I’m already into the plot. But I wish I were reading this one to myself.

I selected this one because it has my favorite narrator, Dick Hill. Glad I did! John Rain is an interesting and complex character. The plot never stopped moving. Reminds me of Lee Child and Vince Flynn but set in Japan. I cant wait for more.

Hard Rain is the second novel in the John Rain series about a half-american, half-japanese assassin.

The Good:
* Rain is still an anti-hero and that makes him an interesting protagonist. He has rules about the jobs he takes but he is willing to kill anyone that upsets him or that he perceives as a threat. This can make him unpredictable, which can be a good trait for an assassin to have.
* The book is well researched and the action scenes and internal dialogue are interesting.
* The pacing of the story is good. I understood who the antagonist was and what the larger picture was. I understood the overarching drama playing out in which Rain is more or less a willing pawn.

The Not-So-Good:
* This book is essentially the first book retooled. Characters from Rain Fall appear and provide (mostly) unsatisfying closure to the relationships formed in that book. But John Rain struggles with the same internal conflict from book one that I thought had been resolved at the end of book one.

The...What?
* The 'romances' in these books are terrible. They feel rushed and obligatory and don't add anything to the story except dime-store titillation.

If you are into espionage and the ultimate Hit man then you will love John Rain. Hope Barry Eisler keeps on writing more!

This ws my intro to "John Rain" and it was a delighful surprise. Good blend of action and characters, and there was a peak at Japan quite different from anyting I expected. Since I've never been there I can't attest to the accuracy, but it was descriptive enough that I'm looking forward to "visiting" with JR in DC, NYC, etc.

I usually only do audio books

Jason Bourne

John Rain

Yes! I couldn't put it down!

The authors actual experience as a spy and amazing descriptions of foreign locales makes for an amazing read. I've read the whole series now and can't wait for the next book.

Protagonist was just too "full of himself". I got tired of him fairly early.
There are much better books out there.

Didn't dig the narration, story didn't grab me, and from the publisher's description of this book, it's exactly the kind of book I should like. One of the very few I simply turned off and stopped listening to. It's a shame because this was the audition for the whole series, and now that is clearly not going to happen!