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
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The review of this Book prepared by eyal
Half-American half-Japanese assassin John Rain knows his murder for hire business has given him a delightful lifestyle when he is not on a job. However, the freelance killer with a deep personal code of ethics that often irks his employers feels ready to retire. If he gets out of the
dirty cleansing business, he leans towards relocating from Japan to Brazil.
Retirement is placed on hold, as he must kill a sociopath peer considered deadlier than John is and he wants John's scalp. In addition to eliminating this lethal rogue agent, his Japanese law enforcement friend Tatsu tries to enlist John into scrutinizing a person running an illegal underground fight circuit. Meanwhile, the CIA, who detests John due to his ethics, wishes to use his particular problem solving skills on another delicate matter. When it rains it pours as the demand for
his craft makes it hard to stop working.
The suspense-laden story line takes a secondary role to the Burke-like lead protagonist and to the Japanese setting. The story line is loaded with action, but never grips the reader due to the audience fascination with the survival killing-machine with a morality that seems ill fitted for his work.
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner