Catch the Rain

It's Sunday--the day of rest. I'm going to spend it straightening up my office. I've delayed attacking the stacks of books and paper that I tend to accumulate around my desk. I've come to think of it as the nest I build for myself when I'm deep in a project. Today I plan to listen to NPR and dismantle that nest.

So--an easy blog for the day.

Regular readers know that I love thrillers. I don't mind violence or gore as long as the story is fast-paced and well-written. Lee Child, John Connolly, Michael Connelly, Carol O'Connell, and Andrew Vachss are all favorite authors of mine. I've now added another author to the list: Barry Eisler.

I've mentioned Eisler in this blog before. That first post on June 22 was not an especially flattering one. I wrote about his feud with a bookseller's son during the author's latest tour to promote his new book. Frankly, I felt that Eisler could have behaved better.

That incident led to my picking up Eisler's first two paperbacks. I started with Rain Fall. The novel introduces Eisler's ongoing character: John Rain.

I immediately gave Eisler points for originality. John Rain is half-Japanese and half-American. The book takes place in Tokyo. And Rain is a professional assassin who specializes in making his kills look like natural deaths.

For some reason, I had a very hard time with Rain Fall. Maybe it was the foreign-ness of the book's setting. Maybe it was Eisler's tendency to do long narrative passages (I have the attention span of a demented flea). Maybe it was my mood. I don't know. I got about a quarter of the way through and put it down. I should probably mention that my putting it down coincided with the arrival of The Hard Way, Lee Child's latest novel.

A few days later, I was talking with my youngest brother, who was getting ready to leave for Wimbleton. He was bemoaning his lack of good reading material for the two-week trip and asked what I was reading. I had just finished the Child novel and mentioned it. He reminded me that he does not travel with hardcover books. I added that I had been reading a novel by Eisler, but couldn't get into it.

Although my brother didn't recognize Eisler's name, when I mentioned the book title, he instantly remembered it, even describing the book cover and plot line. He said that he had also had a problem with getting into that first novel and had never finished it.

I didn't give any further thought to the matter until one day last week when I stopped for lunch while out running errands. I usually keep a book or two in my car for emergencies--getting stuck waiting on line for tickets or at a doctor's appointment, etc. For months, I'd been reading Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. It was the perfect "car book," made up of short stories about salt.

As an aside: the history of salt is fascinating. It has been used for currency and, according to one book reviewer, "provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions." I'd thoroughly enjoyed the non-fiction book, but had recently finished it.

I wanted something to read while I ate lunch and was disappointed to remember that I'd finished Salt. I was toying with the idea of picking up a newspaper, when I found Eisler's second book, Hard Rain. I'd done what I often do when purchasing two books by one author. Brought one into the house to read and left one in the back seat as a car book.

A little annoyed, but not enough to go find a newspaper to purchase, I brought the book along with me into my local Chinese restaurant.

Hard Rain begins with this line: "Once you get past the overall irony of the situation, you realize that killing a guy in the middle of his own health club has a lot to recommend it." The book was a terrific, compelling read. I stayed put at my table long after I'd finished my won ton soup just so I could continue reading.

I finished that second Eisler novel in two days, and immediately started on the third, Rain Storm. It was every bit as good as Hard Rain. I am now working my way through the entire list of Eisler's books.

Even though the main character is an amoral assassin, he is disarmingly attractive. He is brutally honest about himself, his chosen profession and his self-imposed loneliness. Falling in love makes him question everything about his life. His execution of his lover's father adds complications to the relationship :)

If you're looking for something different--fast-paced and exciting--give Hard Rain a try. I'll probably go back and read the first book (Rain Fall) again at some point, but--until I do--I'm not going to recommend it here.

Have a good Sunday.