This is an excellent action-adventure novel that rips you from Barcelona to New York to Japan and back again, while the protagonist must contend with the Japaneze Yakuza, Chinese triads, the anger and bitterness of an ex-love, the jealousy of his current flame, and most difficult of all, the unaswerable questions in his own heart caused by the revelation that he has an infant son in New York. This is the fifth in Eisler's wonderful series featuring John Rain, the half-American half-Japanese professional assassin. This novel ties up some of the loose ends created in the first four outings and once again delivers a dose of the most convincing and lethal action scenes to be found between book covers.
If you are an action fan, but also like clear, entertaining, and super-intelligent prose, then this series is about as good it gets. The author obviously does his homework and studies close quarters combat (CQC) in detail in order to write believable, harrowing, and shocking combat scenes that are absolutely thrilling and riveting. Guns, knives, explosives, fists, feet and the everyday objects of life are used to write incredibly detailed and smart fight scenes. John Rain is perhaps as lethal a man as there is in literature, but he is also an intensely believable character because he is rational, intelligent, and above all else cautious and paranoid in amounts I have never seen before. Rain would spend hours doubling back on his trail and using tradecraft to insure there is no one on his tail simply to get out and get a whiskey. A man truly fond of single malt scotch and good jazz music, but who also flies to Barcelona five days ahead of his scheduled rendevous with his amour in order to scope out all the alleys and exits and ensure there are no enemies there first. While absolutely lethal in close quarters combat, Rain prefers to assassinate people by staging heart attacks or accidents for them so that no one even suspects they've been assassinated. When he does have to resort to using his fighting skills it is generally because he has made a mistake, one that makes him furious with himself. With his troubled and unsure heart, wondering what role he should have as a father for a son he was unaware of, Rain does make a few mistakes in this novel and he and his faithful friend Dox are suddenly plunged into a vicious war with Japanese and Chinese thugs. This book is a rocket-ride, so intelligently crafted, with such incredible actions scenes and fiercely believable characters, that it's both a joy to read and super fun at the same time. When you finish you're left wondering: why doesn't everyone write like this?