Requiem for an Assassin by Barry Eisler

I first discovered the Rain series from an ad in Grappling Magazine when I first started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a few years ago. I bought the first book, Rain Fall, and quickly devoured it. This was the first series I had ever come across that took grappling seriously and showed how effective it could be in real life-or-death situations. There are no “wire-fu” moments or magic tricks in these books. The action is very gritty and believable. Eisler has done extensive research in quick, efficient hand-to-hand combat techniques. This, and the fact that he is a Judo black belt himself, has helped him create one of the most believable Thriller/Mystery characters ever. This attention to detail shows in every aspect of the Rain series. The characters, locations, politics, technology, and even sex are the most realistic you will find in a Thriller or Mystery series.

Requiem for an Assassin is the 6^th book in the series, and is in many ways, the best so far. In some of the earlier books I would become annoyed when Rain would explain ad nauseum each step he would take to make sure he was “clean” and not being followed. As an assassin, with a lot of enemies, these were steps he obviously needed to take, but became repetitive when occurring multiple times in the story. With Requiem, Eisler has developed a sort of shorthand, to let us understand that Rain is still being careful, but in much more concise terms.

The world events in the story are taken from today’s headlines with Eisler providing a little extra “what if” to create a very intense plot. If you follow the news, you don’t have to suspend disbelief much at all to buy into the plot line of Requiem.

The story in Requiem revolves around the kidnapping of Rain’s smart-talking sniper buddy, Dox, and the steps Rain must take to rescue him. Rain’s relationship with Delilah, the beautiful Israeli spy, is also explored and continues to evolve.

Perhaps most importantly though, we see Rain struggle internally, trying to come to grips with his past and consider the possibility of a new, more “normal” life. Sometimes, though, you’ve just got to stand aside and let the “Iceman” do his thing.

The sex in Requiem, like everything else in the series, is very graphic and realistic. I’m starting to think that Mr. Eisler got his start writing for Penthouse.

“Dear Penthouse.

I am an international assassin, with a talent for making deaths appear to have occurred from natural causes. I never thought this would happen to me, but the other night…”

With each book Rain’s small band of, for lack of a better word, friends continue to grow. I enjoy reading as Rain struggles to come to grips with the fact that he is no longer flying solo, but has people who actually care about him, helping him out.

The grappling has decreased over the course of the series, and this is a disappointment for me. I understand, though, that Rain is aging and so he is less willing to engage multiple assailants in hand to hand combat. There’s Eisler and his realism at work again… This reluctance to have an aging assassin continue to destroy multiple opponents is one of the factors that elevate these books into something more than just “martial arts” stories.

These books will eventually be translated into major motion pictures, so I strongly recommend you read Requiem for an Assassin and the other books in the Rain series now. You won’t regret it.

5 single-malt whiskeys out of 5

Barry Eisler is one of the hardest working writers in the biz today. You can check out his Myspace page at myspace.com/barryeisler

~ by jeff3885 on August 12, 2007.