Barry Eisler has been compared to Forsyth, Ludlum, le Carré, Ian Fleming, and Graham Greene. But his latest thriller brings Eisler into a league of his own. When Japanese/American contract killer John Rain learns that his former lover, Midori, has been raising their child in New York, he senses a chance for reconciliation, perhaps even for redemption. But Midori is being watched by Rain's enemies, and his sudden appearance puts mother and child in terrible danger. To save them, Rain is forced to use the same deadly talents he had been hoping to leave behind. With the help of Tatsu, his friendly nemesis in the Japanese FBI, and Dox, the ex-marine sniper whose good ol' boy persona masks a killer as deadly as Rain himself, Rain races against time to bring his enemies into the open and eliminate them forever. But to finish the job, he'll need one more ally: Israeli intelligence agent Delilah, a woman who represents an altogether different kind of threat . . .

After graduating from Cornell Law School in 1989, Barry Eisler spent three years with the U.S. government. .For a decade thereafter he practiced various aspects of international law, including a year with the Japanese law firm of Hamada and Matsumoto in Tokyo and two years as in-house counsel at the Osaka headquarters of Matsushita Electric and Industrial Co., Ltd.

Mr. Eisler earned his black belt in judo from the Kodokan International Judo Center in Tokyo.

Today he lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area and continues to travel to Japan frequently.

Rights to the Rain books have been sold in 12 countries, and film rights have been purchased by Jet Li.