Barry Mark Eisler (born 1964) is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

. He is the author of three thriller series, the first featuring

anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...

John Rain, a half-

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, half-American former soldier turned freelance assassin, a second featuring

black ops A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence Ag ...

soldier Ben Treven, and his most recent centered on Seattle detective Livia Lone. Eisler also writes about politics and language on his blog ''Heart of the Matter'', and at the blogs ''CHUD'', ''

Firedoglake ''Firedoglake'' (abbreviated as ''FDL'') was an American collaborative blog that described itself as a "leading progressive news site, online community, and action organization". Established by film producer Jane Hamsher in 2004, ''Firedogl ...

'', ''

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'', '' MichaelMoore.com'', ''The Smirking Chimp'', and ''

Truthout Truthout is an American Nonprofit organization, non-profit Progressivism in the United States, progressive news organization which describes itself as "dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social just ...

''.

Early life

Eisler was born in New Jersey, his father was a

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

office supplier, and his mother an environmental activist. Eisler is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and graduated from

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private university, private, Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, Cornell Law School offers four degree programs (Juris Doctor, JD, Maste ...

in 1989.

Early career

After completing law school, Eisler joined the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

, where he trained for three years afterward and held a covert position with the Directorate of Operations. In 1992, he resigned and joined the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges. In 1994, he moved to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

to work for the firm's technology licensing division, then left to work in Japan for Matsushita. In 1999, he returned to the Bay Area to join a startup. In 2003, he started writing full-time, when he sold the rights to his debut novel, '' Rain Fall'', the first of his series featuring John Rain.

Self-publishing

Eisler made news in March 2011 when he walked away from a reported half million dollar advance from

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

in order to go the

self-publishing Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fro ...

route pioneered by his colleague

J. A. Konrath Joseph Andrew Konrath (born March 29, 1970, in Skokie, Illinois) is an American fiction writer working in the Mystery fiction, mystery, Thriller (genre), thriller, and Horror fiction, horror genres. He writes as J. A. Konrath and Jack Kilborn. In ...

and others. He then took a six-figure deal to publish the seventh John Rain novel, ''The Detachment'' (2011), under Amazon Publishing's

Thomas & Mercer Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

mystery imprint.

Awards

Eisler's novel ''Rain Fall'' won the 2005 Barry Award for Best Thriller and The Gumshoe Award. ''Fault Line'' reached Number 18 on ''The New York Times'' Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list.

Bibliography

After amicably terminating his previous publishing contracts and regaining his

rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

, Eisler changed the titles and covers on all the Rain books, and the covers of the Treven books.

John Rain

# ''Graveyard of Memories'' (2014) # ''Zero Sum'' (2017) # '' A Clean Kill in Tokyo'' (2002), previously published as ''Rain Fall'' # '' A Lonely Resurrection'' (2003), previously published as ''Hard Rain'' in the US and ''Blood from Blood'' in the UK # ''Winner Take All'' (2004), previously published as ''Rain Storm'' in the US and ''Choke Point'' in the UK (Barry Awards for best thriller) # ''Redemption Games'' (2005), previously published as ''Killing Rain'' in the US and ''One Last Kill'' in the UK # ''Extremis'' (2006), previously published as ''The Last Assassin'' (Barry Awards for best thriller nominee) # ''The Killer Ascendant'' (2007), previously published as ''Requiem for an Assassin'' # "Paris is a Bitch" (Rain/Delilah, 2011), short story # ''The Detachment'' (2011)(w/ Ben Treven) # ''"Decisions, Decisions"'' (2011)(w/ Dr. Morgan Snow) # "The Khmer Kill" (Dox, 2012), short story # "London Twist" (Delilah, 2013), novella # ''The Killer Collective'' (1 February 2019) (w/Livia Lone) # ''The Chaos Kind'' (October 2021) (w/Livia Lone/Marvin Manus)

Ben Treven

# ''Fault Line'' (2009) # ''Inside Out'' (2010) # "The Lost Coast" (Larison, 2011), short story # ''The Detachment'' (2011) (w/ John Rain)

Livia Lone

# ''Livia Lone'' (2016) # ''The Night Trade'' (2018) (w/Dox) # ''The Killer Collective'' (1 February 2019) (w/John Rain) # ''All the Devils'' (27 August 2019)

Marvin Manus

* ''The God's Eye View'' (2016)

Dox

* ''Amok'' (2022)

Essays

* * *"Surveillance/Counter-Surveillance" (2012) in Crimespree Magazine #11 and 12

Screen adaptations

In April 2009,

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

Japan released a mostly Japanese language film version of ''Rain Fall'' starring Shiina Kippei as Rain and

Gary Oldman Sir Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Gary Oldman, various accolades, including an Academ ...

as Rain's nemesis, CIA Station Chief William Holtzer. In August 2014, Slingshot Global Media announced its intention to produce a

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

, ''Rain'', based on the book. At that time,

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor and musician. The recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades, he is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public imag ...

was attached to portray the character as well as serve as the executive producer alongside Eisler,

Chad Stahelski Charles F. Stahelski (born September 20, 1968) is an American stuntman and filmmaker. He is considered a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He first achieved prominence as a stunt performer and coordinator, notably as the key st ...

, and David Leitch. The scriptwriter had not been decided upon at that time. As of October 2023, nearly a decade later, the concept is still shown as "in development" on Eisler's

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

page.

Personal life

Eisler earned a black belt at the Kodokan International Judo Center and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is married to literary agent Laura Rennert, who represents his work. They have one daughter.

References

External links

* *
Eisler on The Young Turks
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eisler, Barry Writers from New Jersey 1964 births American spy fiction writers Cornell Law School alumni Living people Barry Award winners American male novelists