Barry Mark Eisler (born 1964) is a best-selling 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 othe ...

. He is the author of two

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

series, the first featuring

anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actio ...

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, and a second featuring

black ops A black operation or black op is a covert or clandestine operation by a government agency, a military unit or a paramilitary organization; it can include activities by private companies or groups. Key features of a black operation are that it ...

soldier Ben Treven. Eisler also writes about politics and language on his blog ''Heart of the Matter'', and at the blogs ''

CHUD Chud or Chude ( orv, чудь, in Finnic languages: tšuudi, čuđit) is a term historically applied in the early East Slavic annals to several Finnic peoples in the area of what is now Estonia, Karelia and Northwestern Russia. Arguably, the ...

, Firedoglake,

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

, MichaelMoore.com, The Smirking Chimp, and

Truthout Truthout is a non-profit news organization which describes itself as "dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social justice issues". Truthout's main areas of focus include mass incarceration, prison ...

''.

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. I ...

office supplier, and his mother an environmental activist. Eisler graduated from

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

in 1989.

Early career

After completing law school, Eisler joined the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

, 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, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

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, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

in order to go the

self-publishing Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...

route pioneered by his colleague Joe Konrath 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 Amazon Publishing (simply APub) is Amazon's book publishing unit launched in 2009. It is composed of 15 imprints including AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, and TOPPLE Books. Amazon publishes e-books via ...

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 Bestseller List.

Bibliography

After amicably terminating his previous publishing contracts and regaining his

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical th ...

, 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)

Essays

* *

Screen adaptations

In April 2009,

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

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

Gary Oldman Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three British Academy F ...

as Rain's nemesis, CIA Station Chief William Holtzer. In August 2014, Slingshot Global Media announced the launch of a new TV mini-series, ''Rain'', based on the book.

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in ''Youngblood'' (1986). H ...

will portray the iconic character as well as serve as the executive producer alongside Eisler,

Chad Stahelski Chad Stahelski (born September 20, 1968) is an American stuntman and film director. He is known for directing the 2014 film ''John Wick'' and directing its three sequels. Stahelski also doubled for Brandon Lee after the fatal accident involving L ...

, and David Leitch. The scriptwriter is yet to be decided upon.

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.