Barry Eisler

Barry Eisler
Barry Eisler, 2009.
Born	1964 (age 59–60) New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Writer
Genre	Thriller
Website
www.barryeisler.com

Barry Mark Eisler (born 1964) is an American novelist. He is the author of three thriller series, the first featuring anti-hero John Rain, a half-Japanese, half-American former soldier turned freelance assassin, a second featuring black ops 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, The Huffington Post, MichaelMoore.com, The Smirking Chimp, and Truthout.

Eisler was born in New Jersey,^[1] his father was a wholesale office supplier, and his mother an environmental activist. Eisler is Jewish and graduated from Cornell Law School in 1989.^[2][3][4]

After completing law school, Eisler joined the CIA, where he trained for three years afterward and held a covert position with the Directorate of Operations.^[3] In 1992, he resigned and joined the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges.^[2] In 1994, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work for the firm's technology licensing division, then left to work in Japan for Matsushita.^[1][2]

In 1999, he returned to the Bay Area to join a startup.^[2]

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.^[2]

Eisler made news in March 2011 when he walked away from a reported half million dollar advance from St. Martin's Press in order to go the self-publishing route pioneered by his colleague J. A. Konrath and others.^[5][6] He then took a six-figure deal to publish the seventh John Rain novel, The Detachment (2011), under Amazon Publishing's Thomas & Mercer mystery imprint.^[7]

Eisler's novel Rain Fall won the 2005 Barry Award for Best Thriller^[8] and The Gumshoe Award.^[9] Fault Line reached Number 18 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list.^[10]

After amicably terminating his previous publishing contracts and regaining his rights, Eisler changed the titles and covers on all the Rain books, and the covers of the Treven books.^[11][12]

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

1. Fault Line (2009)
2. Inside Out (2010)
3. "The Lost Coast" (Larison, 2011), short story
4. The Detachment (2011) (w/ John Rain)

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

• The God's Eye View (2016)

• Amok (2022)

• Eisler, Barry; Konrath, J. A. (2011). Be the Monkey: A Conversation About the New World of Publishing Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath. ASIN B004SV2IPC.
• Eisler, Barry (2011). The Ass Is A Poor Receptacle For The Head: Why Democrats Suck At Communication, And How They Could Improve. ASIN B0050O7VLW.
• "Surveillance/Counter-Surveillance" (2012) in Crimespree Magazine #11 and 12

This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. Find sources: "Barry Eisler" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: no updates regarding Rain miniseries since the day it was added here in 2014, no idea if this is still in play. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Last update: August 2014 (October 2023)

In April 2009, Sony Pictures Japan released a mostly Japanese language film version of Rain Fall starring Shiina Kippei as Rain and Gary Oldman as Rain's nemesis, CIA Station Chief William Holtzer.

In August 2014, Slingshot Global Media announced its intention to produce a miniseries, Rain, based on the book. At that time, Keanu Reeves was attached to portray the character as well as serve as the executive producer alongside Eisler, Chad Stahelski, 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 page.

Eisler earned a black belt at the Kodokan International Judo Center and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.^[1] He is married to literary agent Laura Rennert, who represents his work. They have one daughter.^[2]

• Assassinations in fiction

• Official website
• Barry Eisler at IMDb 
• Eisler on The Young Turks
• Eisler, Barry (September 11, 2006). "Blurbersion". Buzz, Balls & Hype.