Previously published as Rain Storm and Choke Point
John Rain has disappeared in Brazil to escape the killing business and the enemies encircling him in Japan. But the CIA isn’t willing to lose its premier “natural causes” contract killer, and they force Rain to take on a high-risk assignment: eliminate a ruthless arms dealer operating in Southeast Asia.
The upside? Financial, of course, along with the possibility of moral redemption. But first, Rain will have to survive the downside: a second assassin zeroing in on the target; an alluring and dangerous woman with an agenda of her own; the possibility that the entire mission is nothing but an elaborate setup. From the gorgeous beaches of Rio to the glitzy casinos of Macau to the gritty back streets of Hong Kong and Kowloon, Rain becomes a reluctant player in an international game far deadlier and more insidious than any he has encountered before.
Winner Take All was previously published as Rain Storm in the US and Choke Point in the UK, the third in the bestselling John Rain assassin series.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Introduction to the New Edition
Rereading the books for this rerelease of the series has made me acutely aware of the degree to which whatever most interested me at the time I was writing surfaces in the story. I had left the CIA shortly before beginning A Clean Kill in Tokyo, for example, and I can see now how much surveillance, countersurveillance, and other aspects of tradecraft were still on my mind at the time. A Lonely Resurrection includes Osaka, where I lived from 1995 to 1997 after moving from Tokyo. And now I see how much the plot of Winner Take All is informed by the way 9/11, and more specifically America's overreaction to 9/11, was increasingly on my mind when I wrote it.
This is what I came up with when I was working on the manuscript in 2003:
"All right. Belghazi is part of a list. A hit list. Of course, it's not called a 'hit list.' Even post-nine-eleven, no one would use a description like that."
I raised my eyebrows, thinking maybe the geniuses who had once named an email sniffing program "Carnivore" had finally taken a class on marketing.
He took a sip of coffee. "The list is officially called the 'International Terrorist Threat Matrix,' or ITTM, for short. Unofficially, it's just called 'the list.' It was created and is continually updated by the Agency, in our capacity as central clearing house for all intelligence produced by the community. Its purpose is to identify the key players in the international terrorist infrastructure. Like the FBI's Most Wanted List, but broader. You know, a Who's Who..."
"The list existed before nine-eleven, but it's been substantially revised and expanded since then. And, since then, it has also doubled as a hit list -- a nice, deniable hit list, because it's really just a wiring diagram and has been around in one form or another for a long time. So no one had to worry about giving the order to draw up a brand new list that might make for riveting testimony in front of a hypocritical Congressional committee some time down the road..."
He took a sip from his cup. "Look, some of the individuals in question enjoy a lot of political protection. Some of them, in fact, are technically U.S. citizens."
What has been revealed since?
The New York Times, May 29, 2012
"SECRET 'KILL LIST' PROVES A TEST OF OBAMA'S PRINCIPLES AND WILL
nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?pagewanted=all
The Washington Post, October 23, 2012
PLAN FOR HUNTING TERRORISTS SIGNALS U.S. INTENDS TO KEEP ADDING NAMES TO KILL LISTS
washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/plan-for-hunting-terrorists-signals-us-intends-to-keep-adding-names-to-kill-lists/2012/10/23/4789b2ae-18b3-11e2-a55c-39408fbe6a4b_story.html
And if you had any doubts about Kanezaki's claim that the list includes American citizens, the government's subsequent actions should reassure you.
Salon, September 30, 2011
THE DUE-PROCESS-FREE ASSASSINATION OF U.S. CITIZENS IS NOW REALITY
salon.com/2011/09/30/awlaki_6/
Salon, October 20, 2011
THE KILLING OF AWLAKI'S 16-YEAR-OLD-SON
salon.com/2011/10/20/the_killing_of_awlakis_16_year_old_son/
So what was posited as fiction in 2003 is proven as fact less than a decade later. What might have been dismissed as conspiracy a little while ago is now no more than the news of the day.
For those who share Rain's aversion to euphemisms, by the way, it's doubly endearing to know the Obama Administration has named what in Kanezaki's world was known simply as "the list" as the "Disposition Matrix," instead.
The Guardian, October 24, 2012
OBAMA MOVES TO MAKE THE WAR ON TERROR PERMANENT
guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/24/obama-terrorism-kill-list
All of which perhaps suggests that thriller writers are slightly ahead of the establishment media -- and that the government is slightly ahead even of thriller writers. If so, I hate to think about what's next for America when I consider the plot of the seventh Rain book, The Detachment.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 1477820825-11-31686539
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. John Rain has disappeared to Brazil to escape the killing business and the enemies encircling him in Japan. But the CIA isn't willing to lose its premier "natural causes" contract killer, and they force Rain to take on a high-risk assignment: eliminate a ruthless arms dealer operating in Southeast Asia.The upside? Financial, of course, along with the ongoing chimera of moral redemption. But first, Rain will have to survive the downside: a second assassin zeroing in on the target; the target's consort, an alluring and dangerous woman with an agenda of her own; the possibility that the entire mission is nothing but an elaborate setup. From the gorgeous beaches of Rio to the glitzy casinos of Macau to the gritty back streets of Hong Kong and Kowloon, Rain becomes a reluctant player in an international game far deadlier and more insidious than any he has encountered before."In his superb thriller series featuring charismatic Japanese-American assassin John Rain, author Barry Eisler serves up steamy foreign locales, stunning action and enough high-tech weaponry to make for an A-plus boys-and-their-toys read." New York Daily News "Originally published as Rain Storm in 2004"--Title page verso. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781477820827
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