Hard Rain

for
    generously sharing his extensive surveillance and investigative
    experiences, for recommending many good books and other sources of
    information, and for helpful comments on the manuscript.
    To Carla Mendes, for furthering my understanding of Brazil and
    Brazilians and for refining Rain's attempts at Portuguese.
    To Marc "Animal' Mac Young and Peyton Quinn, warrior philosophers both,
    for their many excellent books and videos on violence and street
    etiquette. In particular, John Rain owes to Mac Young his philosophy
    regarding unarmed defenses against the knife, and to Quinn the notion
    of being 'interviewed' as a potential victim.
    To Masao Miyamoto, for his horrifyingly humorous book Straitjacket
    Society, some of whose ideas on the nature of Big Brother in Japan
    Tatsu has borrowed.
    To Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, for his disturbing, original book,
    On Killing. The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and
    Society, which provided so many insights into the origins and
    psychology of John Rain.
    To Alex Kerr, for his book Dogs and Demons, a meticulously researched
    and argued account of Japanese corruption and an insensate bureaucracy
    gone mad, which provided some of the back story for the novel.
    To Alan Eisler, Judy Eisler, Dan and Naomi Levin, Matthew Powers, Owen
    Rennert, David and Shari Rosenblatt, Ted Schlein, Hank Shiffman, and
    Pete Wenzel, for helpful comments on the manuscript and many valuable
    suggestions and insights along the way.
    To Rick Kennedy and the staff of Tokyo Q, for introducing John Rain to
    several of the Tokyo bars and restaurants that appear in this book.
    To the proprietors of the following establishments, all wonderful
    places to call one's office: Bar Satoh in Miyakojima-ku, Osaka; Cafe
    Borrone in Memo Park, California; Las Chicas in Aoyama, Tokyo; the
    public library in Mountain View, California; These Library Lounge in
    Nishi Azabu, Tokyo.
    Most of all, to a great editor, my fiercest supporter, and my best
    friend, my wife, Laura.
    Barry Eisler lived in Japan for three years while working for the US
    government. He now lives in California
    Author of the best selling Rain Fall
    Hard Rain is his second novel.
    also available
    "A siMritr tkrllttr' mi
    BARRY EISLER