Strange How Hard It Rains Now

Hank's note last week sounded really good, so I marked my calendar for Barry Eisler's reading from his latest novel Killing Rain. Hank had said that not only are the books great, but that Barry (who he's friends with) is a great reader, and sure enough! Hank's buildup was more than justified.

I arrived around 6:30 so I'd have time for a bite to eat at the cafe next door to Kepler's, and spotted Hank at a table with several friendly folks, so I joined them. Turns out the friendly folks were the author, his wife, and another friend his brother. (Thanks for the correction, Hank!)

We went into the bookstore a bit later, where I met up with Silvia and encountered yet another blogger friend, David. The chairs filled pretty quickly, and before Barry started reading, he made the rounds, shook hands with all the visitors, and thanked everybody for coming. What a nice guy!

And a great reading! He recounted a bit of background on his protagonist first, then he set the scene, and then he read, and answered a lot of questions afterwards. I enjoyed myself thoroughly.
The man has a great voice, is very entertaining, and has a great public speaking presence.

I was not familiar with this series, so I bought the first book, Rain Fall (oh, and he had signed all the stock in the store, so I have an autographed copy). I'm about a chapter and a half in, and I really like the setup of the story. Will report in full once I'm finished.

Comments

[Hank]

I'm so glad you and Silvia both enjoyed the reading. By the way, that friend at the table was Barry's brother. Personally, I think their resemblance is unmistakable!

[Dave Goodman]

My wife and I attended his reading tonight at the Book Passage in Corte Madera.

When we entered the store, they had a display set up with his latest, Killing Rain. As I picked it up to inspect, a voice behind us said, "That's a great book."

We turned around... and there was Barry Eisler. He's a very funny and friendly guy. Not only did he introduce himself to everyone before he spoke, he also memorized everyone's names!

We've already read his first two books, and now we're looking forward to reading the next two that we purchased.

He did a great job reading from Rain Storm, including a Southern accent for one of the characters, and then he answered questions and talked about character development. We came away with several interesting and amusing stories.

[Silvia]

I will look out for "Killing Rain" at Barnes and Nobles as I have a gift certificate still in my pocket. Let's say, I start with the last one of the series and will work my way through to number one. The reason is that Barry mentioned that Killing Rain contains more humor and that's what I need right now to recover from the final exams last week.