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Barry Eisler

Goodreads Author

Born

in New Jersey, The United States

Website

http://www.barryeisler.com

Twitter

barryeisler

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers

Member Since

April 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/barryeisler

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Barry Eisler spent three years in a covert position with the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, then worked as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan, earning his black belt at the Kodokan Judo Institute along the way. Eisler’s award-winning thrillers have been included in numerous “Best Of” lists, have been translated into nearly twenty languages, and include the #1 bestsellers Livia Lone, The Night Trade, and The Killer Collective. Eisler lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and, when he's not writing novels, blogs about national security and the media. www.barryeisler.com

Series:
* John Rain ...more

64 posts
Barry Eisler's Blog: The Heart of the Matter

All About The System!

I did a few talk-show interviews following the June 6 publication of The System—about the book, of course, but also about geopolitics, the nature of power, the state of the world…and the craft of writing fiction. Now all compiled in this single handy location, which I’ll update for any future System discussions…

Phillip Brian, This is Phillip Brian

The Heart of the Matter is a reader-supported

Combine Editions
Barry Eisler’s books

Average rating: 4.16 · 180,850 ratings · 9,950 reviews · 88 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Killer Collective (John Rain, #10; Ben Treven, #4; Livia Lone, #3) 4.03 avg rating — 26,508 ratings — published 2019 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Clean Kill in Tokyo (John Rain, #1) 3.99 avg rating — 19,253 ratings — published 2003	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Livia Lone (Livia Lone, #1) 4.20 avg rating — 12,268 ratings — published 2016 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Chaos Kind (John Rain, #11, Livia Lone, #5) 4.31 avg rating — 10,189 ratings — published 2021 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Lonely Resurrection (John Rain, #2) 4.14 avg rating — 10,347 ratings — published 2003 — 67 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Winner Take All (John Rain, #3) 4.18 avg rating — 9,918 ratings — published 2004 — 58 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Redemption Games (John Rain, #4) 4.26 avg rating — 9,490 ratings — published 2005	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Extremis (John Rain, #5) 4.30 avg rating — 9,154 ratings — published 2006	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Detachment (John Rain #7; Ben Treven #3) 4.18 avg rating — 8,967 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Killer Ascendant (John Rain, #6) 4.29 avg rating — 8,718 ratings — published 2007	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Barry Eisler…

Series by Barry Eisler

John Rain (11 books)
by

Barry Eisler (Goodreads Author)

4.15 avg rating — 124,368 ratings

Livia Lone (5 books)
by

Barry Eisler (Goodreads Author)

4.19 avg rating — 62,620 ratings

Ben Treven (4 books)
by

Barry Eisler (Goodreads Author)

4.05 avg rating — 45,346 ratings

Dox Thriller (1 book)
by

Barry Eisler (Goodreads Author)

4.33 avg rating — 3,957 ratings

We're four months into 2019 and we can now reveal the biggest mysteries and thrillers of the year...so far! We've crunched our...

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Barry’s Recent Updates

Barry Eisler wrote a new blog post All About The System! I did a few talk-show interviews following the June 6 publication of The System—about the book, of course, but also about geopolitics, the nature of p Read more of this blog post »
Oct 12, 2025 12:02AM · like
Barry Eisler rated a book it was amazing The System: A Novel of the Deep State by Barry Eisler (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Well, I love the book but can't claim to be impartial :) ...more
Jun 06, 2025 01:08PM · 19 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The System by Barry Eisler. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The System by Barry Eisler <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Barry Eisler rated a book it was amazing Amok (Dox Thriller, #1) by Barry Eisler (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 06, 2025 12:58PM · 7 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Amok by Barry Eisler. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Amok by Barry Eisler <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Barry Eisler voted for Nuclear War: A Scenario as Readers' Favorite Nonfiction in the Final Round of the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards. Cast Your Vote
Nov 26, 2024 05:00PM · 1 like · like

More of Barry's books…

Quotes by Barry Eisler (?)

“If you focus on the risks, they'll multiply in your mind and eventually paralyze you. You want to focus on the task, instead, on doing what needs to be done.”
― Barry Eisler

tags: inspirational-success-failure

68 likes

“I wandered the earth a mercenary, daring the gods to kill me but surviving because part of me was already dead.”
― Barry Eisler, A Clean Kill in Tokyo

tags: dare, loner

25 likes

“Most people are like sheep. Nice, harmless creatures who want nothing more than to be left alone so they can graze. But then of course there are wolves. Who want nothing more than to eat the sheep.

But there’s a third kind of person. The sheepdog. Sheepdogs have fangs like wolves. But their instinct isn’t predation. It’s protection. All they want, what they live for, is to protect the flock.”
― Barry Eisler, Livia Lone

tags: cops, philosophy, police, predation, protect, sheep, sheepdog, wolves

17 likes

See all Barry Eisler's quotes »

Polls

Voting for the August/September 2012 group read. Voting open until Sunday 8/12.

Broken Harbour/Tana French

40 votes, 15.2%

The Cabinet of Curiosities/Douglas Preston

22 votes, 8.4%

Creole Belle/James Lee Burke

21 votes, 8.0%

Where the Bodies Are Buried/Christopher Brookmyre

16 votes, 6.1%

The End of the Wasp Season/Denise Mina

15 votes, 5.7%

The Last Kind Words/Tom Piccirilli

13 votes, 4.9%

No Time for Goodbye/Linwood Barclay

13 votes, 4.9%

Raven Black/Ann Cleeves

13 votes, 4.9%

Rain Fall/Barry Eisler

12 votes, 4.6%

Mr. Churchill's Secretary/ Susan Elia MacNeal

11 votes, 4.2%

Joe/H.D. Gordon

10 votes, 3.8%

Killer Instinct/Zoë Sharp

10 votes, 3.8%

Drop By Drop: A Thriller / Keith Raffel

8 votes, 3.0%

Marker/Robin Cook

8 votes, 3.0%

Now You See Me/S.J. Bolton

7 votes, 2.7%

Creep/Jennifer Hillier

7 votes, 2.7%

Suffer the Children/John Saul

7 votes, 2.7%

Virginia Creeper/Blaine Pardoe

6 votes, 2.3%

The Twelfth Imam / /Joel C. Rosenberg

5 votes, 1.9%

Death of an Old Git/Andrea Frazer

4 votes, 1.5%

The Survival of Thomas Ford/John A.A. Logan

4 votes, 1.5%

Boston Cream / Howard Shrier

3 votes, 1.1%

The Gigolo Murder/Mehmet Murat Somer

3 votes, 1.1%

And Then She Was Gone/J. Daniel Sawyer

3 votes, 1.1%

The Baptism of Billy Bean/Roger Alan Skipper

2 votes, 0.8%

263 total votes

comments and details

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Romance Readers R...: Shannon's Reading Challenges 2009	43	188	Dec 16, 2009 06:41PM
Romance Readers R...: 2010 January Monthly Challenge: Participants' Lists	318	411	Feb 02, 2010 09:04PM
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks	2717	2509	May 31, 2010 09:00PM
Cover to Cover Ch...: Read-A-Thon Progress and Discussion -- July	60	45	Jul 18, 2010 10:07PM
The Seasonal Read...: 15.8 - "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble..."	171	364	Aug 25, 2010 11:49AM
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	3022	3284	Aug 31, 2010 10:39PM
Cover to Cover Ch...: Kristin's 144 in 2010	25	93	Dec 30, 2010 05:26PM

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Barry’s Friend Comments

Comments (showing 1-8) post a comment »

date

newest »

message 8: by gj

Apr 10, 2014 12:42PM

Nice to meet you Barry-
I look forward to reading your books-
Geri
www.bragmedallion.com

reply | flag

message 7: by John

Oct 07, 2013 12:23AM

Mange tak, as we say here.
Regards John

reply | flag

message 6: by Michael

Oct 03, 2013 06:48AM

When is the next John Rain novel?

reply | flag

message 5: by Beth

Jul 31, 2013 02:06PM

Thanks for befriending this fellow crime writer on Goodreads!

reply | flag

message 4: by Carl

Sep 13, 2012 11:58AM

Hi Barry, like the John Rain novels/character, who did you base him on and who would play him in a film. I've read about three Rain novels but get confused by the title changes.
Thanks for accepting me as a friend.

reply | flag

message 3: by Zoë

Jul 30, 2012 11:49PM

Hi Barry

Nice to catch up with you here. The Michael Hastings book sounds very interesting. I'll have to seek that one out. How's life treating you?

reply | flag

message 2: by Caleb

Nov 02, 2011 06:52AM

Barry: We have launched a new book marketing Website at www.venturegalleries.com and would love for you to write a guest blog on the site. This week, we are publishing our first guest blog from Melissa Foster. Please check out the site, and if can write one for us, please let me know at cjp3@suddenlink.net. Thank you for your consideration.

reply | flag

message 1: by Leon

Aug 23, 2011 05:54AM

Thanks for adding me as a friend,

Leon

reply | flag

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Barry Eisler

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64 posts
Barry Eisler's Blog: The Heart of the Matter

All About The System!

Combine Editions
Barry Eisler’s books

Series by Barry Eisler

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Barry’s Recent Updates

All About The System!

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Preview — The System by Barry Eisler

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Barry Eisler’s Followers (3,028)

Barry Eisler

Goodreads Author

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Preview — The System by Barry Eisler

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