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June, 2007 Sunday New York Times Book Review FACTS, CHECKED: This column has gone out of its way more than once to praise novelists who bother to identify, and when possible to correct, errors that creep into their books. So it was a treat to find out about Barry Eisler's books—he's a former C.I.A. employee who writes thrillers about a half-Japanese, half-American freelance assassin named John Rain—and also to discover his Web site. On it, you'll find a detailed, witty "mistakes" page that makes you trust everything else he writes all the more. Eisler is willing to suffer for veritas. About one mistake he writes: "The stun gun Rain uses on Crawley in Chapter 9 of 'Rain Storm (Choke Point)' would have left marks (I know because I took a fan's advice after the fact and ... that's right, zapped myself with a stun gun. Hurts like hell and leaves welts)." At other times, Eisler can sound almost dainty: "In Chapter 36 of 'The Last Assassin,' Delilah says 'Enchantez,' " he writes. "This of course should be 'Enchantee' because the word is a feminine adjective, not a verb. Pardonnez-moi." D'accord! Eisler's new novel, "Requiem for an Assassin," is No. 26 on the extended fiction list.
I'm a fanatic about research, but even so the odd mistake slips past all my lines of defense and makes its way into a published book. For anyone who has ever been pulled out of the world of one of my stories by one of these glitches, my apologies. Here is a list of mistakes that readers have brought to my attention over the years. If you find one of your own, shoot me an email and I'll add it here. I don't include typos, of which there are regrettably a few, because they're self-explanatory. And if you see something on this page that you didn't notice in the book you read, it's probably because, happily, I was able to get it fixed in subsequent printings and in the paperback.
Thanks everyone for all your feedback.
Throughout the books, single malt Scotch is spelled "whiskey."
Purists will note that single malt Scotch is spelled whisky, but the
venerable Putnam copyeditors seem to dissent.
In Chapter 3 of Rain Fall, Rain keeps a bottle of "Cao Lila" in Club
Alfie. That should of course be Caol Ila. Doubly embarrassing,
considering all the, uh, research I conduct on the single malts Rain
drinks in these books.
Three inadequacies in my research on Vietnam: In Chapter 3 of Rain Fall, Rain refers to his time as a LURRP in Vietnam#151;a member of a
long range reconnaissance patrol. The proper reference would be
LRRP. It's also more likely that, as a LRRP, Rain would have been an
army Ranger rather than with Special Forces. Finally, Rain's
reference to firearms "clips" shows that before writing Rain Rall I
watched too many war movies and talked to too few war veterans. Vets
would have referred to magazines or mags, not clips.
In Chapter 3 of Rain Fall, Rain refers to the Bill Evans piece "My Man's Gone." This should be "My Man's Gone Now," and although Evan's played it (wonderfully, on Sunday at the Village Vanguard), I believe the song was written by George Gershwin.
via email re: Rain Fall:
The owner of the Jazz club Alfie, Mama, says that Mr. Kawamura died of a heart attack one and a half weeks ago. But in fact, his assassination happened 16 days ago, which is two and a half weeks. Mama says the assassination happened on a Tuesday. In chapter 2 there is the line "The next day I received the money like Benny promised." So this is Wednesday and one day left since the assassination. Then there are nine days on which nothing happens. So, it is Friday and 10 days have passed since the assassination. On the 10th day (it is Saturday and 11 days have passed since the assassination) Harry calls him and says he wants to meet John on Tuesday. But John knows that he has to subtract 5 days of the date. That means they're meeting on a Thursday. As I already explained it is Saturday, when Harry calls. That means Harry waits five (!) days until he meets John. So on the day of their meeting, 16 days have passed since the assassination. The same day, John goes to the club.
via email re: Rain Fall: I'm a professional jazz bassist and I absolutely love the Rain books.
This is the first series of books about a continuing character that
I've gotten past the second book—usually a great first book begets a
mediocre second and third. Not in this case. While this isn't
actually a mistake, I thought I'd pass this on. In both the Rain
Fall and the Last Assassin, you have Midori playing with a bass
guitarist instead of an upright bassist. Given how you describe her
playing which I take to be acoustic jazz in something of a Bill
Evans-ish vein, she'd probably be using an upright bassist. This
would be particularly true at the Zinc bar in NYC where a bass guitar
in a piano trio would likely be viewed dimly. Of course, maybe both
Midori and her bassist are fans of Steve Swallow—one of the few jazz
bassists who successfully and exclusively play bass guitar in an
acoustic jazz setting.
Anyway, keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to your next
book.
Mark Perna
via email re: Hard Rain:
"A word of caution re: NLP. You have Rain believe Kanezaki because the latter looks to his left when answering how something was presented to him. Rain sees this leftward glance as a neurolinguistic sign of recall. Yes and no. The problem is you don't know what Kanezaki is responding to inside. If he's asking himself how he came across non-verbally the last time he scammed somebody, Rain's reading him wrong.
On the other hand, he could have looked to his right and have been thinking how he wished he had responded instead of how he did and have been truthfully congruent. In other words, you have to be careful in using eye movements as a lie detector.
Here's a much better paradigm a classic NLP training excercise. Pair up with somebody you don't know too well. Ask them five questions you know the answer is yes do, eg., "is your name Barry?" Calibrate all their non-verbal physiology: pupil size, blood pooling in the face, lip size, breathing, not just rate but depth of chest movements, etc. Then ask them five questions you know the answer is "no" to, "eg, "do you Barry write ancient Welsh murder mysteries. Similarly calibrate your partner. Then ask questions you don't know the answer to, and observe them based upon the previous calibration. This will actually work IF ONE IS OBSERVANT!!!!!! This is pretty much how a polygraph is done. But a human being is a far more exquisite measuring device than is a polygraph."
via email re: Hard Rain:
"This correction is very small but noticable to MMA fans. In Hard Rain Chapter 7 Pg. 108 2nd paragraph you list the King of the Cage
MMA promotion to be in the the UK. King of the Cage (KOTC) is a US
based promotion owned by Terry Trebilcock. It was largely based in CA
but has had shows all over the US. I don't know if they have ever had
a show in the UK but do go to Canada and Australia. Anyway, just
wanted to let you know. Corrected by Mark Cubillos, Las Vegas, NV. I love the books."
via email re: Hard Rain:
Only a minor thing... in Hard Rain on page 64 (paperback), rain talks to naomi at damask rose, she
says "obrigado!" In portuguese women would say "obrigada." Men say
"obrigado."
Thanks a million for writing these books! I am addicted ;-) I think
rain and dox are hilarious as a team. Have a nice day and all the best from germany! Monika
In Chapter 1 of Rain Storm (Choke Point), the assassin who Rain thinks of as Karate turns out to be carrying a concealed H&K Mark 23 with an attached Knight's Armament suppressor. At close to 17 inches with the suppressor attached, this is probably too much hardware to effectively carry concealed (but Rain and Dox manage nicely with the same gear in tactical thigh rigs in The Last Assassin).
In Chapter 10 of the hardback of Rain Storm (Choke Point), Rain suggests that 7.62
pistol and 7.62 rifle ammunition are identical. Stupid mistake and I
have been duly chastised. This one I managed to fix in the paperback.
The stun gun Rain uses on Crawley in Chapter 9 of Rain Storm (Choke Point) would
have left marks (I know because I took a fan's advice after the fact
and... that's right, zapped myself with a stun gun. Hurts like hell
and leaves welts. You'd think I'd be smart enough to suffer for my
art before the fact... apparently not).
In Chapter 10 of Rain Storm (Choke Point), I refer to Rain's AB negative blood type
as the universal recipient. In fact, the universal recipient is AB
positive, which is what I meant to say. And I had three doctors read
the manuscript! Hopefully, the story was so good they just got
distracted...
via email re: Rain Storm (Choke Point):
I know that you try to be very technically correct with when you
describe John Rain's instruments of the job. As a person who imports and sells disposable gloves, I have to point
out that in Rain Storm you called the gloves he dons as "surgeons
gloves". This is incorrect. Surgeons gloves are pre-packaged in
pairs, sterile, and hand size specific. What he probably would use
and the correct terminology would be latex or nitrile exam gloves or
latex disposable gloves. I would be happy to send you some boxes of
these so you can furthur understand what I am describing.
As a person who talks gloves all day, I just do not like when they
are described incorrectly. Keep up writing excellent novels and I will keep reading them! [Barry notes: no, I did not take him up on the offer of multiple boxes of latex gloves...]
via email re: Rain Storm (Choke Point):
Taipa Island is referred to as Taipu (within the story NOT the Rough
Guide)
Scotch (Laphroaig) = Whisky and not
whiskEy which is the spelling for Irish
and as you are drinking Scotch - my toast to you is
: Lang may yer Lum reek :
In Chapter 2 of Killing Rain (One Last Kill), Boaz refers to the Bali bombing of October 12, 2001. The correct date would be 2002.
In Chapter 13 of Killing Rain (One Last Kill), Rain says that women don't have Adam's apples. In fact, women do; they just don't stick out the way men's do.
via email:
Thrillers are not quite my cup of tea (I usually only read my father's—he buys them like cookies), but I'm enjoying Killing Rain (One Last Kill). One
thing, though—you might be aware of it and using some misdirection; if so, I apologize—, at the beginning of chapter 10: "I picked up my cell phone and inserted one of the spare SIM cards I
had purchased in Bangkok, effectively giving the phone a new identity"... I'm afraid not. You might want to check wikipedia.
In The Last Assassin, I might have been conflating Mandarin,
Cantonese, and Taiwanese terms for organized crime members in a way
that actual gang members would not. Regardless, Chan, a lieutenant
in a triad, is probably a "dai lo," or big brother, not a "dai dai
lo," or big big brother. The latter would more likely be the
organization's boss.
In The Last Assassin, Rain refers to Dox as an ex-Marine sniper.
Apparently, Marines who have been honorably discharged refer to
themselves as former Marines; only dishonorably discharged Marines
are called ex-Marines. Rain, who is former army, might not know this
or might not follow the convention, but it was a good catch by a
former Marine reader and I wanted to mention it here.
In chapter 18 of The Last Assassin, Dox says "Hoo-ah." Apparently,
this is an army expression; a Marine would more likely say "Oo-rah."
I have several friends, former military, who read the manuscripts,
but they're all army and didn't notice this one... time to call in
the Marines!
Four times on pages 22-23 of The Last Assassin, Delilah thinks of her first love, a man called Dov, but the text says Dox. I don't know how this one got in there, because I proofed and signed off on the page proofs of the book myself. But I'm trying to get it fixed in subsequent printings...
I'm far from a firearms expert, and despite all the research I do occasionally something slips through. This might have been the case with regard to Rain's and Dox's discussion about ballistic forensics in chapter 22 of The Last Assassin. Here's an excerpt from an email I received from an LEO friend on the subject:
"As for the 7.62 round... at the very least, the rifling marks would differentiate them... Also, you can't fire a 7.62x54R out of a weapon chambered for 7.62 NATO to get around the rifling issue. It's not going to chamber because of the longer shell casing, and you'll probably blow up the gun because the round, though called 7.62, is actually a little larger than the 7.62 NATO (more on caliber below). Nevertheless, that got me thinking about how similar or dissimilar the actual bullets were. As an example, the bullets from a round of .38 Special and a round of .357 Magnum are interchangeable. The odds of two bullets fired from two rounds developed by two separate countries in different years being interchangeable is pretty slim—they would have inherent design differences, (shape of the actual bullet, makeup of the jacket material, lead core, steel core, etc), but... We keep a wide variety of calibers of ammo on hand to test-fire evidence guns, so I took a round of each and pulled the bullets from the casings. Length and caliber of the two bullets I have appear similar to the naked eye, although they are of a different type (the NATO round is a tracer, the Russian round a boattail). The most noticeable difference is the crimping marks: the NATO round sits much lower in the casing than the Russian round does, and the crimping marks are very obvious. I don't have a pair of calipers, but a little research told me that generally speaking, the Russian rounds tend to be .309-.311 caliber, more commonly .310-.311 caliber. The NATO rounds seem to be a more constant .308. All of which would show up in a forensic exam. There are tons of variables here, the biggest one being finding a fired round in good enough condition to be examined. A fired round is similar to a fumbled football; once it hits, you never know what it's gonna do. It could fragment completely or hardly deform at all. Rain and Dox would have to assume the worst, which is that a spent round would be recovered in near-perfect condition and examined. And all of this is assuming Dox remembers or has time to pick up his spent brass, and that he can find it all."
In chapter 36 of The Last Assassin, Delilah says "Enchantez." This of course should be "Enchantée" because the word is a feminine adjective, not a verb. Pardonnez-moi.
In The Last Assassin, Rain twice neglects to properly check an IV line to ensure that fluid is flowing through it into the patient ("patency"). And instead of removing the adhesive pad from a patient, he should have removed just the leads from three such pads. I doubt that anyone but medical professionals would notice these points, but two medical pros pointed them out to me, so I wanted to account for them here.
And here's an email I received from a friend who's serving in Iraq. His thoughts on Rain's tactics for entering and checking a hotel room in The Last Assassin were so good that I decided to include them here in their entirety:
"When it comes to tactical differences I always keep in mind, that as long as they do not violate principles they can come in any shape or form—with that said and done, some are still better than others.
"Page 8: Traversing the "Fatal Funnel:" There is no Law of Moses when it comes to terminology, but traversing sounded alien to me. I served five years in the Marines, fifteen in the Army—thirteen of that in SF—and I have been contracting for the past six years. I have been to several CQB/CQC schools and courses and served in four conflicts. During that time, with everyone from SWAT cops to SF teams I have always heard, or used myself, "clearing" the fatal funnel. Traversing is fine, and I just might be out of touch, but "clear" has been in my experience the word used. Considering Rain's lineage I would assume that he too would also use the word "clear."
"I asked my team (which is comprised of former SEALS, SF, Rangers, Marine Recon and Marine Snipers, SWAT cops, and the aforementioned FBI agent) what they called it when you move through a door during CQC/CQB. To the man it was "Clear the Fatal Funnel." However, in this booming business and taking into account the plethora of schools, courses and experts sprouting up, I am certain that someone is calling it traverse. I have always considered myself just a student — life is much better that way. So, no heartache if I am corrected.
"As for the entry:
"If I suspect (and I must) that you know I am outside the door, I do not believe that waving a jacket in front of the open door would draw fire but from the most inexperienced—not the men Rain is usually dealing with. Furthermore, without gaining much it reveals much: one, that you are in fact there and not elsewhere in the room: two, what side you were coming from; three, that you were most likely coming soon, and lastly, you at least expect that I am there.
"Perhaps I would think about rolling the jacket up and throwing it in violently, letting it unfurl as it did, knowing that even the most highly trained person most likely will follow a sudden movement, even if but for a second. The jacket may be enough of a distraction to break into the opponent's OODA Loop and give me the second I need to enter the room in its wake. I am banking on instinctual flinch/tracking response and the disruption of his OODA Loop. Given the same circumstances as described in the book—I would have opted for this ploy. Not perfect, but neither is bringing a knife to a gunfight.
"In addition, prior to entry, while I listened I would try to "pie-off" the room to rule-out as much space as I could before entering (while being aware of the likely wall-to-wall-to-countertop mirrors in hotel bathrooms, not to mention, full length door mirrors and porcelain and chrome reflective surfaces). This does not take any time and from what I have read of Rain I'd imagine he would do it as a matter of habit. Or Rain could simply forgo the wait/listen/pie-off, throw the jacket and explode into the room using speed and violence of action as a technique of entry to overwhelm his opponent.
"Just writing this I am glad that I do not have to live like Rain. Hell, I just want to know how big the tub is."
More re: The Last Assassin... via email:
On page 13 you mention Idiazabal
cheese as a catalonian delicatessen. Idiazabal cheese is quite
expensive and possible to find in different parts of Spain, but it is
basque. This is a tiny mistake in a great novel, but a gross gap for a
basque person (we are proud of our food). A basque fan.
More re: The Last Assassin... via email:
A few minor critiques on the description of the Japanese sword in Kuro's office. Daisho were not common to the kamakura era. These swords tended to be longer, and it was only later (the late 1400's vs the 1200's) that it became customary to carry two swords. One would not display a sword bare bladed, especially one of this value described ($170k is pretty steep) unless it was behind museum glass, rather it would be in a shirasaya: a plain wood resting scabbard. The saya or furniture could be displayed as well, as some fittings can be as valuable as the sword.
With regard to the polish, it is not a mirror polish as this would be considered not aesthetically pleasing. The idea of the polish on the sword is to display the characteristics of the steel, the grain of the ji the crystalline structure of the hamon. A good japanese polisher brings these qualities out, and enhances them, and in turn these are used as indicators of the smith and school of origin.
Finally, if Yamaoto had grabbed my 700 year old tachi from its stand and took a swing at the sumo, I would casually take my kimber .45 from the top drawer of my desk and put a hollow point right behind his left ear.
I hope I am not coming across as too picky. I think these books are fantastic, but swords are my forte.
via email:
Am currently reading The Last Assassin and got to the bit where our
intrepid hero checks into the "twelfth" floor of a hotel in NY. Gadzooks man, did the "Christians" teach you nothing? LOL I worked
Executive Protection for six years after getting out of the Foreign
Legion and we all learned never book a hotel room on the 1st floor,
or over the 10th because there's not a fire truck in the world has a
ladder can get higher than that. (In 3rd world countries I'd
personally never go above 6.) What are we to do with you?
via email:
I am an Anesthesiologist. The use of succinylcholine for the darts was inappropriate. The Sumos would not have survived as Rain intended. Succinylcholine is an anesthesia adjuvant drug. It has NO sedative properties. It paralyzes muscles with a duration of action of 5 to 10 minutes. long enough for the somos to sufficate. despite Dox and Rains comical efforts to turn them face up. A more appropriate drug choice would have been carbafentanyl. which is actually used to sedate rhinos for relocation. It is theorized a carbafenta gas was utilized in the terrorist attack on the movie theatre in moscow some years ago. I have greatly enjoyed the Rain novels.
via email:
In The Last Assassin, I noticed several times that Mr. Eisler refers to the identity Rain uses to escape to Brazil as "the Watanabe identity", however, in Hard Rain, Rain creates an identity through disposing of a target, yet misleading his client with the appearance that the target fled. That target's name was Yamada Taro. I have to wonder if Mr. Eisler changed Rain's identity after Rain Storm when Kanezaki found Rain in Brazil. However I think it unlikely that Rain would have gone through all the trouble of entirely recreating an identity, especially since Naomi Nascimiento knew Rain by his real name, not the Yamada ID. Also, considering the amount of different security settings that Rain emplaced during his moves from Sao Paulo to Barra in Rio, it would have been too difficult to go about changing all the different forms of information necessary to make it seem as Yamada had moved and sold his possessions.
Re: Requiem for an Assassin... via email:
I love your work and incredibly appreciate the level of
detail involved. I know you prize accuracy. In Requiem, there is
speculation the drug used to take Dox down is fentanyl. Please note
fentanyl is an opoid analgesic. It does not paralyze and would not
likely sedate someone sufficiently quickly, especially if injected
subQ or intramuscularly. It remains one of my favorite painkillers as
an oncologist.
via email:
In chapter 2 of Requiem, Dox puts two fingers through the ring grip of his Fred Perrin La Griffe. Now that I'm the proud owner of my very own La Griffe, I know two fingers would be difficult for anyone, and impossible for a man of Dox's size. He should have gotten only one in there.
I noticed that in the chapters where Rain revisits Sai Gon that he refers to Dong Khoi (street) as part of his memories of his "Tour" in Vietnam. Dong Khoi has only been named that post '75. Dong Khoi means revolution. Prior to '75 the Street was called Tu Do (Freedom) by the Vietnamese and Rue Catinat by the French. This street was made famous by Graham Greene in his book The Quiet American.
The description and scenery from these chapters allowed me to follow Rain's footsteps in my mind as I have visited Sai Gon on many occasions. The ice cream shop where Rain goes I think it is called Bach Dang and is on the corner of Le Loi and Pasteur streets.
via email:
If you fly someone with a pneumothorax because of the lower pressure on the plane the gas in the chest will expand possibly converting a small clinically in apparent air collection to a large collection under pressure in the chest. The air in the chest will push on the veins emptying into the heart and prevent the heart from filling and you die. This is called a tension pneumothorax. Its a real problem when I transport my patients with blunt chest trauma. Even if a pneumo is small I always throw in a chest tube before flying and I always carry a "dart" which is a very large IV catheter so I can quickly decompress the chest in the air.
When you threw poor Dox on that plane you could have killed him! Those broken ribs easily could have had a pneumo associated with them. He was very lucky to have survived your carelessness!!! For shame ;-). Since the big oaf is growing on me I'd appreciate it if you were more careful with him in the future. If you want I'll teach Rain how to do an emergent needle decompression. Its not that hard if you can knife someone I'm sure you can needle them...
via email:
I am a great fan of your John Rain novels. The detail and realism are exceptional. Just a comment on Requiem, you mixed up ALPHA & GAMMA radiation effects. Also, as a former Federal Air Marshal, I believe Guthrie would've kept shooting Rain on the boat until he was KIA not just put two in his chest. Course, I understand John has to win in the end! In fact, one of my former "DELTA" instructors @ FAM told us the exact same joke you used in the book, except he used "Death or ROO ROO" in regard to the native chiefs choices... I wonder where you heard it? Keep em coming!
via email:
I just finished Requiem for an Assassin. Much of the
technology was spot-on, but there are a few items that caught my
attention.
1) The term "bulletin board" is dated. You could simply call them
"secure sites" but you might also use the word "portal."
2) It's assumed that the sites are secure, but John makes a big deal
out of keeping the URLs a secret. We call this "security through
obscurity." A site is not secure because it is hard to find.
3) John goes to great lengths to obscure his IP address/location. IP
spoofing is easy.
4) In Requiem at the docks Rain uses wireless headsets for his cell
phone. Sloppy. Most headsets work using Bluetooth wireless
technology. Eavesdropping via Bluetooth is trivial.
You always get infosec pretty close, but I see the detail you
maintain in all other aspects of your book, and I thought you might
like some insight. You're wise to not get bogged down in the tech. I
like Clancy, but he has a fetish in this area.
