Barry Eisler Books In Order – A Complete List
Barry Eisler is the bestselling author of the popular John Rain spy thriller novels featuring a Japanese-American international assassin.
He has written books in his John Rain series, 4 books in the Ben Treven series (one book is also part of John Rain), 4 books in his Livia Stone series, one book in the Dox series, several short stories, and essays. Barry Eisler’s latest series is called Dox.
The publication order of books is slightly different in that A Clean Kill in Tokyo (John Rain 1) is the first novel to read, which makes Graveyard of Memories book 8 and Zero Sum book 9 published. Below are the Barry Eisler books in reading order for his main three series, with the John Rain series listed both in publication order and chronological order. Several John Rain novels were originally published under other titles. Both titles are given in the list below.
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Latest Barry Eisler Book

John Rain Books in Publication Order
- A Clean Kill In Tokyo (#1), 2003 (aka Rain Fall)
- A Lonely Resurrection (#2), 2004 (aka Hard Rain)
- Winner Take All (#3), 2005 (aka Rain Storm)
- Redemption Games (#4), 2006 (aka Killing Rain)
- Extremis (#5), 2007 (aka The Last Assassin)
- The Killer Ascendant (#6), 2008 (aka Requiem for an Assassin)
- Paris Is A Bitch (#6.5), 2011
- The Detachment (#7), 2011
- Graveyard of Memories (#8), 2014
- Zero Sum (#9), 2017
- The Killer Collective (#10), 2019
- The Chaos Kind (#11), 2021
John Rain Books In Reading Order
this is the chronological order
- Graveyard of Memories (#1), 2014 – prequel set in Tokyo in 1972, 8th in the publication order
- Zero Sum (#2), 2017 – second prequel, to be read before A Clean Kill in Tokyo
- A Clean Kill In Tokyo (#3), 2003
- A Lonely Resurrection (#4), 2004
- Winner Take All (#5), 2005
- Redemption Games ( #6), 2006
- Extremis (#7), 2007
- The Killer Ascendant (#8), 2008
- Paris Is A Bitch (#8.5), 2011
- The Detachment (#9), 2011
- The Killer Collective (#10), 2019
- The Chaos Kind (#11), 2021
Dox Series in Order of Publication
- Amok (#1), 2022
Ben Treven Series in Order of Publication
- Fault Line (#1), 2009
- Inside Out (#2), 2010
- The Detachment (#3), 2011
- The Killer Collective (#4), 2019
Livia Lone Series in Order of Publication
- Livia Lone (#1), 2016
- The Night Trade (#2), 2018
- The Killer Collective (#3), 2019
- All The Devils (#4), 2019
Novellas and Short Stories in Order of Publication
- The Lost Coast: A Larison Short Story, 2011
- Paris Is A Bitch: A Rain/Delilah Short Story, 2011
- The Khmer Kill: A Dox Short Story, 2012
- London Twist: A Delilah Novella, 2013
Standalone Novels in Order of Publication
- The God’s Eye View, 2016
Non-Fiction Books in Publication Order
- The Ass Is A Poor Receptacle For The Head, 2011
- Be the Monkey: Ebooks and Self-Publishing: A Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath, 2011
Barry Eisler Biography – About the Author

Born in the US in 1964, Barry Eisler graduated from Cornell Law School in 1989. He started working for the CIA right after graduation, where he spent time for three years in with the Directorate of Operations before leaving the agency to pursue other interests.
Next, Barry Eisler worked as a startup executive and technology lawyer in San Franciso Bay Area – Silicon Valley and then moved to Japan, where he earned his black belt at the Kodokan International Judo Center.
In 1993, while in Japan, Barry Eisler had an idea for a first novel with two men following a third down a local street in Shibuya. The more he thought about that image that came to him out of nowhere, the more he realized that those men must be assassins who were chasing the third one to kill him.
And the idea for his first book was born.
Barry Eisler always wanted to write. While in college, he took writing courses, and while attending school, he wrote a column for the school newspaper. Even as a kid, Barry would write stories about vampires and werewolves.
In high school, he took martial arts classes, a hobby he kept throughout his life. He also took karate, boxed, and learned judo. All this fighting knowledge Barry Eisler would incorporate into fighting scenes in his John Rain novels.

Barry Eisler wrote his debut novel, Rain Fall, in 2002, which was the start of his full-time writing career. This was the first book in the John Rain series.
The Barry Eisler novels have been translated into more than 20 languages all over the world, and they have won him the Barry Award and Gumshoe Award in the Best Thriller of the Year category.
In 2011, Barry Eisler turned out a major monetary advancement from St. Martin’s Press of half a million dollars and turned to self-publish his next novel. This moment was pretty defining in the indie publishing industry, which was struggling quite a lot at this point.
He also bought back the rights to his earlier novels and republished them with new titles under his own publishing name, basically becoming an indie author.
Barry Eisler’s books about John Rain will be at some point made into a mini-series titled Rain featuring Keanu Reeves (I think he is perfect for this role!). The status on IMDB is “still announced,” but hopefully it will happen at some point.
In Barry Eisler’s books, he poured a lot of his knowledge acquired from working with the CIA. Surveillance, counter-surveillance, black-ops, mystery, and spies were all part of his learning in his previous life when he worked at the National Clandestine Service, and they all feature in his John Rain novels.
To keep up to date with his research for the Barry Eisler books and to keep his skills sharp, Barry Eisler has been taking various courses over the years, including a grid-down survival course and a scape-and-evasion course.
John Rain is half American half Japanese. He was raised in two countries, the US and Japan, but who is not really acceptable in any of them. He is a “half-breed” who doesn’t feel at home in either of those countries. He is now a grown-up cynic who took his time in accepting himself for who he is.
Dox is the latest series by Barry Eisler, featuring Dox, who has been called home to Texas because his father, who was once imprisoned for domestic abuse, is now out for parole.
In terms of standalone novels, Barry Eisler has written one, The God’s Eye View. He also wrote several novellas in the interrelated series featuring John Rain, Dox, Delilah, and Larison.
Barry Eisler Awards and Nominations
Rain Storm:
- nominated for the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller in 2005
- nominated for the Barry Award for Best Thriller in 2004
- nominated for the Barry Award for Best Novel in 2007
- Fault Line reached Number 18 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list
I’ve enjoyed your novels and have read / bought (some several times) due to title changes. Now, I’m not sure what I have read. I’m 76 years old. The listing in chronological order may help.
Steven Hunter is also a favorite, I live near his home in Baltimore. His wife and daughter write for the Baltimore Sun.
Thank you,
Bob
will there be more Livia Lone books? And if so when? Have really enjoyed this series, so thank you