History Literature / JohnRain

-->'''Hilger:''' People used to say the System was broken if it could only respond to a crisis. Now we've got a System that can't even respond ''to'' a crisis.

** In ''The Killer Ascendant'', Hilger kidnaps Dox and uses him as leverage to force Rain to kill three people. Rain quickly works out that one or two of the three targets is nonexistent. Rain himself is the intended victim, as Hilger has no intention of having [[TheDreaded Rain]] come after him once the job is done.

* DisproportionateRetribution: After Rain breaks up with Delilah, he runs across a loud-mouthed JerkAss who annoyed him earlier and shoves the man's mobile phone between his teeth, proving that you can [[LiteralMetaphor fit a square peg in a round hole]] if you shove hard enough.

* PowerOfTrust: Invoked by Rain when he suspects (accurately) that Daniel Larison is planning to kill them and keep all the diamonds for himself. Knowing they are NotSoDifferent and aware of how his own viewpoint changed due to Dox's actions, [[KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand he hands Larison a silenced Glock]] and gives him the option of either leaving with his share of the diamonds, or accompanying them to stop a terrorist atrocity. Larison (who was expecting to get shot on the spot) is too stunned to say much, but does end up going with them.

** In ''The Detachment'', [[spoiler:Horton hires Rain, Dox, Treven and Larison to forestall TheCoup which he claims is being plotted by senior American officials. As with Hilger, the third 'target' is a set-up.]]

* ManipulativeBastard: Tatsu, which Rain calls him on.

* SmugSnake: Colonel Horton in ''The Detachment''.

* [[IHaveYourWife I Have Your Friend]]: In ''Requiem for an Assassin'', Hilger kidnaps Dox to force Rain to carry out several hits for him. Of course both sides know that Hilger can't afford to let either of them live, because they'd come after him for revenge.

* IWorkAlone: Averted; Rain would ''prefer'' to work alone, but it's just not practical or even safe. Mossad agent Boaz tells Rain that no-one works alone any more, and Rain is the only operator he knows [[TooDumbToLive who still insists on doing so]].

** Dox cries after being rescued by Rain JustInTime after days of confinement and torture.

** In ''The Killer Ascendant'', Hilger kidnaps Dox and uses him as leverage to force Rain to kill three people. However the third target doesn't exist -- Rain himself is the intended victim, as Hilger has no intention of having [[TheDreaded Rain]] come after him once the job is done.

* BadassIsraeli: Mossad agent and Rain's sometime lover Delilah.

* ItsWhatIWouldDo: Rain whenever TheHunterBecomesTheHunted.
* IWorkAlone: Averted; Rain would ''prefer'' to work alone, but it's just not practical or even safe. Mossad agent Boaz tells Rain that no-one works alone any more, and Rain is the only operator he knows who still insists on doing so.

* JustAStupidAccent: Rain exaggerates his Japanese accent when working in the United States, knowing people will pigeonhole him as a harmless Japanese businessman.

* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Averted; Rain ''has'' killed people who aren't his principle targets or even soldiers working for them. In ''Extremis'' he has Dox snipe the valets outside a nightclub just because he can't afford to take them chance of them alerting someone inside, and he was rushing to protect Delilah at the time. Even the principle targets have sometimes done nothing wrong -- Midori's father was working to expose corruption, for instance. In ''The Killer Ascendant'', Rain has no trouble carrying out a contract on an innocent man that Hilger wants dead, if it saves Dox's life.

* AssassinsAreAlwaysBetrayed: In ''A Clean Kill In Tokyo'', Rain discovers that [[spoiler:he's been working all along for his CIA nemesis from UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.]]