Book Talk: Barry Eisler says CIA training helps his writing

NEW YORK May 29 (Reuters Life!) - Life as a covert CIA operator might sound glamorous and sexy but for Barry Eisler a career as a writer is much more satisfying.

Eisler, 43, has just released "Requiem for an Assassin," his sixth novel in the award-winning thriller series about John Rain, the half-American, half-Japanese freelance assassin who specializes in death by "natural causes."

The California-based writer says he work draws heavily on his three years in a covert position with the CIA's Directorate of Operations when he was trained in the full range of spy skills -- arms, explosives, hand-to-hand combat, air drops, surveillance and agent recruitment.

Eisler spoke to Reuters about his shift to a desk and his main character, John Rain:

Q: It's the sixth John Rain novel. Is his end in sight?

A: "Every time I start one of these books I think it will be the last but as I am writing the story I get an idea for another. I have given up saying it is the last one. He began as a loner, an amoral, ruthless killer, but as the books progressed he's developed attachments and even questions the kind of life he lives."

Q: How much of John Rain is you?

A: "I wouldn't say he is me but there are overlaps. There has to be. He is more experienced than I am and these experiences have left a bitter, cynical persona. He is smarter than I am. But superficially we have similarities - we are both into judo, martial arts, and like single malt whiskey."

Q: You kept your CIA career quiet for a long time. Why did you finally decide to break your cover?

A: "I wish there was some exotic story but it was just a marketing decision. My publisher, Putnam, had an idea of what I had done and said it would be great to talk about that, to establish credibility. I applied for a change of status from covert to overt and when that came though I was free to tell people what I had done."

Q: Are the skills you acquired in the CIA key to your writing?

A: "I'd say so. If I had to identify a single thing that defines my brand it would be realism."

Q: When did you start writing fulltime?

A: "It was in 2001. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Coming out of law school my first job was with the U.S. government, then a 600 attorney private law firm, then I joined a start-up company Silicon Valley as the fourth employee. Now I work for myself."

Q: You write a book a year. Do you write every day?

A: "One of the things very few writers realize going into the business is that there is so much promotion you have to do. It is a business and you want to be as commercially successful as possible. In the spring I start by writing an outline to my new book then there is a tour for my last book then I take a break. In the fall and the winter I get down to writing."

Q: Isn't life behind a desk a bit tame compared to life as a covert operator?

A: "Maybe the grass is always greener. There is a lot that is sexy and enticing about the secret world but when you are involved in that kind of world you are working for a massive bureaucracy - the U.S. government. People think of it as James Bond but it is really a big plodding bureaucracy and if you have an entrepreneurial instinct you can find it very frustrating. I am really glad I had the experience and it has been great for my writing because I can create a much more realistic operation. I have a better understanding of the way that the government functions -- or misfunctions."