The Lost Coast -- A Larison Short Story [Kindle Edition]

Barry Eisler (Author)

Book Description

For Larison, a man off the grid and on the run, the sleepy northern California town of Arcata, gateway to the state's fabled Lost Coast, seems like a perfect place to disappear for a while. But Arcata isn't nearly as sleepy as it seems, and when three locals decide Larison would make a perfect target for their twisted sport, Larison exacts a lifetime of vengeance in one explosive evening.

Includes an interview with novelist J.A. Konrath.

Warning: this story is intended for mature audiences, and contains depictions of sexual activity, though perhaps not in the way you're expecting. It's approximately 6600 words -- the equivalent of about 25 paper pages. It is a short story, not a novel.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

I get a lot of questions about when these short stories take place among the various novels I've written.  The short answer is, it doesn't really matter -- everything I write is designed to be read as a standalone story.  But for anyone who's still concerned about mapping out a timeline, The Lost Coast takes place sometime before the events of Inside Out.  Enjoy.

About the Author

Barry Eisler spent three years in a covert position with the CIA, then worked as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan, earning his black belt at the Kodokan International Judo Center along the way. Eisler's bestselling thrillers have won the Barry Award and the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller of the Year, have been included in numerous "Best Of" lists, and have been translated into nearly twenty languages. To learn more, please visit barryeisler.com. Or Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter.

Product Details

• File Size: 199 KB
• Print Length: 32 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Barry Eisler; 2 edition (February 22, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004P1IXQ8
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,405 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Short Story? Why Do I Want To Read A Short Story? February 26, 2011

By Bill C. Berger

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

"A short story?" You ask, "Why do I want to read a short story?" First, it's Larison. He's nasty. He's conflicted. He's not somebody you'd want to have a beer with, but what a character for a thriller.

Second, nobody crafts a thriller like Barry Eisler, except maybe Daniel Silva and few others. Every sentence drives the action. Nothing is wasted. Nonstop tension and drama. If you don't like the story itself, but you're interested in what makes a good story, get this, dissect it, and you've got the formula, not at all easy to replicate, but excellently executed by Eisler in the Lost Coast.

Third, hey, it's $2.99. You haven't got $2.99 to pitch in towards Eisler's experiment at self-publishing? Eisler is the author of not one but many international bestsellers. At a time when the literary market is going through a wrenching transition, Eisler is out there, experimenting with this new venue, self-publishing the Lost Coast through Amazon and other outlets. $2.99 gets you a story, an exciting hour or two, a lesson in what makes a great thriller, and you help fund a continuing experiment that may well help the publishing industry find its legs in this new marketplace.

Mostly though you want to read this story because Eisler's next novel isn't on the shelves yet, and yeah, nasty as he is, it's fun -- if just in fiction or perhaps especially only in fiction -- to see Larison dish out some rough justice. Ok maybe a little too rough for some, maybe a little too rough for me, but the fact that Eisler brings Larison to life to the point where the reader even thinks that, tells you something about his craft as an author.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Helps fill the empty spot. February 27, 2011

By Cheryl Delano

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am not a fan of short stories, but I am a big fan of Barry Eisler,and this story helps fill that empty hollow as I wait for the next book.
Larison is a wonderful character from INSIDE OUT, deep and intriguing. It is not necessary to have read the book to appreciate the story, however. Barry's ability to create this episode in the character's life stands by itself. His writing style will pull you in from the beginning.
Included you will find an interview with J. A. Konrath (surprise) the King of E-publishing and also a brief excerpt from Barry's next novel THE DETACHMENT which will bring together Ben Treven and John Rain. I will probably have to read this many times before it is finally published. :-)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Violence ahead. August 29, 2011

By Brandy N. Hunt

Format:Kindle Edition

Every wish the story on the news was that the gay bashers got bashed. Well, here you go. Violent and bloody, with consent issues. Don't read if graphic violence or rape squick you.

More About the Author

A Note On The New Titles

Why have I changed the titles of the Rain books? Simply because I've never thought the titles were right for the stories. The right title matters--if only because the wrong one has the same effect as an inappropriate frame around an otherwise beautiful painting. Not only does the painting not look good in the wrong frame; it will sell for less, as well. And if you're the artist behind the painting, having to see it in the wrong frame, and having to live with the suboptimal commercial results, is aggravating.

The sad story of the original Rain titles began with the moniker Rain Fall for the first in the series. It was a silly play on the protagonist's name, and led to an unfortunate and unimaginative sequence of similar such meaningless, interchangeable titles: Hard Rain, Rain Storm, Killing Rain (the British titles were better, but still not right: Blood from Blood for #2; Choke Point for #3; One Last Kill for #4). By the fifth book, I was desperate for something different, and persuaded my publisher to go with The Last Assassin, instead. In general, I think The Last Assassin is a good title, but in fairness it really has nothing to do with the story in the fifth book beyond the fact that there's an assassin in it. But it was better than more of Rain This and Rain That. The good news is, the fifth book did very well indeed; the bad news is, the book's success persuaded my publisher that assassin was a magic word and that what we needed now was to use the word assassin in every title. And so my publisher told me that although they didn't care for my proposed title for the sixth book--The Killer Ascendant--they were pleased to have come up with something far better. The sixth book, they told me proudly, would be known as The Quiet Assassin.

I tried to explain that while not quite as redundant as, say, The Deadly Assassin or The Lethal Assassin, a title suggesting an assassin might be notable for his quietness was at best uninteresting (as opposed to, say, Margret Atwood's The Blind Assassin, which immediately engages the mind because of the connection of two seemingly contradictory qualities). The publisher was adamant. I told them that if they really were hell-bent on using assassin in a title that otherwise had nothing to do with the book, couldn't we at least call the book The Da Vinci Assassin, or The Sudoku Assassin? In the end, we compromised on Requiem for an Assassin, a title I think would be good for some other book but is unrelated to the one I wrote--beyond, again, the bare fact of the presence of an assassin in the story.

Now that I have my rights back and no longer have to make ridiculous compromises about these matters, I've given the books the titles I always wanted them to have--titles that actually have something to do with the stories, that capture some essential aspect of the stories, and that act as both vessel and amplifier for what's most meaningful in the stories. For me, it's like seeing these books for the first time in the frames they always deserved. It's exciting, satisfying, and even liberating. Have a look yourself and I hope you'll enjoy them.

*********************

Barry Eisler spent three years in a covert position with the CIA, then worked as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan, earning his black belt at the Kodokan International Judo Center along the way. Eisler's bestselling thrillers have won the Barry Award and the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller of the Year, have been included in numerous "Best Of" lists, and have been translated into nearly twenty languages. To learn more, please visit www.barryeisler.com. Or Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

(What's this?)

#49 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure

#69 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure

#98 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers

#49 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure

#69 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure

#98 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers