The Lost Coast

by Barry Eisler

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.

this story is intended for mature audiences, and contains depictions of sexual activity, though perhaps not in the way you're expecting. 6600 words (about 15 pages in paper). Download includes an excerpt from the new John Rain novel, The Detachment (available soon), featuring Larison, Rain, Dox, Treven, and others. Also includes a fun interview with novelist J.A. Konrath, a terrific writer, great friend, and the person most responsible for getting me to try a short story and to try indie publishing, as well. So if you have any complaints at all about the story, obviously the person to blame is Joe.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Short Stories, Action, Audiobook, Espionage

Nook

First published February 22, 2011

About the author

Barry Eisler spent three years in a covert position with the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, then worked as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan, earning his black belt at the Kodokan Judo Institute along the way. Eisler’s award-winning thrillers have been included in numerous “Best Of” lists, have been translated into nearly twenty languages, and include the #1 bestsellers Livia Lone, The Night Trade, and The Killer Collective. Eisler lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and, when he's not writing novels, blogs about national security and the media. www.barryeisler.com

Series:
* John Rain

Reviews

[Giovanni Gelati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey, I love hearing from everybody, but the emails on this one for me have been way off the scale. Barry Eisler goes rogue, self –publishes his own short story, goes a bit further than maybe he has with this character in the past, and then to complete the trifecta charges $2.99 for the digital short story. That my friend is where the rub lies for most of you, and I want to present my own caution in this matter. Think about what you are doing as a reader first with this. What do I mean? My opinion, and it is mine and mine alone, will be after I put in my two cents about the content of this digital short. Barry Eisler’s writing for me is intense, enjoyable consistent, and point on. The Lost Coast shocked me how far he went with it. Here is the synopsis:
“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.
Warning: this story is intended for mature audiences, and contains depictions of sexual activity, though perhaps not in the way you're expecting. 6600 words. Includes an excerpt from the new John Rain novel, The Detachment (available soon), featuring Larison, Rain, Dox, Treven, and the other characters you love. “
I was surprised, shocked and still a bit in contemplative mode on this one. Yes, I am still giving it five stars, the guy has a way with words that few do. He has descriptive ability that few possess. I felt I was in the woods, or walking through the small town, my finger constantly popping the button on the Kindle, the pages changing at a nasty pace. Then, boom. I am done. I had the same feeling when I was reading the Steve Berry short. Why? Maybe my mind is conditioned when I am reading Eisler that his novels are greater in length, and yet I know I downloaded a digital short. I am not going to figure that out, so I have given up on that one. I am going to have guessed that since this was self-published and not the usual publisher’s umbrella he was able to go a bit further, a bit more graphic with the plotline. Giving parts away is not my gig so you can relax. The warning is there for a reason, heed it. Now here is the rub, and my opinion, what about the price?
Pricing on ebooks in general is all over the place. Did I enjoy paying $2.99 for this? No, but then again I don’t like to download a pay per view movie for $3.99 or $4.99 when I know I should have Redboxed it for $.99. The author is a favorite of mine so I paid the premium, and yes, I am being honest in saying I bought it. I don’t get free books from everybody; I still even go to the library every week. I like the library. Back to my point: there has been some venom lately in leaving star counts and reviews when people feel that the price on a piece of work is too high. My thoughts, if you don’t buy it, don’t be a hater. Don’t leave a nasty one star or no star review because the “Big Six” or an author priced something in a fashion that was not to your liking. I love living in America; we can make choices.
Rock bands got hammered this summer because fans did not want to pay through the nose to see them. The market bears out- supply and demand. Don’t purchase- the price will eventually drop. If someone thinks their work is worthy of the price they can put it up for, let them and see what happens. Would this digital short story fly if it was priced at $.99? I am not an economist, just a reader. My thoughts are though, judge on what is produced if you purchase it, the true content and worth for what you purchased, not just the price. I have yet to see a gun coming out from a Kindle, aiming itself at someone and forcing them to click on a download. Be fair, be honest, don’t hate. Can we all just get along? Love and Peace to all, The G-Man
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[Jon]

I enjoyed the hell out of this short from Barry Eisler, though some reviews are negative because readers, clearly Eisler fans, were apparently "shocked" (dare say!) with the gay theme of the hit-man. I've never read anything by Eisler before, but this short seemed intriguing and the promise of a dark story with a bad-ass character seemed too much to pass up for just a few bucks. The story is kick-ass; a glimpse into the life of Larison but enough laid forth that I'd love to read more involving this character. I hope Eisler continues with Larison to expand further on his gayness and how that impacts his chosen profession. About time we had some gay, kick-ass black-ops heros!

[Barry Eisler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love writing this quiet but extremely dark and violent short story about my rogue operator, Larison.

[Joel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eisler is not a terrible writer. Visually he's both precise and thorough, allowing his readers to see a whole scene in short bursts of imagery. But he suffers from a handicap I've noted in the very few thrillers I've read. The drama he attempts in the penultimate and ultimate climaxes never quite measure up to the promise.

In this particular story, John Larison (a character from Eisler's previous tales I am unfamiliar with) drives up the Pacific coast to get away, having faked his own death. Restless in his hotel room, he goes to a bar, in which he picks up a college student, Seth. While he and Seth walk to the latter's car, a couple of thugs try to mug Larison (the student, it turns out, is the bait). Larison mutilates the two muggers and forces the Seth to drive him to a remote spot where Larison first rapes then abandons him. This is justified because the boy and the muggers attempted a bout of "fag beating".

Larison abandons Seth's car, hits the road, and, The End.

In a post-story interview Eisler explains he's "passionate about equal rights for gays. At some point, I was reading something about gay-bashing, and I had this idea... what if a few of these twisted, self-loathing shitbags picked the absolutely wrongest guy in the world to jump outside a bar?" It's also explained that Larison, in Eisler's other stories, is a bit of a dark hat, an anti-hero.

Regardless of these attempts at justification, or perhaps even because of them, the story is a porn piece, in both the gruesome violence and the violent sex. Eisler read something about violence against gays and took his anger out on gay-bashers on the page. He attempted to make bloody assault and rape laudable acts. One wonders where he thought he got off better than the gay-bashers he read about.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review from 21 January 2015: Daniel Larison is probably both Eisler's most compelling and most controversial character. I, at least, find him absolutely fascinating, so it's little wonder that I was thrilled to get a story focussing on him. Intense, dark and violent - exactly what one should expect from this character. Loved it, more please!

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is not even long enough to be a novella - it is a short story published on its own rather than as part of a collection. However, it features a tough guy and a tough subject in a fairly graphic brutal way and provides an insight of a character in two other Eisler novels

[ElaineY · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEW OF AUDIOBOOK FEBRUARY 28, 2016
Narrator: Barry Eisler

Just 40 minutes, no explicit sex, and despite some reviewers calling what Larison did 'rape', LGBT fiction and Romance fans, would more likely classified it as 'dub-con'. I leave it to you to decide whether Seth is as straight as he claims to be. Oh, and no anal sex. It was just a BJ - referred to, not described.

That said, this little short doesn't continue with Seth after Larison teaches him a lesson so erotica and LGBT fans will have to use our imagination - will Seth explore his closeted homosexuality? Will he even finally admit he is gay?

We are left with these question and by "we" I mean MM romance fans, not the mainstream fiction readers of Eisler's books who, if I'm not wrong, did not take to this story very well. I'm now curious as to who Larison is since I have not read any of Eisler's books. I did try the first John Rain but despite 2 attempts I couldn't get into it. I will try the 3rd book, Redemption, and hope that works.

[D.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't even know what to say.

This very dark short story is good proof of Eisler's talent because it left me so conflicted. If Larison had kicked the guy's ass, I would have clapped because he deserved it but the way Larison extracted payback felt so...wrong. At the same time...how was that worse than breaking his face, like he did the other two? Why am I totally OK with physical violence but not that other type? I confess that if I tried to con a badass like Larison and got discovered, I would totally prefer Larison's punishment than broken bones.

This was a great reminder though that Larison is very conflicted individual and that there are probably no lines in the sand for him.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

ebook This might be shocking and surprising to some, but where I live, SF Bay Area, has been turned into a present day Sodom/Gomorrah, mainly by people who migrated from places with better values. Just my opinion as a native over 70.
At the end of the book Eisler really gets excited about how much more money he can make by "self publishing". More power to you. But do you have to blatantly brag about it?

[Megan Diiorio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having not read anything with Larison prior, I could not have gotten a clearer introduction to a character than this!

[Jon Seals · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

This feels like an exercise or perhaps a chapter lifted from the previous book. Either way, there isn't much of story or character development. It's basically one night with Larison, who does a terrible job of laying low.

It was an entertaining short story, but you don't have to read it unless you're an Eisler completionist.

[The Cats’ Mother · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lost Coast is a short novella, published in 2011, about Larson, one of the minor characters from Eisler’s series books. I bought it on special a couple of years ago when I was working through the Livia Lone and Dox series, but hadn’t got around to it until I needed a few quick reads to reach my GoodReads challenge for the year. (Is that cheating? I don’t care.)

Larison is a man on the move, pursued by unknown enemies, and he takes suitable precautions to stay anonymous when he stops for the night in a small town on Northern California’s Lost Coast, but an inner restlessness takes him to a bar and his night takes a dangerous turn.

I love Eisler’s taut noirish thrillers, and usually like his conflicted anti-heroes and a good vigilante or revenge storyline, but the protagonist here takes things much further than can be justified and I was left feeling deeply uncomfortable by the end. Without wanting to spoil anything, would this have been considered okay if it involved a young woman? I don’t think so.

[Jonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished Inside Out and was eager to read this short story to learn more about Larison before I read The Detachment. It didn't add as much background on him as I had hoped, but it did definitely confirm that Larison is an anti-hero archetype who you don't want to make angry.

As noted by the author this short story is for mature audiences and I can imagine that some people will not like the storyline due to the violent sexual content. This is the first story in this series where the sex hasn't been consensual. That said Eisler does have talent in creating mental images that stay with you.

I would have liked a few more pages to provide more history on Larison, but maybe that will be in a future book. I did like the Q&A with Konrath after the story although I think the main reason for this short story was the promotion of digital publishing and to highlight the other books mentioned.

For me it was 3.5 stars. Someone who is squeamish about the content will rate lower. Since I am a fan of Eisler's writing style and his characters, and I am not offput by the topics in this short story, I rounded up to 4 stars.

[Myrna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not happy with Lost Coast. I think Mr. Eisler wanted to make a statement about "Gay Bashing" and did not accomplish much. His anger about groups of people who lure in gay men (or women) for the purpose of beating them up and/or raping them overflowed to make the story egregiously violent. So what does this prove? Gay bashers may need extensive anger management by realizing that when harm is brought against gays because they are gay it does not make the situation better. The same can be said for the treatment of the gay "lure", who is definitely going to need some counseling. If Larison is so against gay bashers then why does he proceed to rape the gay kid in the story who really didn't have much choice since his part was forced by the two gay bashers with him. Too short of a story to deal with a setup like this. All that happened was everybody got beat up or raped except Larison and he is apparently gay, so why does he think it's all right to bash the gay kid? Leaves more questions than answers and motives.

[Friscomama · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lost Coast is a short story, and provides a taste of Eisler's writing. There are threats everywhere. Must be vigilant, always being aware of any possible threats in the environment. The small-time bad guys recognize from seeing his face that he was no one to challenge. Must always be armed with weapons and back-up weapons, very well trained in martial arts, not only to protect ones self, but also to leave attackers with significant injury and disfigurement. There are a few hints about the protagonist's past.
Eisler has a large following. As this is written, his ranking in "Most Popular Authors in Kindle eBooks" is #2.

To this reviewer, the hints of the protagonist's past and the stress of his constant vigilance do not justify the amount of violence and cruelty details.

[Taryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lost Coast

While I’m conflicted about the ending of this short story, it was a great story. It was sexy, terrifying, and unexpected. Barry Eisler is not afraid to blow past expectations and boundaries, and that’s what I love about his writing. My interpretation is that it’s designed to make the reader think a little more and accept a little less about what’s “normal” by giving direct examples of the irony of the world, showing the discrepancy between the bubble-wrapped world we’d all prefer to see and the actual world where bad things do happen.

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very short, short story in the John Rain series that focuses on a new anti-hero. He's a closet gay character with serious anger and PSD issues. He was introduced in a series of spin-offs from the Rain series and is a departure of sorts in his violent and gay personality. This character is hard to root for and the introduction of a violent gay sex scene in this story is a first for Eisler. I'm a big fan of the John Rain series, but this character is not for my taste.

[Nancy Silk · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A Tense Short Story"

In this very short story, Larison is living off the grid in small town Arcata, in northern California. However, there are three locals who feel Lorison would make a great target for a twisted sport. This novella may not be for everyone as it contains explicit sexual activity. Interestingly, the author claims this is not a novel, but a short story ... and it's quite shocking.

[Bryan Mcquirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story about one of the peripheral characters in the John Rain novels. Eisler does an excellent job of describing the rugged Northern California coast, and its little towns.
The plot is a bit convoluted. Larison is a very experienced operative who knows anonymity is his key to survival, so this way out of character for him, and it does not really flesh out his character as one might hope a one off novel would do.

[Dan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Dr. Pj Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK

Ok but pointless. Larison arrives in a small quiet town. In a local bar he picks up a young man and follows him out to his car. Two thugs were waiting for them with the intention of beating Larison up. The kid had set him up. Larison deals with all of them and leaves town immediately.

[Mikal Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Barry Eisler's writing and characters. While the subject matter and the ending of this novella is controversial, it fits in with the nature of the character and is a good addition to the "John Rain Universe".

[Tony Rampling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool Larimer novella!!

[Dana Bissonette · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasted a dollar and 15 minutes of my life reading this. I want them back.

Barry must have had a dark moment to write this, and a drug episode to release it to the public.

[Mylinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story, dark and different from the usual Rain series.

[P R · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is no John Rain.

[L.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larison short story. Stuffed with other things like interviews and previews of other books.

[Herman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea. Eisler's writing style as always is excellent but the content was not something I enjoyed.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gritty. Goes from entertaining to violence in about 60 seconds. But it's Eisler, and I expected it.

[Melanie Sorensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brutal short story. Can’t say much more without giving it away, but much to question about writing the character this way.