"From exploited child to avenging Fury"
Reviewed by Clare O'Beara
Posted November 29, 2016
Thriller | Mystery | Suspense
Thriller writer Barry Eisler wrote a cracking story last
time out, with THE GOD'S EYE VIEW about surveillance
society. This time he has chosen a different hero, but
still he is on the side of someone disadvantaged and
alienated. LIVIA LONE is a motorbike riding cop today but
previously she was a small Thai girl who was snatched by
child traffickers, along with her little sister Nason. Her
story is told in alternating time period chapters. Seattle's police don't know why some violent serial rapists
are ending up dead. Livia does, but she's not telling her
bosses. Her concern is more for finding her vanished sister
Nason. Wherever that might take her. Building cases against
rapists and bullies, she works particularly on the cases of
abused children. Only if the justice system lets the
victims down does Livia take matters further. She has
developed into both heroine and anti-heroine. Then Homeland
Security decides to send someone about a joint task force.
Will this help or hinder the nemesis Livia has become? While boys and girls both are sold by the traffickers, we
stay with young Livia to learn the abuses carried out by
these vile men against helpless children. Smuggled out of
Thailand, brought to America in a container ship like
wholesale goods, the child vows to watch and learn anything
that might aid her. Some of the tale can be very
distressing. We can understand from this section, why the
grown-up Livia is so determined to stop the evil. I thought
she was lucky to be brought to America, because I have read
that enslaved Thai girls are forced to be house servants in
Saudi Arabia, with no rights. In America, the police are on
her side. But evil and exploitation are all around her. The trademark gadgetry and phone surveillance is on display
of course, as gang members carry disposable phones along
with personal phones and a gadget can identify both,
placing a criminal at a scene and tracking his movements.
But martial arts and dogged determination are much more to
the fore in LIVIA LONE which is planned to be the first in
a series also called 'Livia Lone'. Barry Eisler once again
appends some references and links at the back, so you can
learn the judo moves or check out the phone scanners. I
just hope you'll never need them. This kind of deadly
action should stay in the thrillers.
SUMMARY
Seattle PD sex-crimes detective Livia Lone knows the
monsters she hunts. Sold by her Thai parents along with her
little sister, Nason; marooned in America; abused by the men
who trafficked them…the only thing that kept Livia alive as
a teenager was her determination to find Nason. Livia has never stopped looking. And she copes with her
failure to protect her sister by doing everything she can to
put predators in prison. Or, when that fails, by putting them in the ground. But when a fresh lead offers new hope of finding Nason and
the men who trafficked them both, Livia will have to go
beyond just being a cop. Beyond even being a vigilante.
She’ll have to relive the horrors of the past. Take on one
of the most powerful men in the US government. And uncover a
conspiracy of almost unimaginable evil. In every way, it’s an unfair fight. But Livia has two
advantages: her unending love for Nason— And a lifelong lust for vengeance.
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