I just finished "Fault Line", the Barry Eisler thriller set in Silicon Valley that I discussed in my March 21st blog post. Unfortunately I can't recommend it. It's way below the standards of his prior six novels, all of which featured John Rain, the Japanese/American assassin specializing in deaths made to look natural.
"Fault Line" is a mess. Eisler beats the underlying estranged brothers theme to death - to the point where I just skipped whole paragraphs. Same with the Iranian/Amercian Silicon Valley female lawyer who must be a link to terrorists because her name is Hosseini" stereotype. Hello Barry, remember our President's middle name? The electorate got over that one a lot faster than your character Ben. At the same time the underlying plot of bad guys trying to get their hands on the only copies of an encryption software program and killing anyone in their way falls completely apart when you find out who the protagonists are ....
Eisler is a fun and engaging writer who misfires badly here. Bring back Rain!
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