Julie's Review: Fault Line

Summary:In Silicon Valley, the eccentric inventor of a new encryption application is murdered in an apparent drug deal. In Istanbul, a cynical undercover operator receives a frantic call from his estranged brother, a patent lawyer who believes he is the next victim. And on the sun-drenched slopes of Sand Hill Road, Silicon Valley's nerve center of money and technology, old family hurts sting anew as two brothers who share nothing but blood and bitterness wage a desperate battle against a faceless enemy. Alex Treven has sacrificed everything to achieve his sole ambition: making partner in his high-tech law firm. But then the inventor of a technology Alex is banking on is murdered... and the patent examiner who reviewed it dies... and Alex himself narrowly escapes an attack in his own home. Off balance, out of ideas, and running out of time, he knows the one person who can help him is the last person he'd ever ask: his brother. Ben Treven is a Military Liaison Element, an elite undercover soldier paid to "find, fix, and finish" high-value targets in America's Global War on Terror. Disenchanted with what he sees as America's culture of denial and decadence, Ben lives his detached life in the shadows because the black ops world is all he really knows—and because other than Alex, who he hasn't spoken to since their mother died, his family is long gone.
But blood is thicker than water, and when he receives Alex's frantic call, Ben hurries to San Francisco to help him. Only then does Alex reveal that there's another player who knows of the technology: Sarah Hosseini, a young Iranian-American lawyer who Alex has long secretly desired... and who Ben immediately distrusts. As these three radically different people struggle to identify the forces attempting to silence them, Ben and Alex are forced to examine the events that drove them apart—even as Sarah's presence, and her own secret wants, deepens the fault line between them. A full-throttle thriller that is both emotionally and politically charged, Fault Line centers on a conspiracy that has spun out of the shadows and into the streets of America, a conspiracy that can be stopped only by three people—three people with different worldviews, different grievances, different motives. To survive the forces arrayed against them, they'll first have to survive each other. ~amazon.com

Review: As Jenn said "it's a grabber" but that's a good thing when talking about a book. Fault Line is most definitely a CIA thriller but it has a little of everything. We meet Alex Treven when he's waiting for the most important client of his career to arrive for a meeting. Little does Alex know but we do, that client isn't showing up. This starts Alex on a whirlwind adventure that he really doesn't want to experience. He realizes he's in too deep and can't handle the situation, he contacts the one person he doesn't want to, his big brother Ben. Next we meet Ben while he's on a mission and one that he executes well but not without its mistakes.

There is some serious family baggage between these two and definite some misunderstandings. It's not the family drama that I enjoyed in this book but the CIA/Covert Ops. With Mr. Eisler's background I have a feeling that this book is pretty real. I'm thinking that Conspiracy theorist would love this book. At times, the technology part was over my head but I did get the general gist.

I enjoyed Mr. Eisler's writing style. I liked how we saw Ben change even if it was just a bit. I like how he pretty much called all of us out on our prejudices based on culture/race. I'm sure we've all had the thoughts that Ben did in the book, even when we know they are wrong.

As an American citizen/patriot, I think there are definitely things that the general public shouldn't know. There are things that keep us safe and we are better off not knowing how they are accomplished.

I will most definitely be reading Barry Eisler again. I hope to see both the Treven brother's back in action and wouldn't mind seeing Sarah Hosseini again.

Final Take: 4.25/5

Jenn's Review: Fault Line