Inside Out: A Novel [Hardcover]

Barry Eisler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 29, 2010

Torture.
Ghost detainees.
And a massive cover-up that continues even today.
 
This is the propulsive thriller that only former CIA operative turned bestselling novelist Barry Eisler could write.
 
Marooned in a Manila jail after a bar fight fatality, black ops soldier Ben Treven gets a visit from his former commander, Colonel Scott Horton, who explains the price of Ben’s release: Find and eliminate Daniel Larison, a rogue operator from Ben’s unit who has stolen ninety-two torture tapes from the CIA and is using them to blackmail the U.S. government.

But other players are after the tapes, too, and to find Larison, Ben will have to survive CIA hit teams, Blackwater mercenaries, and the long reach of the White House. He’ll also have to find a way to handle Paula Lanier, a smart, sexy FBI agent who has her own reasons for wanting the tapes and is determined to get them before Ben does. With the stakes this high, everyone has an angle—everyone but Ben, who will have to find the right alliance if he wants to stay alive.
 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Barry Eisler on Inside Out

Black ops soldier Ben Treven is back, and I have to tell you, I love what he’s been up to.

What really fires me up about Inside Out--apart from the characters, the action, and (naturally) the sex--is the timeliness and relevance of the story. The ninety-two interrogation videos the CIA confessed last year to destroying, and which form the foundation for the book’s plot, are back in the news now, as independent prosecutor John Durham concludes his two-year obstruction of justice investigation. And the other subjects at the heart of Inside Out--torture, ghost detainees, renditions, the real nature of America’s Establishment--continue to be the most profound and controversial political issues of the day.

Various interviewers have asked me, "Do you really believe in the ‘oligarchy’ you write about?" It’s a strange question, suggesting as it does that the oligarchy is in the same category as, say, the Loch Ness Monster or UFOs. In fact, as one of the characters in the book explains, “The oligarchy is right out in the open. It’s just a collection of people in business, politics, the military, and the media who recognize their interests are better served by cooperation than they would be by competition.” MIT professor and former IMF Chief Economist Simon Johnson has written about the oligarchy in the Atlantic; Matt Taibbi has written about it in Rolling Stone. After Enron, the subprime meltdown and bailout, the lax oversight of BP that led to the Gulf oil spill--to name just a few--you’d have to be in fairly significant denial not to notice the oligarchy’s insidious presence, if only by its disastrous effects.

I’ve never written a book that so perfectly synthesizes my interests as a thriller writer and my concerns as a political blogger, or one that draws so heavily not just on my obsession with current events but on my background as a CIA intelligence officer. More than anything else, Inside Out is a reality-based thriller--as demonstrated by the list of sources and the bibliography I include at the end. Its emotional impact doesn’t derive from Jack Bauer fantasies, but rather from real people caught up in the real political machinations of the day. For me, the most gripping thrillers are always the ones that hew most closely to reality, the ones that leave you feeling, Good God, this could really be happening! That’s the kind of book I set out to write with Inside Out, and the kind of experience I think it delivers. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

---

From Publishers Weekly

Eisler's rock-solid sequel to Fault Line finds black ops spy/assassin Ben Treven dealing with anger management problems that have landed him in a grim Filipino jail. To the rescue is his old boss, Col. Scott Hort Horton, chief of Ben's secret unit, the absurdly blandly named Intelligence Support Activity. Hort tried to have Ben killed in the last book, but no matter—in exchange for his release, Ben must hunt down fellow agent Daniel Larison, a rogue who's demanding $100 million worth of uncut diamonds in exchange for 92 secret tapes showing extreme torture, instigated and sanctioned by the office of the U.S. vice president. Caught in this rapidly escalating disaster are various high-level government officials, all of whom are willing to do whatever it takes to keep the tapes from being revealed. The open ending promises to unite Ben with Eisler's other series hero, John Rain, a matchup that should prove to be thriller gold for anxiously awaiting readers. 10-city author tour. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (June 29, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345505107
• ISBN-13: 978-0345505101
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #365,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More 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. The first book in Eisler's assassin John Rain series, Rain Fall, is now a minor motion picture (kidding, it's reasonably major) starring Gary Oldman. To learn more, please visit www.barryeisler.com. Or Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting Return of Eisler's Character, Ben Treven, May 8, 2010

By 

Gregg Eldred (Avon Lake, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside Out: A Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

In 2007, operatives working out of the Vice-president of the United States' office were informed that there were ninety-two missing videotapes. Those tapes documented the extreme torture of ghost detainees, individuals captured and whisked away to secret prisons, people who simply disappeared. Waterboarding, while documented on the tapes, was not the worst thing that happened to the ghost detainees. Ulrich, the lead operative, crafts a plausible story to spin to the media, which allows everyone else to sigh in relief.

Two years later, someone surfaces, contacts one of the operatives, and tells him that he is in possession of the ninety-two videotapes. He will release them to the world's media in five days if he is not paid $100 million in small, uncut diamonds.

In a Manila jail, Ben Treven is awaiting his fate for the killing of an Australian sailor. Ben was a member of an elite squad of men who "fixed" problems. He was hand picked for the squad because of his skills in stealth, observation and tactics, and use of deadly force. Waiting out his days, he is visited by his old commander, Colonel "Hort" Horton, who has a proposition; find and detain the person that is blackmailing the United States government. There are not many clues, however Hort believes that a dead man has the tapes, a person who died in an explosion in Pakistan in 2007.

Treven wants out of the jail, but he also wants a measure of revenge from Hort, who tried to kill him, his brother, and a female lawyer when an advanced encryption software program was being readied for market. Treven accepts the offer.

It isn't long until Ben discovers that he isn't the only person looking for the tapes or the blackmailer; the FBI and CIA are on the case as well. The CIA is willing to kill in order to recover the tapes. Ben's unique skills as a military assassin will be tested if he is to be the first to the finish line.

Barry Eisler has published another excellent novel that focuses on a character, Ben Treven, whom he introduced in his 2009 novel, Fault Line. Inside Out propels Ben to the forefront; you learn more about him, his training, his background, and the skills that make him so effective and deadly. Should you be unfamiliar with Fault Line, do not worry, Eisler provides a few references, but they are not necessary to the story line of Inside Out. What you will become familiar with in this novel are some of the darkest secrets of government. While Eisler has crafted an excellent thriller, it isn't until you reach the Sources and Bibliography that you realize that he has scripted a fictional account of real events.

That is not all, however. Eisler works some other ideas into the novel, ones that will make you reconsider what you think you hear, what you think you know. For a work of fiction, it is startling in its depth of research, as presented by the bibliography. Further, Eisler worked another of his characters, John Rain, into Inside Out, which bodes well for regular readers of his novels. The future is bright for Eisler's fans and those that like thrilling action, well defined characterization, believable dialog, and thought provoking story lines.

Disclosure:
Obtained from: Amazon Vine Review Program
Payment: Free

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Finish a damm story !, January 29, 2011

By 

E. Cosgrove (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside Out: A Novel (Fault Line) (Kindle Edition)

Mr. Eisler, you have now joined my exasperation club of authors that don't finish a story within a novel.

I don't have a problem with characters continuing from book to book . . . but, please, I beg of you, find a way to end your plot within each novel, or you're going to be deleted from my buy list.

33 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Eisler's best - too political, not enough story, June 10, 2010

By 

GameMaker (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Inside Out: A Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I've really enjoyed Eisler's John Rain books, but this one is a pretty far departure from those (unfortunately). The biggest problem I have with this book is that it comes off as mainly a political rant against torture of war criminals/terrorists. It seems like there are a zillion references in the book to Abu Gharib(sp?), and the book spends much of its time with stupid politicians discussing political coverup strategies (yawn).
Then at the end of the book, we are "treated" to the mother-of-all rants, where he discussed (through one of his borderline crazy characters) the role of government, corporations, etc.

The other thing about this book is that it has no third act at all! None! It establishes the characters, presents the conflict, and them boom, the book ends with nothing really resolved from the first two acts. You can't help feeling kind of cheated at the end. It seems like Eisler mainly just wanted to rant a bit about an issue he felt important, rather than trying to entertain us with a coherent story.