Fault Line [Mass Market Paperback]

I have to start up by saying that I am a huge fun of Barry Eisler. I have greatly enjoyed all six of his Jack Rain novels (highly recommended to anyone!) so my expectations were high even though I knew this was to be a break from that story arc. Having said that, I have to confess that I found FAULT LINE to be a disappointment.

Alex is in trouble. He is a lawyer and his client's software under patent seems to have triggered a murderous spree and the list includes his name. Conveniently, his older brother, Ben, is a CIA wet-works operator that has just completed a semi-successful op in Istanbul. Although estranged and barely on speaking terms (not to mention unaware of his brother's true occupation!), Ben is the one Alex calls when it hits the fan. And even if suspension-of-disbelief requirements were not high enough, here come yet another couple of things that gum up this novel from working.

First off, the brothers' back story: it seems to drag on and on forever. We are well past the middle of the book when the narration of events from that fateful night is finally completed. And the switching of perspectives from one brother to the other, not something I would try again. It only manages to add excessive emotional details to an action novel, and without really strengthening anyone's motivation. I suspect that, this being the first book of the new Ben Traven series, it had to suffer a little in the heavy background department; nevertheless, it could had been done more subtly and concisely.

Secondly, there is no such thing as an action novel/political treatise hybrid - and when attempted it simply does not work. Barry's political observations (although accurate and valid) cannot be supported in an action novel.
I doubt that any young Iranian lawyer under mortal threat would vent her liberalism on the only man standing between her and her killers because ...she found his employment actions unsanctioned and unconstitutional (even if they clearly are). And any such intelligence professional would had walked away from such a thankless task long before he had to reload his Glock 27.

Whenever there is a tactical situation or an action sequence, that is where Barry Eisler's strengths shine. He is one of the few contemporary writers that can choreograph a close combat scene so beautifully and then describe it in a way that puts you in the thick of it, leaving you looking for bruises on your body and blood spays on your clothes when it is over. Unfortunately, this is not a book that brings out his talents enough.

As someone disillusioned from both the trapping of modern "democracy" and the pseudo-fight between the left and the right, Barry seems to be blossoming into an excellent anarchist. Unfortunately, such insights belong more to a political Blog than an action novel.

I love Barry Eisler's works. I just did not love this one.

Fault Line is obivously Barry Eisler's attempt to stretch himself as an author. As well as being a thriller it is also the story of two brothers and their dysfunctional relationship, with the latter seemingly more important to the author than the somewhat slight conspiracy that drives the plot.

Unfortunately whilst Barry Eisler can do action and thrills, as proven by his series of novels featuring John Rain, who gets namechecked in Fault Line but doesn't appear, when it comes to portraying realistic human relationships he has a tin-ear. None of the interpersonal relationships on display, be it that of the two brothers Alex and Ben Treven or the love triangle involving the two of them and the predictably beautiful Sarah Hosseini, feel remotely real or believable either in their conception or how they play out over the course of the book. Issues between individuals that are apparently deep seated, intractable and have developed over years are resolved in the course of one quick conversation (begging the question as to why they didn't have it when their lives weren't in immediate danger) and other conflicts feel forced and there only to provide added 'drama' to an already over melodramatic set-up.

When all this unrealistic and overheated human drama is combined with clunky dialogue and some cliched plotting, including the obligatory love-hate relationship that leads to lustful sex in almost indecently quick time, then what you end up with is a book that is more soap-opera than thriller. In fact the thriller elements not only have to play second fiddle to the tiresome melodrama on display, they're also pretty weak themselves, utlising that tired and hackneyed plot device of a computer encryption programme that unknown bad guys want to get their hands on so they can possibly do bad things. Its a plot that has been around for years and Eisler doesn't manage to do anything fresh or original with it here. Even the resolution has been used by numerous other books and movies.

Add in the fact that the three principle characters constant bickering and fighting irritates and infuriates to the point where you actually start wishing the bad guys would succeed in killing them and you have novel that fails on almost every level. Its only redeeming feature to be honest, is some punchy action sequences that are come along far too infrequently and are often interspersed with some horribly clunky, self-indulgent internal-monologues from one character or another.

The weakest elements of Eisler's Rain novels were the emotional development, relationships and motivations of the characters, but they got away with this by having great plots, lightning pace and superb action. Fault Line has none of the latter and so the weaknesses are thrust front and centre. All I can hope is that now the author has gotten his desire to stretch himself out of his system he get's back to doing what he does best.

Having read Eisler's John Rain tales, a new set of characters was always going to be a hard sell. Even allowing for that, the story lacks cohesion and the fluid prose of his earlier works.

This stand alone story follows the tale of two brothers, one the stay at home, admin type with the expected baggage, the other a flawed intelligence agent and their involvement with the same woman as they attempt to unravel a conspiracy.

Avoid. Stick with his assassin stories. They are superior in every way.