Licensed to thrill
MENLO PARK, Calif. — Barry Eisler had pedaled his bicycle to the crowded Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park, arriving shortly before the lunchtime rush. The chic outdoor cafe is one of several public places where he likes to sit undisturbed and anonymous, pecking away on his laptop, fleshing out another best-selling thriller.
"Psychologically, it helps me to be someplace where nobody knows where to find me," he said. "I also like libraries and coffee shops. They're quiet, solitary, and nobody knows what I'm doing."
Eisler is a novelist who's licensed to thrill. A certain degree of stealth is part of his persona ("Sorry to be so paranoid") and a theme that runs through his six-book series featuring assassin-for-hire John Rain.
It's also in his more recent second series, starring black-ops military assassin Ben Treven. "Inside Out" is the second title in that series (the first book was "Fault Line").
Eisler, 46, is a former technology attorney who parlayed his three years as a covert CIA operative into novels filled with action, intrigue, world travel and politics. Also front and center is his expertise in martial arts, firearms and electronics.
We sat at a quiet table in a far corner of the Cafe Borrone patio.
Just what was his job in the CIA?
"I never saw an assassination or a coup, so I wouldn't describe myself as having been there and done that," he said, hedging a little. "I took training and served domestically, never at a post overseas.
"I came away (from the CIA) with a healthy respect for the way operators look at the world, the way living that life affects a person's outlook and behavior. All these things are reflected in my books."
The CIA weaves in and out of his story lines, but not in the most positive ways.
"You can't spend three years in a government institution without gaining insight into just how inept the bureaucracy can be, despite the presence of some outstanding individuals," he said. "The CIA, the post office, the DMV — they're all subject to the same laws of bureaucratic inertia. I do draw on that, as well as bureaucratic infighting, siloing — where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing — and professional jealousy among the intelligence organizations."
"Inside Out" is loosely based on true events. In it, a rogue agent is blackmailing the federal government with stolen videotapes of CIA torture sessions. His price: $100 million in uncut diamonds. Ben Treven's mission: Find the agent and recover the tapes. The twist: Other groups are also interested in the tapes.
