Livia Lone

A Livia Lone Novel, Book 1

By: Barry Eisler

Narrated by: Barry Eisler

“An absolutely first-rate thriller.”—New York Times Book Review

Seattle PD sex-crimes detective Livia Lone knows the monsters she hunts. Sold by her Thai parents along with her little sister, Nason; abused by the men who trafficked them; marooned in America...the only thing that kept Livia alive as a teenager was her determination to find Nason.

Livia has never stopped looking. And she copes with her failure to protect her sister by doing everything she can to put predators in prison.

Or, when that fails, by putting them in the ground.

But when a fresh lead offers new hope of finding Nason and the men who trafficked them both, Livia will have to go beyond just being a cop. Beyond even being a vigilante. She’ll have to relive the horrors of the past. Take on one of the most powerful men in the US government. And uncover a conspiracy of almost unimaginable evil.

In every way, it’s an unfair fight. But Livia has two advantages: her unending love for Nason—

And a lifelong lust for vengeance.

©2016 Barry Eisler (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Author Barry Eisler narrates his own work with the skill of a professional voice actor.... He never strains credulity as Livia transitions from child victim to confident woman and avenging angel for the abused. Livia's male abusers—especially her stepfather—practically hiss with vileness, like coiled snakes. When young Livia learns jujutsu and starts fighting back, listeners will share her visceral catharsis and newfound empowerment." (AudioFile)

One of the best revenge novels out there

I love revenge stories. This is one of the best out there with a satisfying ending that ties everything together. Having read Eisler's Rain novels, I already knew he was an author I liked. But Livia Lone is even better.
His use of forensics, psychology, fire arms expertise, martial arts is masterful. It all rolls along as part of the story, not clunky sermons for tech geeks.
I am now downloading his latest novel and am eager to see how he brings all of his series together. If you aren't aware of Eisler yet, you now have a bunch of great options to download for a while.

Raw, traumatic, powerful, vindicating

It should be obvious from the summary, but this is a dark, triggering topic. It’s more visceral than the Dexter TV episodes with Lumen or the abuse scenes in GoT. But, it’s also better written to portray the horrors of trafficking stories in a taught, emotionally wracking past/present format that is also cathartic and empowering. While I prefer the author’s other series for a better ratio of killer thrillers to action and humor, I feel like this trilogy has a deeper impact on my life.

This book powerfully invests the listener with awareness, empathy, and vigilance over real life parallels.
I appreciate that not all the men were bad and not all the women were victims. Having some connection to those real life victims, I find the author’s treatment respectful, even when raw, perhaps especially then. Part of me thinks the author should have asked a woman to narrate this; part of me thinks a woman narrator would have taken me past my threshold, feeling too real. This left me battered but far from broken. I am better having experienced the strength and resilience of damaged Livia.

Gripping

Can't put it down. It may a mass market book, but it's very good. Narration is also very good

Grim, moving, empowering

Parts of this book were hard to stomach. The author is unflinching in the depiction of the horrors of child abuse & trafficking.

Livia is a strong, likable, relatable anti-hero and I found my self doing mental fist pumps when she dealt to her abusers. Some people simply don’t deserve to live.

The writing is tight & jumping between then/now never confused the story. The narration was excellent.

always love his stories,

always love his narration. I think I might like to know the author.
Barry does a great job with changing voices/ characters. l

excellent story and performance.

great listen, but harrowing. hoping for a sequel. Livia is a strong female character. I want to hear more about her.

Captivating and thrilling book!

I couldn't wait to find out what happened. Great read! it's too bad things like this continue to happen but I'm glad there are vigilantes who are making a difference.

Heartbreaking, and exciting!

The story evolves as it regresess the main character to heartbreaking memories, and it takes you to the painful experience,of gruesome violence, rape and secret lives of its characters. The story takes you to the evolving character that thirst for painful justice , culminating with guilt and pleasure!

Very dark and disturbing story...

This story by Barry Eisler is a brutal portrayal of abuse, rape, and human trafficking. I have never felt physically ill when listening to a fictional story, until now. I guess that can be considered a good thing and a bad thing; it all depends on the reader's preference.

WOW!

I loved it. I tend to avoid books with this topic, but it was so good. Some sections were hard to get through and I had to pause the book before moving on. I could not help myself but cheer Livia on, though I did not always agree with her methods.