The God's Eye View

By: Barry Eisler

Narrated by: Barry Eisler

Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

NSA director Theodore Anders has a simple goal: collect every phone call, email, and keystroke tapped on the Internet. He knows unlimited surveillance is the only way to keep America safe.

Evelyn Gallagher doesn't care much about any of that. She just wants to keep her head down and manage the NSA's camera network and facial recognition program so she can afford private school for her deaf son, Dash.

But when Evelyn discovers the existence of a program code-named God's Eye and connects it with the mysterious deaths of a string of journalists and whistle-blowers, her doubts put her and Dash in the crosshairs of a pair of government assassins: Delgado, a sadistic bomb maker and hacker, and Manus, a damaged giant of a man who until now has cared for nothing beyond protecting the director.

Within an elaborate game of political blackmail, terrorist provocations, and White House scheming, a global war is being fought - a war between those desperate to keep the state's darkest secrets and those intent on revealing them. A war that Evelyn will need all her espionage training and savvy to survive, because the director has the ultimate advantage: The God's Eye View.

©2016 Barry Eisler (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Good thriller, excellent audio

Though I have got mixed feelings about whistleblowers to whom the author dedicated his book, it would be difficult for me not to appreciate his talent in constructing the breath-taking story, full of the action twists, expressive episodes and characters. So, putting aside the author's intended 'ideological' message, I think it is an exemplary thriller of its kind, not worse than any of Barry Eisler's John Rain novels. Last but not least, I simply love listening to his audio narrative.

Author, heal thyself

The story itself was barely plausible but the reading made the experience excruciating. Mr. Eisler is a decent writer. I got this book because I enjoyed his John Rain stories. This, however, was not up to that standard and was made worse by Eisler's sophomoric reading. It probably would have been passable had he not attempted voices. They were beyond bad but did not reach the laughable sweet spot.

Conspiracy, torture and an assassin named Marvin

I’ve enjoyed the author’s John Rain and Livia Lone series and especially his ensemble books Killer Collective and Chaos Kind, featuring folks from all of his series. My favorite parts are the spycraft, assassins cadres, and crime thrillers. My least favorite part of his books is the over reliance on sex abuse. Here, there are multiple victims in the MCs and supporting characters. Although the child-victim elements from his Livia Lone series are thankfully absent, several of the acts include torture and are vividly described. I only wish he had written in humor and action to balance the dark, like every book involving Dox.

The dark sex abuse plot aside, I enjoyed this standalone book for its great (albeit at times not credible) “government is always watching” vibe. Another, slightly more random praise is for the author’s dedication to diverse characters. He has written compelling characters in wheelchairs or on the spectrum and delivers here a deaf man who is a force to be reckoned with. The female MC is a little more of a damsel than his usual lethal ladies, but she’s still got more depth than your average romance heroine. While not my favorite book by this author, it was nonetheless a solid listen for the price.

Characters' Eye Views

The title of Barry Eisler's technothriller refers to the NSA's omniscient monitoring systems (fictional, as far as we know, but plausible). But the beauty of his novel are the narrower views we get via each of the five main characters. Specifically, in addition to the one leading character you'd expect, the "good guy", we get a number of points of view from bad guys of varying stripes.

I can't get into detail without spoilers, but what we have is a spectrum of villainy that plays out in a number of different, interesting ways. I can't think of an example of another story that does this, a refreshing change from many of my recent reads/listens that consistently remind me of all the popular books they borrow from. I'm sure there are points of comparison, but nothing obvious comes to mind.

What makes this multi-villain POV work is that it allows Eisler to examine the concept of government surveillance from a number of different angles, presenting the arguments pro and con as well as points in between. The only problem is how the story resolves itself -- again, can't get into detail without spoilers, but the resolution is story-specific, it doesn't address the greater questions that have been raised.

Nevertheless, I was happy with the book overall, with its straightforward storytelling and with its topical mcguffin. Eisler does a good job narrating his own work, most notably using vocal inflections for one of the main characters that is reminiscent of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men.

Great plot and likeable characters. Poor narration

Everything was great except the narration. The narrator did a horrible job with the voice of the character who was deaf. The author went to great lengths to be accurate with his depiction of ASL and those who are deaf. Yet, the narrator made the deaf speech sound robotic and without any type of emotion/inflection.

Superb

Eisler’s writing is informed by his background, and in this book, his understanding of the intelligence community makes for a powerful, story.
His narration is as good as many voiceover professionals. Kudos!

Great Book

Great Book. In terms of current events its spot on. Perfect balance of mystery, suspense and action. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

great!

the story is engaging, the narrator has a pleasant voice, and the characters are interesting. I'll be buying morr books by this author

Entertaining, but with flaws

Would you listen to The God's Eye View again? Why?

This is generally a pretty decent book, especially if you are just looking to be entertained without spending too much time thinking about the merits of the story. It's fast-moving and, in the wake of Snowden, pretty timely, too. It does, however, have its flaws which a reader/listener would need to overlook: the plot is generic, the characters are pretty stock and, in a couple cases, utterly cliché, the violence is over-the-top at times and the bizarrely-graphic sex scenes, which were really just audio-pornography, were certainly written more for the writer's pleasure than the reader's. Having said that, I was able to overlook the flaws did enjoy listening to it

Kinda Scary Story, Sorta

Once again Barry Dialer spun another terrific story. This time a rogue National Security Advisor Chief was out to take over the world it seemed. He and his band of assassins went about making hey and taking liberty with the truth. The team was thwarted by an analysts who happen to pick up on inconsistencies with facts stated by the chief. The lead assassin was deaf and had been orphaned at a young age. He learned to fight and kill to stay alive. He was taken in by the NSA chief and trained to be an independent operative. The analysts son was also deaf, so when the assassin was tasked with watching her, it was a natural fit.The two became attracted to one another and started a relationship. When the Chief realized the analyst had gone rogue he did the unthinkable. The story had lots of the usual Dialer story drama. It was worth the listen