Barry Eisler, whose latest novel is “The Killer Collective,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.
The author of fifteen novels in the thriller genre, plus short stories and essays, Barry Eisler is an attorney who spent three years working in the CIA before realizing he did not want a career in a government bureaucracy. Most of his novels feature a mixed race Asian/Caucasian assassin named Rain. Two other characters, a black ops specialist named Ben Treven and a Seattle detective named Livia Lone, also appear in various books. All three characters come together in “The Killer Collective,” which examines a government cover-up in the Secret Service, and outsourcing involving a mercenary army similar to Erik Prince’s company (formerly known as Blackwater).
In this interview, Barry Eisler discusses his career as a writer, secrecy in government, how he builds his novels, along with his use of technological extrapolation, which often pans out in real life.