As much as I loved Livia Lone, I couldn't say the same thing for The Night Trade. There was too much going on and even once I finished, I wasn't sure who was who on Dox's side of the story. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE Livia/Labee and her story. And I did really enjoy Dox himself. But his portions of the book were a hot mess of characters and plot lines and I had a really hard time keeping it all straight. I can't see what's next for Livia and Dox.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Barry Eisler does not disappoin with the continued new lead character, Livia Lone. He maintains a high standard of thriller writing, as ever supported by his detailed knowledge and research.

I’ve read many books by Barry Eisler over the years. He was once my favorite author. The main character in most of the books I read was John Rain, an assassin who righted wrongs perpetrated by Japanese crime bosses. One of the characters introduced in that series was Dox, a former Marine sniper who became Rain’s accomplice and closest friend.

In ‘The Night Trade’, Dox is the familiar character working with Kanezaki, his CIA contact. Kanezaky was also introduced in the ‘John Rain’ book series and was also a friend of Rains. Dox and Kanezaki are in pursuit of a Taiwanese human trafficker. But Dox soon discovered that another skilled assassin was also pursuing that same criminal. It’s that other assassin, Livia Lone, who is introduced and who is the main character in this book.

Lone, a Seattle detective, has a hidden personal agenda. She and her sister came to this country as child sex slaves. Fortunately, she was able to escape and was taken in by a Seattle family. Her sister was not and was ultimately killed. Throughout her education, Lone excelled in criminal law studies and became highly proficient in the martial arts. These early successes led her to be a top rate detective and a highly successful crime case solver.

Lone kept to herself the personal goal of punishing all the people involved in her and her sister’s childhood abduction. Reaching for the top of the criminal trafficking pyramid led her to Taiwan where she bumped into Dox who was chasing the same guy. They succeeded in capturing him and Livia administered her justice on the leader of the Taiwanese trafficking syndicate.

I think that we’ll be seeing more of Livia Lone in future Barry Eisler books. She is a strong, yet flawed character and this makes her appealing. Her crime-solving and martial arts skills will make interesting future vigilante adventures.

I love anything and everything written by Barry Eisler, and this book is no different! It is always nice when familiar characters are brought back to build a series or follow up story.

Requires knowledge of eisler’s other book characters. I appreciate the strong female character, but Livia seems unhinged and careless. Would have liked more hand to hand combat vs. over abundance of gun fire.

I couldn’t put this action packed thriller down! Livia Lone is such a compelling character. I can’t wait to read the next book!

OMGosh! Barry Eisler you did it again!! Livia Lone is at it again in this dark and twisted novel. Livia is one of the best Sex Crimes detectives Seattle has ever had. But it's her past as a victim herself that has driven her to be so successful solving these crimes. When she is approached by a multi-governmental agency to help break a trafficking ring coming from Thailand, she takes full advantage of it. This will give her a chance to find and get revenge on the men that had a hand in her sisters Nason's death, as well as the abuse the two suffered after being sold by their parents.

Enter Dox, a former Marine Sniper and mercenary that is looking for some of the same people as Livia. Livia is a lone wolf but quickly comes to realize that two hunters are better than one and the two begin working together. They have no idea how deep their mark is buried in the politics of not only Thailand but of the US as well. This leads to some significant challenges as the two try and hunt him down. This is a very dark, psychological thriller that will keep you turning the pages, but be warned, this not a novel for the weak of heart! It covers some very dark and heart-breaking topics!

This story is so full of dark twists and turns that it cannot help but leave you thinking about it days after. Kudos Mr. Eisler, you did it again! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC for a fair and honest review.

For Seattle PD sex-crimes detective Livia Lone, an invitation to join a federal government anti-trafficking task force gives her a chance to return to Thailand to find the men responsible for the kidnapping of her and her younger sister Nason from Thailand to the USA. The trail leads Livia to kingpin Rithisak Sorm. But after a planned takedown in at a glitzy nightclub goes wrong, Livia finds she is not the only one hunting Sorm. Former marine sniper Dox has a score to settle with Sorm and they decide that working together is the best solution. But Livia and Dox don't expect that they are being watched and manipulated by the highest levels of America’s own intelligence apparatus.

This was a thrilling read with an intriguingly, wounded protagonist in Livia.

I received an eARC via Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

The Night Trade is the second book in the Livia Lone Series. Although this is the second book in the series, I was able to read this as a stand-alone and I didn't feel lost or confused while reading. Livia Lone is a woman on a mission. After suffering great losses, she has been given the opportunity to seek revenge on those that have wronged her. Through a twisted tale of sex trafficking, action, and suspense, Livia lives and breathes to take down her enemies and will stop at nothing until they are all dead and underground. Livia teams up with another "hunter" named Dox. The two gather their forces in order to take down their enemies.

Overall, The Night Trade offers a twisted plot with action, suspense, and revenge. Despite the non-stop action, I found the pacing of the read to be a bit slow for me as I wanted more of a connection between Livia and Dox. Although there was some physical intimacy shared between the two, I would have liked more development of their relationship. Livia is a strong heroine and her mission for revenge will certainly appeal to readers who enjoy action and suspense. One thing is for certain, Livia Lone's journey is certain to continue. With all of the evil in the world, someone must fight to wipe out the evil of this world.

A most satisfying follow up to Livia Lone, with great interaction with a old beloved character from the the Rain novels. Not only a great thriller, the novel also provides a great insight into very dark topics.

A supporting actor in Barry Eisler' s extensive backlist of novels featuring antihero and assassin John Rain, free lance sniper Dox (short for unorthodox) gets featured billing in his The Night Trade, this second outing for Seattle Police detective Livia Lone. The two highly unlikely but very likeable protagonists hunt the human trafficker who abducted Livia from her village in Thailand years earlier and in the interim had become southeast Asia's biggest criminal, operating with the assistance of the corrupt government officials who share the profits from his operations and keep him from the international authorities who've been trying to outwit him at his double game and put him on trial. Readers familiar with Eisler' s oeuvre will be familiar with many of those who fill in both Fox and Livia' s backstory, but even those sampling his work for the first time in his newest thriller will enjoy this fast-paced, suitably violent and occasionally tender thriller.

Gee my fourth thriller already this year. Maybe I am getting jaded, but this one didn’t engage me as much as the competition. This includes last year’s great entry from Eisler, "Zero Sum", which featured his fascinating hero of nine books, John Rain, usually set in Japan. Here we get the second entry with new lead character, Livia, a kickass Seattle investigator particularly effective against human trafficking. Like Salander and so many other sexy but tough heroines these days, she has a particular obsession with retribution against personal traumas from the past and similar perpetrators in the present. In her case, she was sold as a young teen with her sister by her rural Thai parents into a sexual slavery network in Bangkok; she escaped and got adopted in America but failed to protect her sister. The reader is egged on the mentally cross the line with her into vigilante justice. When the Department of Homeland Security asks to borrow her for operations against a trafficker in Thailand, she jumps at the opportunity to track down and dispose of her old nemeses.

In parallel and soon merging with her story, we get the perspective of an associate of John Rain, Vox, who is an operative for the CIA working a case in Thailand. His case officer puts him on the wrong target for a hit, and he ends up having to avert an attempt on his own life . Given this disastrous sign of corruption up the command chain, he must take matters into his own hands, tapping into a secret channel of intelligence from an old partner of his and Rain’s over the years named Kanesaki. They begin to suspect machinations of the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) in order to protect a Thai military strongman employed by them as a spy named Sorm. In attempting a personal raid to breach his lair and capture him, Vox finds himself in a trap. Fortunately, for him Livia is at hand to help save him. By extreme coincidence she is after Sorm at exactly the same time because his likely role in her trafficking long ago and key position in a current network. This makes for an entertaining beginning of their alignment, but too implausible to imbibe without a groan.

Vox and Livia make for a colorful duo with scintillating sexual chemistry, he with his folksy Texas persona and she with her terse, impulsive coolness and damaged soul. I suppose it’s all well and good to educate the public about human traffickers and the evils behind child abuse networks, but the plot made the enemies too monstrous and thrived on unleashing atavistic thrills over violent retribution. I’d say Vachss does a better service with his Burke avenger taking action against individual child abusers explored in their depths.

This book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program.

Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Night Trade. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Livia Lone is back in this continuation of the series surrounding one of my favorite new characters to date. Livia is a Seattle PD sex crimes detective with a harrowing past. Having been trafficked out of her native Thailand as a child, along with her sister, Livia has a score to settle with all of those who have a hand in the trade. Given the opportunity to go back to Thailand, Livia ends up with an unexpected ally. Will her desire for vigilante justice overwhelm Livia's inner feelings for self preservation? Will Livia be able to exorcise her demons once and for all?

Author Barry Eisler has kept up the intensity from the first book, with The Night Trade continuing Livia's story, but has included a character from the author's other series of books. I have not read the John Rain series, but I did not feel as though I was missing anything regarding Dox. I liked the character, however, and will be looking to read that other series in the near future. The author has successfully married the plot and the characterization, giving a story with a good flow and exciting action sequences. It is my hope that there are more Livia Lone books to come, as I am a big fan of the character. Livia is tough, determined, and not willing to compromise in her quest to avenge her sister. Although it is not strictly necessary to read the series in order, I definitely recommend that readers start from the beginning. Those who like spy thrillers, as well as suspense, will enjoy The Night Trade.

Immediately after finishing 2016's Livia Lone, I immediately wanted, no, needed, more of this character. Thankfully, Livia is back for a second round, and The Night Trade proves to be just as rich and compulsively readable as Lone's debut. And much like the first entry, I'm immediately left wanting more.

Picking up a few months after the prior novel's finale, Livia is offered a spot on an anti-trafficking taskforce. She uses this position to ferret out leads on the men who abducted her, and her sister, Nason, as children for use in sex trafficking. Armed with the names of these men, she returns to Thailand, intent on dismantling the trafficking ring responsible for her and Nason's abuse.

Operating his own leads in Thailand is Dox, short for unorthodox, which speaks to his methods as an operator, and a recurring fan-favorite in Eisler's long-running John Rain series. Dox is on the hunt for Rithisak Sorm, a former Khmer Rouge soldier renowned for his torture tactics of sexual abuse, as well as human trafficking.

Needless to say, Dox's and Livia's parallel investigations eventually converge, and while sparks fly the relationship that emerges between these two killers is remarkably tender and fascinating. Dox and Livia are polar opposites, and their differences highlight their commonalities, while also giving us some fresh insight into Livia's nature. Through Dox's point of view, we get to see certain facets of Livia that we've been previously denied, and her characterization grows all the deeper because of it. She's a tough, no-holds-barred, tragically flawed heroine, but we get a better sense of just how fragile she is through her interactions with the boisterous, loud-mouthed Texan. Eisler does a wonderful job bringing them together, and opening up Livia's world a bit more with the angles of international intrigue and governmental subterfuge that have been the hallmarks of his John Rain series.

In only two novels, Livia Lone has become my favorite character in the entirety of Eisler's body of work, and, mind you, he has created some fantastic characters. So much of her is broken, some hastily glued back together, and she never stops fighting, against either her own personal inner demons and the demons that would seek to shatter and destroy others like her. She's a remarkable vigilante, and I'm eager to see what other aspects of her character Eisler is able to uncover for us in future novels.

Livia Lone, the first in a series featuring the titular character, was my favorite mystery of 2017. I've been looking forward to The Night Trade since I finished Livia Lone. I loved Livia Lone so much that I also wanted to read Eisler's other books, and I read the first in his John Rain series, A Clean Kill in Tokyo, earlier this month. I knew from the blurb that Livia returns to Thaiand in this book, and I managed to wait until I was in Thailand to read it.



The Night Trade picks up shortly after Livia Lone, and, as should be expected, there are tons of spoilers from the first book. It's clear this series is not one that can be read out of order. Livia Lone is a critical foundation for both the characters and story of Livia. Eisler recaps the highlights well in The Night Trade in case you've forgotten, but there's no substitute for reading the book itself.



What I wansn't expecting in The Night Trade was Dox, a character from the Rain books. I didn't encounter Dox in A Clean Kill in Tokyo, so I'm not sure when he enters (and exits?) the series. Because I haven't yet read the Rain books, it's hard to tell how much of Dox's back story and references to things Rain has done will serve as spoilers. Having characters crossover is one of my favorite things about Michael Connelly's books, and I'm choosing to believe getting to know (and, yes, love) Dox in The Night Trade will make me excited to encounter him in the Rain books.



Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Night Trade. It's an immensely satisfying novel. It builds on Livia Lone, both in plot and character, beautifully. It feels like a continuation of Livia Lone in many ways, and not simply because it's the second in a series. In some ways, it feels as though the two books could be a single volume, and it left me immensely intriuged to see where Eisler takes Livia (and Dox) next. The Night Trade doesn't pull as many surprises as Livia Lone, but as a novel, it's an incredibly satisfying read and once again left me eagerly anticipating Livia's next appearance.

I loved the first Livia Lone book. This one, not so much.

"The Night Trade" picks up where "Livia Lone" leaves off, with Livia, a Seattle PD sex crimes investigator, going back to her native Thailand to track down the men who raped and trafficked her and her sister Nason to the U.S. over fifteen years before. She learns of a notorious trafficker named Sorm and teams up with a former Marine sniper, Dox, to track him down. Eventually, Dox and Livia form an unlikely friendship, a rare instance for Livia.

It took forever for this book to get going. 20% of the way in, it seemed that Livia's journey to Thailand hadn't even really started yet. Also a bit boring was Dox's narration, interpersed throughout the book. The technical details of his mission briefs with his superior and talk about targets and CIA and intel went completely over my head. The chase for Sorm seemed to go on forever, a bit too long for my taste. At 80% I was more than tempted to simply put this book down and never pick it up again. While I did finish this, I just don't think this book was as good as the first Livia Lone book.

The Night Trade by Barry Eisler is a sequel to 2016’s Livia Lone, which feature Seattle sex-crimes police detective Livia Lone. This latest work from Eisler starts two months after the events of Livia Lone and directly follow up what happened in the first novel, so definitely don’t read these out of order.

The Night Trade is another dive into the dark world of human trafficking with Livia continuing her personal crusade to rid the world of everyone responsible for her sister and her being sold as sex slaves when they were children. This novel differed greatly from the first novel in that it features almost entirely in the present, where the first novel explored the trauma that Livia experienced throughout her childhood that led her to becoming a detective. The Night Trade doesn’t really get going until nearly the halfway point of the novel. The first half features a lot of setup about who the bad players are and some background about the people who are going to take them down, but there isn’t much action. Definitely the weakest part of this novel is the first third where the author feels it’s necessary to reiterate, many times, the events of the first novel. Because this novel depends on the reader knowing the events of the first book, there is value to giving a refresher, but it was not done in an interesting way and the events were reiterated way too many times. The second half is where this novel starts to shine and Eisler shows his skill of writing intense action sequences.

Overall, this is a strong second showing for Livia Lone that starts off a bit slow, but finishes with flourishes of intense action.

*I received a free copy through NetGalley.

The Night Trade is about Livia Lone attempting to exercise her demons due to human trafficking. She's on a mission to find everyone connected with what happened to her and her eleven year old sister. This is a popular subject that's not easy to deal with but Barry Eisler deal a great job making this very entertaining.

I really enjoyed this book. New author to me, but one I have wanted to read for a long time. Great plot and writing. Would read more.

I’m a big fan of the author’s John Rain series and I also really enjoyed the first Livia Lone book, in which we were introduced to this new, intriguing character. I must point out that it’s necessary to read the first book prior to picking this one up as it’s a direct follow-on and an understanding of previous events is a prerequisite. So what of this book? Well, the plot sees Livia, now a sex crimes detective in Seattle, approached by a government agent with a view to joining an initiative to combat sex trafficking in Thailand. Without giving too much away, Livia has some personal history of this particular trade involving not only herself but also her younger sister. She’s reluctant to go all in on the back of this offer but does decide to dip her toe in the water. In truth, she’s on her own agenda here.

In the first book I really warmed to Livia - she’d survived an appalling ordeal which had shaped who she became thereafter. She is strong, determined and (now) skilled at looking after herself. In this book her character is developed further as she meets up with a man readers of the Rain series will certainly recognise – ex-military sniper Dox. It’s fascinating to see how the extravagantly outgoing Texan forges a relationship with the introverted and ultra-careful (at least when it comes to relationships) Livia.

Once we’re passed the set-up the action is pretty relentless. Livia and Dox take no prisoners as they search out their prey, but they have to be careful. They are being fed information from their government sources and it seems that things don’t quite line up. As a result, problems occur – could it be one of them (or maybe both of them) is being played?

My only issue with this book is that to swallow the plot the reader is called upon to accept a ridiculous coincidence that occurs early on. I just couldn’t get past this, it felt clumsy and so obviously unrealistic. Thereafter, the story just lost credibility for me. There is also a good deal of reliance on technology in the pair’s quest to track down the key players in the sex trafficking ring. Although the author goes to great length in his ‘notes’ to explain how use of the devices used may be theoretically possible (if not now then certainly in the future), I didn’t really buy it.

In summary, I don’t think this second outing is as strong as the first Livia Lone book – though I know that some others will strongly disagree with this view. It’s certainly got the pace and action that Eisler fans will appreciate and in Livia he’s developed another complex character to rival that of John Rain. And Eisler has left a loose end or two open to allow further development of the Livia Lone story. Will she, at some point meet up with John Rain? Now that would be interesting! We’ll have to see, but I do know there’s enough in these first two books to bring me back again.