Livia Lone is a novel about child sex trafficking.

Barry Eisler obviously spent a lot of time researching his subject matter for Livia Lone, which is great. The time and effort he put into a book about such a serious issue is impressive, and he’s not shy about telling his readers about his research sources at the end. It’s probably the greatest strength of Livia Lone as a story.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about his characters that populate that story.

It was difficult sympathizing with the character of Livia Lone after a certain point. She wasn’t believable as a female protagonist and ended up being an unconvincing Mary Sue character by the end. Outside of her need to find her sister, she has no weaknesses or vulnerabilities, and there’s nothing she can’t do: she’s the protector, the smartest, the toughest, the best fighter, expert in martial arts, expert in knives, expert in firearms. Plus, don’t forget, she’s of course super-hot and can get sex whenever she wants it (but only in the way she likes it, she’s always in control). And if any guy thinks about getting rough with her, she’ll kill him and get away with it.

Livia’s character would’ve been more believable if she was as grounded as Eisler’s research. While the novel had a satisfying ending, she had become almost as much of a freak as the men she was hunting.

Eisler’s characters in Livia Lone can basically be summarized as follows:

1 – Livia is a victim, but is so strong, so capable, so tough, such a fierce fighter, so great at martial arts, such a dedicated cop, so committed to bringing the guilty to justice, etc., etc., etc.

2 – Straight, white men are evil. They are either bullies, monsters, rapists, or potential rapists.

3 – Women are kind, compassionate, and filled with understanding (except for white women).

It’s very black and white to the point that it feels deliberate, agenda-driven, and unbelievable. The characterizations don’t bring the story down completely, but hinder it enough that I often found myself laughing out loud, eye-rolling, or face-palming while reading through it.

I don’t know if I will read the other books in the series. Maybe on a sale, someday I will grab the sequels, but after hearing so many good things about Barry Eisler’s novels, my first foray was disappointing.