Outsourced

by R.J. Hillhouse

In the 21st Century war and espionage have been transformed. With the CIA on the ropes, the armed forces stretched thin, and the need for special operations capabilities at an all-time high, the United States government has turned to private corporations to help shoulder the load. Companies such as Blackwater USA, Triple Canopy and Abraxas field over 50,000 private soldiers and spies who conduct missions formerly restricted to the military and the CIA. National security has been outsourced .

In Outsourced Camille Black, a former CIA counterterrorism officer, has left the Agency to create Black Management, a private corporation that specializes in providing former Special Forces operators and CIA case officers for covert operations. Active in the volatile Middle East, it competes heavily in the cutthroat counterterrorism business.

One day, the CIA contracts Camille to track down and eliminate her ex-fiancé Hunter Stone, a Pentagon spy accused of selling arms to terrorist cells. Battling her old feelings, but fueled by Stone's disloyalty to both his country and to her, Camille slips into the shadows of the War on Terror to track him down. Dodging death with each step, she finds herself in the crossfire of the Pentagon and the CIA, where good and evil blur and trust is bought and sold.

Outsourced exposes the headlines of tomorrow. Impeccably researched and masterfully crafted, Outsourced is an edge-of-your seat thriller with a rare glimpse behind the scenes into how private corporations conduct and profit from the multi-billion dollar War on Terror.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published May 25, 2007

Reviews

[Jim Paprocki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knew that a para-military espionage government conspiracy thriller could be so dripping in melodramatic teen-like testosterone-driven angst?

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look inside ( mostly fictional) military contracting companies. Cool stuff, fun ride, great detail. It was just barely gritty enough. I loved the equipment detail. Funny that it follows the formula for a classic romance novel in its subplot, just with an odd mutation. See, Explanation at the bottom. I found it a hard book to put down and actually thought about it when I did. Good sign, right?

Warning on heavy language, violent content, graphic segments, adult topics.

Explanation:

Classic formula: Boy meets girl. Girl has a secret. Girl keeps secret from boy as they fall in love. Boy finds out and they part in anger. Fate forces them back together. Boy returns, problems resolve, and they declare undying love for each other. Sigh.

SPOILER ALERT: This book: Boy is engaged to girl, fakes his death. Keeps big secrets. Girl tries to kill boy. Boy escapes. Girl discovers truth behind boy's big secrets, realizes she made a terrible mistake. Girl risks everything to save boy. Girl saves boy, gets captured, then boy saves girl. They declare conditional love for each other and end up in Hawaii. Ok, ok. So it's not that close, but it felt awfully familiar.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A covert operation thriller. Most of these books are formulaic to a fault but this one is better than average and a wonderful escape. A good break from my usual eclectic routine. I categorize books like this as "candy". Good fun. Oh, and having just completed the book, let me add that the writer, RJ Hillhouse, has experience as an "operative" and sheds a lot of light on the dark and unhealthy nature of American intelligence and the fractious relationships between the various US intelligence agencies. Obama and team have theri work cut out for them. I'm reminded (again) of Pogo's observation: "We have met the enemy and he is us". You "Old-timers" will know what this means.

[Jeremiah Genest · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a lot of trouble with this book. More in the tradition of Clancy (with all the gun talk) then the spyfi I tend to favor. The quotes on the top of each chapter are fun but since I've read so much on the corporate outsourcing of national defense its not groundbreaking. It never got beyond nover formulaistic action, with the damsels and the rape and the sex and the big explosions. I was hoping for something a lot more hard hitting about the privtazaition of national security.

Graham Greene or LeCarre this is not. Though if you like Clancy this will probably resonate.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The basis of this book was a good one. Tell, through fictional characters, the truth of the War on Terror and its reliance on a corporate and outsourced army. I feel like the author wanted to write an expose of the dangers and pitfalls that have come because we are no longer running our own war, but paying billions of dollars for someone to do it for us. However, even though I'm sure a lot of that is true, for a fictional book, it was a little heavy handed. The actual story dragged because of the details that were funneled in along the way.

[Martin Streetman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had several things I really liked in it. First it had a quote that I perceived as real before every chapter (86) about the subject matter. Second it brought up an idea that I liked, that US forces captured OBL years ago and just used him to disrupt the future of AL Qaeda. Third it had a female protagonist, which was unusual in a book about contract soldiers and outsourcing of military and security.

[Chris]

"Ripped from the headlines" thriller from the "Spy who billed me" blogger, dealing with the growth of military contracting 200-2007. Plot keeps you reading, many details based on real-life reporting. The romance sub-plot line didn't do much for me, but it was a nice summer read that deals with some interesting, and often frightening, issues in 21st century warfare.

[Andrea Fife · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Although this is fiction, it was such an eye-opener into the Iraq War and the outsourcing of America's military. It is pretty violent and there is some vulgar language, but the author only uses strong words when he needs to.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

If i wasn't listening to this while working, I probably wouldn't have gotten through it. It's an interesting topic, but I didn't find it particularly well written & I didn't really care for any of the characters.

[Björn Pisano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book. Very catchy, well structured, absolutely precise in terms of ballistic and weapons; but I didn't like the end: without spoilering, I will just say that - FOR ME - this is the typical American paranoia.

[Nisar Masoom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average. It could have been better depicted as a movie or TV miniseries. The characters are interesting but majority of the events are predictable. The ending and epilogue make for the best parts in the book. All in all, this novel is a complete piece of time-pass.

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my opinion, the overall theme was never fully realized. It read like a boilerplate spy-romance with extra gun talk. I found the chapter quotes and afterword were the best part of the book.

[Gregory Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read at the request of my brother. Interesting in exploring the contract warrior and how the face of war is changing in the 21st century. Not an excellent book, but interesting in content.

[Saul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better then I expected! Makes you go, hmmm!

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting fun CIA adventure.