Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"[F]ans of high-tech military adventure...should be satisfied." Booklist
Review
"Chillingly Authentic. Terrifyingly true. In Outsourced, Raelynn Hillhouse creates something powerfully new a thriller infused with so many actual events that it feels like reality. To understand what's happening in our world, you need to read this book." David Morrell, The New York Times bestselling author of The Brotherhood of the Rose
Review
"Outsourced catapults the spy thriller into the twenty-first century. Her prose sparkles, and her plotting dazzles. Hillhouse writes with unusual authority and insider access. She's more than a rising star; she's going to go supernova." Joseph Finder, The New York Times bestselling author of Killer Instinct
Review
"Captures the spirit and grit of the men and women that go in harm's way as private citizens call them mercenaries or contractors." Frank Gallagher, Agent in Charge of Blackwater's security detail for Ambassador Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq
Synopsis
Intelligence, espionage, and even war as we know it has been transformed by the War on Terror. With the CIA on the ropes, the armed forces stretched thin, and the need for vital inside information and action at an all-time high, the United States government and its allies have turned to private organizations to carry the load. In companies like Blackwater USA and Triple Canopy, former high-ranking soldiers and specialists are finding that the services they can offer pays extremely well, and the pool of jobs is seemingly infinite.
Camille Black's Black Management is one of these private military corporations. With over 1,000 employees, Black Management is one of the smaller organizations. They have set up their headquarters in the volatile and opportunistic Middle East and find themselves competing heavily for a piece of the pie.
Camille is approached by the CIA for an extremely important mission. Her goal is to track down and eliminate a man accused of selling arms to terrorist cells throughout the Middle East. But her quarry is her ex-fiance, Hunter Smith. Battling her old feelings, but fueled by his disloyalty to both her and his country, Camille sets off into the shadows of the War on Terror to find him. Dodging death daily, her hunt takes her way beyond the frontlines, and the further she goes the more the lines between good and evil begin to blur, and Camille is not sure who to trust.
Thoroughly researched and as authentic as tomorrow's headlines, Outsourced is an edge-of-your seat thriller and a realistic look at how the business of the War on Terror is conducted by the private corporations, who profits most, and who is made to suffer.
About the Author
R J HILLHOUSE lived for over six years in Central and Eastern Europe and is fluent in several languages. She earned her Ph.D. in political science at the University of Michigan. A former professor and Fulbright fellow, Hillhouse has lectured at such institutions as Harvard, the Smithsonian and the Soviet Academy of Sciences.