Author:  Jack O'Neill
ISBN: 1-59571-071-X

The following review was contributed by: Mary Simmons:  Writer, Journalist and budding Author: Click Here To Read Mary's Reviews

 
If you've ever asked yourself how far the government can go to listen in on
your phone calls and e-mails and if you are a fan of novels that keep you in
suspense and are full of intrigue, crime and passion, you will want to add
'Echelon: Somebody's Listening' by Jack O'Neill to your library of literary
thrillers.

O'Neill draws on his background as an electronic surveillance expert who
worked in the White House during the Carter and Reagan administrations to
create a novel that explores the U.S. government's eavesdropping systems.
The author says he hopes the book will give readers insight into these
systems and their impact on innocent citizens.

The book begins on 9/11 and then picks up six weeks later when CIA agent
Michael Stone is assigned to the FBI's Strategic Information Operations
Center (SIOC) at the heart of the war on terror. On his first day, he
receives a mysterious top-secret Echelon message and begins an investigation
into a global money laundering operation and a possible terrorist threat.
The book is informative, giving descriptions of SIOC, the Patriot Act,
In-Q-Tel - a CIA-controlled venture capital firm - and the surveillance
system which also serves as the title: Echelon. These are all real aspects
of intelligence-gathering currently used by U.S. agencies, which compete for
the upper hand in ongoing investigations.

It is this basis in reality that makes the book so chilling. As one is
reading, caught up in the story and the characters, it is hauntingly
realistic and easy to imagine as headline news. Although none of us want to
believe we will ever be caught up in the middle of such circumstances, there
are far too many people in this world who have been personally touched by
acts of terror and crime.

While O'Neill writes in such a way that the technology is used to eavesdrop
on potential terrorists and the people who have found themselves involved
through no fault of their own, it is also easy to imagine this technology
becoming an invasion of privacy, used by a power-hungry government to know
far too much about its citizens. O'Neill points out the usefulness of the
technology when it is utilized in a purposeful investigation by honest law
enforcement personnel who have decent motivations to do their job. The
debate continues into where these organizations need to draw the line and it
is one which should not be ignored.