In Stephen King I trust.
Each May in Entertainment Weekly magazine, King gives 10 suggestions for summer reading. From this I was referred to Ken Bruen and Robert Goddard, those 2 UK mystery writers I have recently gushed over. From Kings’ list this time, I chose The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer.
Milo Weaver is a burnt out CIA operative now living in Brooklyn and working as a mid level manager for the super secret pinnacle of the immediate response pyramid of the CIA called the Bureau of Tourism. The agents, Tourists, are ordered around various regions of the world to be the sharp end of the CIA’s sword and Milo was legendary. But one bad incident in Venice sends him to NYC and out of the field. From there he’s been tracking an assassin, code named Tiger, and actually catches up to him in, of all places, Tennessee. The post-interrogation suicide of Tiger sets the CIA and Homeland Security at each other’s throats. Circumstances force Milo back underground backtracking clues given by Tiger. This opens up a complex array of intrigue, betrayal, manipulation, secrecy, lies, deception and any other trite description of espionage. Who is controlling whom? Is it a rogue administrator or the general culture within the CIA? What of Milo’s current family and his own obscure parentage? Is he rogue, a patriot, a double agent, or a sacrificial lamb? And just how can a few seemingly unconnected assassinations by a skilled killer cause ripples of political, energy, and social upheaval in Germany, Italy, Sudan, and China including the brink of interagency warring between the CIA and Homeland Security?
This is my first Steinhauer book and is the first of a planned trilogy of Milo Weaver books. When I looked him up on the Internet (http://www.olensteinhauer.com/bio.html), I see he is an American expat who has lived most of his young adult life in Europe, currently in Hungary. His forte is convoluted and layered espionage; not the high rolling, freewheeling books with high body counts, exotic weaponry, and barely plausible plots. He has a series of cold war novels, set as 1/decade of that era that I will be sure to start in on and soon. I read the occasional review and more than once saw that the complexity of plot and layers of betrayal and deception rival that of early LeCarre, extremely high praise indeed. If there is another current author putting together such intricate plots and characters of depth and honor, I want to know who it is. This guy is writing absolutely top-drawer, first-rate espionage that, for unknown reasons, rests somewhat under the radar of popular fiction readers obsessed with Grisham, Brown, et al.
I also learned that The Tourist has been optioned off to Hollywood with George Clooney set to play Milo, due out in 2010. I don’t know how well this will translate to the screen because of its complexity, but with that kind of star power, I am sure it will draw well.
Don, First of all, great review, and I'll give Steinhauer a try. It sounds like my kind of stuff. I think this blog thing will work, and I do have a lot of our prior reviews saved, so I will post some of those -- a great way to keep track of what we've read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the lead on this.
WC Don
ECD,
ReplyDeleteFinally on vacation, I finally had time to get to this one in 10/09. I agree that the writing was good, but I found the plot to have too many convoluted layers -- so I was not overly impressed. I do like the international intrigue, and I have one more of his books on my Kindle, so I'll let you know how that goes.
WCD
As I recall, convoluted plots are typical of old LeCarre and on one level, too much can be almost overwhelming. Like I said, the complexity will make it difficult to transfer to the screen. Guessing there will be some serious contraction of the secondary plots for the movie.
ReplyDeleteECD