Customer Reviews

The Tourist

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Milo Weaver, the tourist (a deep undercover CIA agent) is a fascinating character who inhabits the world of international espionage with full reader engagement. While I was a bit confused at the start, I soon learned to relax about the details because Steinhauer has a genius for untangling intricacies on a need to know basis. It is the best espionage/spy/mystery novel I've read in thirty years, since Gorky Park. Every character is built with a deft hand. Each scene is written with precision. I LOVED IT!

Great Book loved this story and how it was written Olen Steinhauer is the 2012 and on Robert Ludlum! look forward to his new books:)))

This book is the first in a series and I have not read the sequels. I finished half the book in an afternoon and limited myself to a chapter a day because I wanted to prolong my enjoyment.

Based on this single book, I would have to say that the Steinhauer comparisons to Le Carré are overstated. Le Carré is still the master of spycraft and espionage writing. The amount of gunplay (in public places) makes it unrealistic and gives a cinematic quality to the writing; i.e. you can easily write a screenplay base on this book than on a Le Carré book.

Book 1 in the trilogy staring Milo Weaver

This seemingly realistic thriller is a first rate fiction , a tale of the nasty and deceitful world of spies and assassins.

Milo Weaver aka Charles Alexander is one of the CIA's highly skilled assassins, in the trade they are known as "Tourists". When deployed to various corners of the world, their missions are to be executed without question.

The story opens in 2001 with Milo at a low point in his life. Being a "Tourist" for several years has taken its toll..... his only escape at this point is amphetamines and they are leaving him in a suicidal state. A new mission in Venice to stop the hit man known as "The Tiger" gives him a whole new look at life......

The story flashes forward to 2007. Now a married man with a child, away from active duty and bored at his desk job Milo finds himself longing for the excitement and the adrenalin rush of his old job....Once a spook always a spook.... Milo is reinvigorated when he is summoned to the side of the "Tiger" for a death bed conversation.... The man's confessions send Milo off once again on a chilling path into the world of international conspiracies.

This novel is a modern twist of the old days of espionage, a compelling and intricate account of betrayal, manipulation, loyalty and risk. Its central figure is a complicated man with many faults and flaws, but when faced with extraordinary situations he excels. Throughout the novel you will find plenty of breathtaking scenes and heart stopping action. I enjoyed piecing together the various parts of this very entertaining puzzle and would not hesitate recommending it to anyone.

Terrific book , very well written , great story , complex but somehow easy to follow , hope there will be more in the Milo Weaver series.

This was certainly in the LeCarre class, only easier to follow! It was a chapter by chapter 'hit', each one had something important to contribute, not the usual 'spy' fluff. Looking forward to some more Milo!

A suicidal secret agent shot and in desperate need of medical assistance, uses the last vestiges of energy to contact Venetian emergency services for a pregnant woman who's there with the very man he's been sent to kill. The agent survives to marry the woman whose discomfort he risked his own life to relief. Nevertheless, we're left with a number of questions. Why's the agent suicidal? Who does he work for? How did a pregnant woman happen to lie in the beginning throws of childbirth without only strangers around to help her? The story jumps ahead seven years when our protagonist has changed his identity from Charles Alexander to Milo Weaver. He's successfully escaped the life of an assassin and been given a desk job with the tourist bureau, an arm of the CIA which overseas tourists responsible for performing functions to which the U.S. government can never been seen as having any connection. Unfortunately, the head of tourism needs to eliminate one of their own, a beautiful agent working out of the American embassy in Paris and Milo, being an friend of the woman is seen as the one person who can get close enough to kill her. And so, he's brought back into service and return to a dangerous existence for which he'd come to hate more than death. It's a great read from the first paragraph to the last.

I found the beginning of the book a little difficult to get into.

Once I had got past the first 40 pages or so, it really engaged me, and I found I couldn't put it down, a real page turner.

The characters are well developed, especially of course the main character, Milo Weaver, and I found myself riding an emotional see-saw with his trials and tribulations.

A recommended read for anyone who like mysteries and spy novels.