alvarodelvan

Steinhauer, Olen. THE TOURIST. (2009). ****1/2. There’s been lots of buzz about this new novel from this author; about it’s being a re-introduction to the world of espionage fiction as practiced by the masters in their early days. Names like Le Carre, Deighton, and Graham Greene have been bandied about. I have to give it its due. It is well written and has an interesting plot. What it really turns out to be, however, is an espionage novel using some of the standard ingredients of early noir fiction. OK. I can take that. It’s the story of a “tourist,’ i.e., a spy who also does wet work. The lead character is Milo Weaver, a CIA agent, who has recently retired from active duty and is now at a desk at the CIA offices in NYC. From his last encounter with the bad guys, he managed to meet a woman who was to become his wife. The fact that he met her in the middle of a shoot-out while she was going into labor in front of one of the palazzos in Venice inhabited by a Russian pedophile who kills his thirteen-year-old “ward” by throwing her over the balcony to the cobblestones below gives them a lot in common. Their relationship deepens when they end up in the same Venetian hospital; her for her delivery, him for treatment of two bullet wounds. Marital bliss, however, is not to be, because Milo is being set up. Bodies pile up and all the clues seem to point to him as the perpetrator. Lots of foreign spies are involved, too, if you can keep them all straight. It seems that spies everywhere have at least five different identities, and they use them almost interchangeable in the story. In spite of not knowing which of his co-workers to trust, Milo finally discovers the source of all his troubles in a twisting ending. Wouldn’t you know it: you can’t trust anyone anymore. Recommended.

2022-10-21 05:44