The Tourist Author:Olen Steinhauer Charles Alexander?s soul has been destroyed by his work. A CIA black-ops agent (called a ?Tourist?), he is postponing his suicide just long enough to complete one more job. Very early on September 11, 2001, the job goes disastrously wrong. He lives. Six years later, he has become Milo Weaver, still a Company man but now a devoted family man, too... more ». Accused of murdering a colleague?his best friend?he?s forced to go on the run to clear his name. Evidence suggests that the bad guys might share his travel agent. And, as Weaver?s own mysterious past comes into play, his hard-won happiness hangs by a fraying thread. The premise isn?t new, but what?s noteworthy is the way Steinhauer manages to push the genre?s darker aspects to the extreme?his hero?s alienation is part of the cost of carrying out orders whose true origins and ultimate effects are often unknowable?without sacrificing the propulsive forward momentum on which a spy story depends. And Weaver, smart but sometimes not smart enough, is the perfect hero for such a richly nuanced tale. Steinhauer?s excellent Eastern European quintet (Victory Square, 2007) didn?t make him the star he deserves to be, and his publisher is banking on this one to do the job. They?re making comparisons to the classic spy novels of le Carr?, Greene, and Deighton?heavy hype, but it?s largely justified.« less
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