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trilby001 's review for:
The Tourist
by Olen Steinhauer
This is the third Steinhauer thriller I've read, and the most disappointing. The plot is quite complex, with many twists and turns. . .which is why the book is compared to John le Carré's on the dust jacket, I suppose. However, in making such a complex plot, the author throws credibility to the wind. The protagonist meets his future wife for the first time when he is on a spook mission and she just happens to go into labor at the same time he is shot. Really? I don't think even thrillers can get away with such "coincidences", at least not with me they can't. Another flaw is that the spy mystery is solved at the end of Part I. Part II, where the protagonist is removed from the action, is literally anticlimactic, with more preposterous background revelations.
The other Steinhauer thrillers had gritty Eastern European settings; in this one, the settings include Europe, New York (where the protagonist lives with his family)Tennessee, Texas, and (for cryin' out loud) Disney World. Would le Carré have considered for even a moment sending Smiley there with his wife and daughter? I think not.
Yeah, I know this review has been negative so far. However, on the whole, I liked it. It provided several hours of entertainment and a glimpse into the violent, amoral world of Tourists, that is, CIA ops sent on missions to gather information, secretly meddle in international affairs, and knock off government-designated bad guys.
The other Steinhauer thrillers had gritty Eastern European settings; in this one, the settings include Europe, New York (where the protagonist lives with his family)Tennessee, Texas, and (for cryin' out loud) Disney World. Would le Carré have considered for even a moment sending Smiley there with his wife and daughter? I think not.
Yeah, I know this review has been negative so far. However, on the whole, I liked it. It provided several hours of entertainment and a glimpse into the violent, amoral world of Tourists, that is, CIA ops sent on missions to gather information, secretly meddle in international affairs, and knock off government-designated bad guys.