Book Review: The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer

I’ve had this one on my TBR list for a while now, and when NetGalley offered the first three Milo Weaver books as an immediate download (in preparation for the fourth title, forthcoming in March of 2020), I jumped at the chance to own them all AND the forced excuse to bump them to the top of the list. I’ve read other Steinhauer books and enjoyed them, plus I am a longtime fan of spy books, so The Tourist seemed like a sure bet.

I wasn’t wrong. (Don’t you love when that happens?)

Steinhauer has done a marvelous job creating a world of spies and secrets that was sufficiently familiar to make me nervous yet sufficiently original to keep me engaged. The concept of the Tourists/Tourism Office is chilling in its simultaneous believability AND novelty, and that’s what made this book so resonant I think. Add in a hero-turned-Everyman-turned-hero-again in Milo Weaver, enough twisty-turny deception and red herrings to make Dashiell Hammett proud, and a plot that winds around on itself like an ouroboros and the result is a fabulous read that captured my attention and imagination and held on to both with both hands.

There’s a dark underbelly (even more so than you think) here, and that turn toward the end almost lost me – until I realized its potential and necessity for setting up the future series. I can’t wait to see what the world holds in store for Milo from this point forward – and to me, that’s the surest hallmark of Steinhauer’s success here.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my review copy. And keep your eye out for the next two books reviewed!