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Now faced with the end of his quiet, settled life, reluctant spy Milo Weaver has no choice but to turn back to his old job as a "tourist." Before he can get back to the CIA’s dirty work, he has to prove his loyalty to his new bosses, who know little of Milo’s background and less about who is really pulling the strings in the government above the Department of Tourism—or in the outside world, which is beginning to believe the legend of its existence. Milo is suddenly in a dangerous position, between right and wrong, between powerful self-interested men, between patriots and traitors—especially as a man who has nothing left to lose.
"While not quite as focused as The Tourist - at times too many important characters and multiple plots threaten to overwhelm the reader - this is still an extraordinarily complex and compelling thriller." - Library Journal
"Starred Review. The Tourist was impressive...but this is even better, a dazzling, dizzyingly complex world of clandestine warfare that is complicated further by the affairs of the heart." - Booklist
"Steinhauer's adept characterization of a morally conflicted spy makes this an emotionally powerful read." - Publishers Weekly
"Excessively complicated, but it's a Steinhauer, which means it's good all the same." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about The Nearest Exit was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Nancy Crampton
Olen Steinhauer grew up in Virginia, and has lived throughout the US and Europe. He spent a year in Romania on a Fulbright grant, an experience that helped inspire his first five books. He now splits his time between Hungary and New York with his wife and daughter.
His first novel, The Bridge of Sighs (2003), began a five-book sequence chronicling Cold War Eastern Europe, one book per decade. It was nominated for five awards. The rest of the sequence includes: The Confession, 36 Yalta Boulevard (The Vienna Assignment in the UK), Liberation Movements (The Istanbul Variations in the UK)—this one was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel of the year—and Victory Square, which was a New York Times editor's choice.
With The Tourist (2009), he began a trilogy of spy tales ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Olen Steinhauer's Website
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