What do readers think of The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer? Write your own review.

This was my first book by Olen Steinhauer. It won't be my last. I read it from cover to cover in 2 days. The twists and turns of the book keep you wondering and turning the pages. One can't help but mentally debate how much of this story could actually happen and just how plausible is it.

The story centers around "Stumbler" an American plan to orchestrate a regime change in Libya. Or is it the Americans enacting Stumbler? The prime characters: Emmett and Sophie Kohl, John Calhoun, Stan Bertolli, Zora Balasevic, Ali Busiri and Omar Halawi all appear to have something to hide and their own agendas. "Are you saying he was one of ours?" Quite a bit of cross and double cross which makes for a very entertaining book.

The plot kept my interest and I appreciated this timely story being told from several points of view. I would have benefited from a map of the regions and a timeline of that period of history, just to add to my understanding of the historical background. The characters were not fully developed but were believable. There is much to discuss for book clubs and others about ever-changing international events, America's involvement or lack of involvement in those events, the idealism of spies, what attracts some people to immoral behavior, how people's world views and philosophy change over time, etc. There are a lot of characters to remember. For me, it was a page turner and I enjoyed the surprises along the way. I will look for more books by this author.

A Libyan-American desk agent with the CIA realizes that someone has been implementing a plan to topple the Libyan government that he developed several years earlier. He starts to investigate. This leads to a string of murders and disappearances.

If you like spy novels, you'll love this one. I found it to be extremely well-written. The narrative unfolds from the point of view of several different characters. What makes it so interesting is that each person knows only a piece of what is going on-- or thinks they do. Often their information is incorrect, or they lie to others about what they know. No one has the entire picture. This creates a very effective mystery, where even the reader isn't sure which information is correct, or is led to believe that one scenario is correct only to find that the person relaying the information didn't know what was going on.

Highly recommended.

Engrossed in reading the story, towards the end I put the book down and thought about spies and diplomats, moles, double agents, wives of any or all of them and wondered what possesses them. Although I felt the story was plot driven I was pushed to think about what drove the characters, possibly because I didn't understand who Sophie was, and because they seem to me to represent a variety of human motivation for the sins we commit.

I've lived long enough to know that we don't remain static in our beliefs forever, particularly when events and human characters press on our nerves. Most people probably enter the intelligence services in their formative twenties, having an unexamined sense of patriotism and perhaps they are true believers, but the events and people with which the spymasters, spies and the assassins deal have to impact on their sense of who they really are and what they are doing . And for what reason. For Zora, perverse pleasure in controlling another as well as money. For Emmett, a belief in country because he wasn't a spy but an economist thinking he could further the interests of his country. For Sophie, an undeveloped woman who was essentially amoral. But imagine Omar, a drone who finally figures out the whole damn series of betrayals, double agents, and what it was all for who then co-opts the evil assassin in a world that has changed dramatically. Omar is the most interesting character because he has worked for the state under Mubaryk for most of his career and it is only when weird happenings in the Arab Spring put him in play and each time he is onto something he is yanked back by his boss that he ultimately becomes the master of the game. He has a moral center, or does he? Power backstage on the world theatre is a devil's game.

This book takes place over a handful of countries and times. I enjoyed moving from country to country and the variety of characters' points of view. There were parts where I did not want to put the book down though I struggled a bit to figure out where the next character started as one ended. I would have loved to have a map of the areas discussed to help me picture the movement of the characters. Book clubs would enjoy the different points of view of the characters.

When I started THE CAIRO AFFAIR the pace was so slow I almost stopped reading it. Since I have always been intrigued with Budapest, Cairo and spy thrillers, I continued reading. It gets better, but the pace remains slower than I prefer. The book shifts between the perspectives of several characters (Sophie, Omar, John and Stan) that can be somewhat confusing. It is an enjoyable spy novel with well-written plot twist near the end. Good, but not a great read.

I had read Olen Steinhauer's "The Tourist" which I enjoyed and so was interested in his latest novel. Overall, I thought the story was good. With most of the action taking place in Cairo right after the Arab Spring, it made the backdrop very current in scope. With the story being told by the different characters in their own "sections" of the book, there was some occasional repetition and the plot sometimes seemed to move forward a bit too slowly. But, the novel certainly did keep my interest all the way to the end. For me, it was not a quick read, rather it is a story that will make you think throughout.