The Tourist: A Novel (Milo Weaver, 1)

This is the tightest, best-written spy thriller I've read in a long time. Jason Bourne, as played by Matt Damon, keeps me on the edge of my seat, but Milo - our CIA guy in this tale - lives in a world of mirrors inside mirrors. There's some hokey and unbelievable James Bondian touches ... the CIA (or its predecessor) has hidden pistols and ammo here and there around the world? So that if you reach down toward, say, a Venetian canal and find the right stone - with a release catch on it - you can pull the release, fetch out the gun and ammo, then put the cover back on the hiding place. Um, sure.Dang good read, though. Why have I never heard of this writer before? Must've been living in a cave, me. Anyway, thanks to a NYT capsule review this week, I'm a fan. Got his most recent on my Kindle ready to go.

I'm not much for spy novels - they all seem to be "formula" books, except this one. I found it to be a page turner thriller and the more complicated the plot became the more interesting it became. I thought the writing was superb and the inter-cutting of the theme back and forth from past to present was the work of a fine writer. To be able to handle the complexity of this plot line and make it all come out right was just excellent. And the ending, while not happy, was what was right. The author was able to make me feel sorrow for the protagonist and yet I knew that somehow he was going to carrying on. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it to be many cuts above the usual spy stories.

This spy novel engaged me fully from page 1. Milo Weaver, the Tourist*, is an engaging protagonist, who is very fed up with being a spy. Spycraft, however, is what he does and he cannot fully remove himself from its clutches.If you like it (who wouldn't?) you will continue with Books 2, 3, and 4; 4 is coming out in late March 2020.ENJOY!*"Tourist " is the name given to spies who are sent (at a moment's notice) to evaluate and solve a problem in a short time

Somehow I had missed this series. It is superb! Complex characters with nuanced politics and real world situations. As good as this genre offers. Read this and then the Whole series.

Trust nobody! Milo Weaver has been a spy most of his life and has survived by by intuition and experience, however, he's sick and disgusted by his life of intrigue and secrecy. All he wants is a home and family, but keeps being dragged back into his job where no one is what he seems and mysterious people turn up wherever he goes. Just when you think the book should be wrapping up, something terrible happens again.

This was a great book...kept me in it and the order it was written played very well. After reading thrillers, you get a feel for how it is going to go...but it is the trip to get there that often makes the difference. This was very well written and as someone else said...I hated to see it end. Highly recommended.

Whom to trust? Rule of thumb: trust no-one! Great story, couldn't put it down.

I really loved this book. I liked it's complexity and the way that international affairs were woven into the plot. It was full of unexpected twists and turns plus I really liked the characters, especially the main one, Milo. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

I picked this book up just by chance, thought that the publisher's blurb made it sound interesting and decided to try it. What a fortune decision! Stephen King is quoted on the cover as saying that this is the best spy thriller that he has read that wasn't written by John le Carre. I doubt whether I would go quite that far, but it was certainly an engrossing story, and the plot kept twisting and writhing in different directions all the way through.The principal character is Milo Weaver who, as the book opens is a "Tourist" (in effect a roving CIA agent with considerable licence to use any black ops means that he deems fit) working on a case in Venice, trying to track down an American Embassy official (and CIA operative) who has absconded with £3 million dollars. Having tracked him down to the palazzo of a former Soviet oligarch, Milo is himself shot. Inauspiciously, this happens on the morning of 11 September 2001.Six years later Milo has more or less retired as a Tourist and is living a relatively placid life with his wife, Tina (encountered on the same day that he was shot), and precocious child Stephanie, but is called out of this sedate existence with the news that an international assassin (known as "The Tiger"), whom he had been trailing for years, had been arrested for a minor misdemeanour in one of the Southern states. Milo arrives at the police station where The Tiger is being held and gets to interview him. It is immediately apparent that The Tiger is very ill - ib fact he is in the later stages of HIV because, bizarrely, having been raised as a Christian Scientist, he would not take medication. (This was certainly one of the less plausible aspects of the story!)He starts to tell Milo everything, and it emerges that he had deliberately engineered his arrest so that he could make this belated confession. He also alleges that he had himself been a contract agent for the CIA, and that many of his "hits" had been at the Agency's request. he also intimates that there are moles within the senior ranks of the Agency. His confessions are cut short when he dies in mid sentence. The rest of the book covers Milo's tribulations as he investigates the Tiger's claims.This may all sound rather fanciful, and i am conscious that I may have made it seem rather trivial. However, the book is anything but trivial or fanciful, and the tension is kept at great tautness. Milo is an engaging character and has all sorts of personal issues, many of which impact significantly upon the plot. I certainly enjoyed it and will look eagerly for the rest of the series.

How lucky we are if we know lots of book readers.Was recommended this by a genuine Spook. Sometimes when you read another's favourite authors (no names , no pack drill) you wonder what the fuss was about.But Mr Steinhauer is the real thing and writes a gripping spy thriller. Can't wait to buy more of his, especially the trilogy (of 3, unlike some!) involving 'The Tourist' which seems to be CIA speak for an assassin! Beautifully written with very 3 dimensional characters (if only we could buy that skill in a bottle). Wonderful music references; thought I was the only person in the world , outside France, who listened to France Galle. Debrenche!

I love spy fiction. I have read and re-read books of my favourite authors Le Carre and Deighton. Le Carre writes one book per year. I have no idea if Deighton writes any more. I have been searching for some author in the league of both of them...I think I have found one! I liked 'The Tourist'...my first book by Olen Steinhauer. What a story teller! The characters are well nuanced. The plot is terrific. I think the main character of the book Milo Weaver is going to occupy a fair share of my mind for some days to come. I am looking forward to reading this author's other books I bought on Amazon and hoping that I don't experience disappointment.

Inarguably captivating, the story unfolds with action and intrigue. An engaging writing style, likable characters, and an exciting story line, hook you early. Unfortunately, it set my expectations too high for the climax and the story that followed. It could be personal taste, but I felt disappointed and deflated. I thought there was one major thread throughout the book that frayed and dissolved in the end. I personally enjoy getting on a rollercoaster ride, being surprised, then getting off raving about how much fun it was. But by the end of the ride I was deflated and looking forward to getting off.

I came across "The Nearest Exit" which I thoroughly enjoyed so I bought this also. I found the story very engaging although the story lines were a bit incredible. However, what was really annoying about the book was the am-ount of err one ous spac-ing and hyphenat-ion. Especially when dealing with parts of the story abroad, sometimes it threw the gist of what was happening. Surely, when transferring to an ebook, especially when the publisher is harper Collins, someone is responsible for checking the text? This happened at least twice per chapter and is the worst, by far, of the ebooks I have read. This did spoil the book somewhat.