The Nearest Exit

Like Daniel Silva (whose thriller, The Secret Servant, I last reviewed), Olen Steinhauer writes an espionage series with a recurring character. Unlike Silva, Steinhauer doesn’t weigh his down with clunky exposition explaining what happened in previous novels. Albeit, The Nearest Exit is the second in Steinhauer’s Milo Weaver series, as opposed to six previous novels in Silva’s Gabriel Allon series.

Some similarities are that both writers show espionage as a dirty, ugly business with no moral center and too much killing. Beyond that they don’t seem to have much in common. Weaver has the kind of real family problems that anyone who is away too much for work can relate to. He also has issues with secrecy, paranoia and trust that few show more people do. He tries to quit his job, but can’t seem to get away. He’s a real person dealing with unusual problems – not a superhero.

The espionage aspect of Steinhauer’s books also seems more realistic than many others, especially in the way technology affects everyday life, from cell phone capabilities to ubiquitous security cameras in public spaces.

Overall, The Nearest Exit is a satisfying, multilayered story, an excellent continuation of the series as well as one of the better espionage novels I’ve read. show less

To really enjoy The Nearest Exit you would do best to read Steinhauer's previous novel which features the same characters; [b:The Tourist|4590265|The Tourist (The Tourist, #1)|Olen Steinhauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412257051s/4590265.jpg|4639728]. I really enjoyed the first episode and was delighted by the development of the plot and characters in this follow up, but even so I struggled at first to keep the various threads untangled and remind myself who was working with/for/against whom. It is all explained but I think the reader would get a lot more by enjoying The Tourist first; the main character's actions make a lot more sense when you understand his background and recent events.

The Nearest Exit is set in the here-and-now. show more It's a tale of modern American espionage, featuring complicated layers of plot and counter-plot. The protagonist, Milo Weaver is a wonderful character; spiritually exhausted and physically collapsing. He struggles to extricate himself from the clutches of his employer, a wet-works dept of a US secret agency, but has a family history which threatens the security of his current loved ones. Milo is at war with everyone; his own agency, other US security forces, notionally friendly international agencies, the real bad guys who have laid an artful snare for him, his own father, his wife and adopted child... and himself.

The result is a convoluted plot which builds inexorably towards a cunningly concealed climax. Milo is so ambivalent about the outcome that at times it is hard for the reader to engage with him. I found some of the supporting characters, especially a female German intelligence officer, to be more interesting and engaging than the hero himself. 'The Nearest Exit' is not an action-adventure of the Bourne type, it's slower paced than that and requires reading in reasonably big chunks to keep track of all the players and their loyalties. The pay-off was worth some effort, I felt.

Steinhauer has been compared to Le Carre at his best, and that's not accurate. The sheer simple elegance of Smiley's early adventures far surpass this story which sometimes creaks under the weight of its own complexity and paranoia. But this book is probably every bit as good as recent Le Carre novels.

If you enjoy this type of thoughtful, intelligent thriller then you might also like [b:A Last Act of Charity|22602019|A Last Act of Charity (Killing Sisters, #1)|Frank Westworth|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1404054107s/22602019.jpg|42088165] by [a:Frank Westworth|576653|Frank Westworth|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1407492635p2/576653.jpg]. I admit to some bias here - reader, I married him! - but I suspect readers of one are likely to enjoy the other...
8/10 show less

The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer is the sequel to his first book in the series, The Tourist. Milo is an everyday working shlub trying to keep his marriage from falling apart. The only difference is that he works for the Department of Tourism, a secret CIA organization dedicated to doing the work that’s so dirty even the regular CIA won’t do it. Oh, and his Dad is a former Russian spy.

Reading the summary, it sounds pretty over the top, but it’s to Steinhauer’s credit that he can make the mounting absurdities hang together. Milo and other characters we meet along the way are more than the typical two-dimensional James Bondian types and they have personalities that take them beyond the plot mechanics they take part in. For all show more the discussion critics have made of these books being post 9/11 spy stories they are still very rooted in the cold war. In fact in The Nearest Exit the author seems to be breaking down the cold war organization he has created. Certain hints left in the book indicate that Steinhauer is looking to have Milo shake off those cold warrior shackles and move on towards the new world order in intelligence following September 2001. Whatever happens, his latest book has left me eager to see where Milo heads next.

Last Words: The beginning gets off to a slow start and leaves you wondering where things are going, but the story picks up for a strong finish. A great entry in the promising Tourism series.

For more spy news and reviews visit http://www.spywrite.com show less

In the category of spy novels, this is as good as it gets. The Nearest Exit is a sequel to Steinhauer's earlier novel, The Tourist, which focuses on Milo Weaver, an agent within the CIA's super-secret "Department of Tourism." "Tourists" are akin to those with the "OO" designation in the James Bond universe--assigned to the toughest jobs, often including assassinations. Reading The Tourist took all the romance out of the "spy business" for me, as it made evident that the one distinguishing characteristic for excelling as a spy is a extraordinary gift for lying. Lying is required for the spy's survival, of course, but as one creates as his world a "wilderness of mirrors," all hope for a genuine relationship with another person is lost. It show more took me a long time to get comfortable with The Tourist's world, which is probably why I like The Nearest Exit better: having already grown familiar with the world in which it took place, and I could get quickly get engaged with the intricacies of the plot. Since it had been some time since I had read The Tourist, I was happy Steinhauer took occasions through the story to remind me of the key things that happened in the previous book. The story was well-crafted, introducing enough elements that I wasn't sure exactly where it was heading, but they kept me turning the pages to a conclusion that brought all those elements together. show less

In this sequel to the wonderful "The Tourist" ,Steinhauer keeps his hero Milo Weaver globetrotting doing his best to figure out whether or not there is a mole in the CIA. It would be hard to write something to top "The Tourist", but here Stienhauer comes close. The book suffers (as did the first one) when the plot drifts to Weaver's home life. But the strong legs of the plot and the fantastic ending is more than enough to keep the pages turning.

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The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer is the second book featuring ex-CIA assassin/family man Milo Weaver. The novel involves the fictional “tourism” department of the CIA and it is the secondbook in the Milo Weaver series.

Milo Weaver is enjoying his quite life after leaving the CIA. As Milo soon finds out, his services are needed again when he is forced back into the “Tourism” Department.

To prove his loyalty to his new bosses, Milo kidnaps a young German immigrant, only to later discover she was killed. Milo, now wanted for murder, must unravel layers of bureaucracy and double crosses to solve this mystery.

If Mr. Steinhauer keeps writing this way he’s show more soon going to be in the list of my favorite writers. In The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer bats the story out of the park again, with an unbelievable plot involving the CIA, Germany’s secret service as well as a guest appearances by the Ukrainians and Chinese.

As in the first book, The Tourist, the plot is complex and the narrative flows. The author keeps his excellent story line of vague political morals where the good guys and bad guys seem to be cut from the same cloths, only working under different flags.

The central theme of this book is whether or not taking the life of an innocent child could be used as a reason for the greater good. The question becomes what exactly is “the greater good”, are those that decide this point looking out for the population at larger, or for their own self-interest. In Milo Weaver’s world, full of amoral co-workers, the twists never stop and the sense of justice doesn’t even exist.

As in the first book, Mr. Steinhauer doesn’t shy away from pitting his protagonist’s job against his personal life. Weaver keeps paying a very steep price, personally, for his decision to be a moral beacon in an immoral environment.

The world built in this book is a complex maze of shadows and shifting realities. There are no bad guys, because there are no good guys for comparison, as seen from the trenches of the espionage world. show less

An exciting, complex spy novel about a super-secret arm of the CIA, the Dept of Tourism, that is only a rumor even to them, although it seems to be better known outside the US. It's made up of tourists, who wander around the world doing whatever they're told, often killing people without ever knowing why.

But Milo Weaver is no ordinary spook; he has a wife and daughter, and a different outlook on life and death, so he tries to get out field work, and works behind a desk for while, until he is needed and can't refuse. Quitting is not easy, especially if your knowledge is deemed a liability - or family obligations force you to remain. In the last book, he got accused of killing an adversary and was suspected in the death of another show more tourist, a good friend. He was finally cleared, but not everyone believed he was innocent, so to get back into field work, he needed to prove himself by doing a few jobs. One was to kill a young girl, who apparently did nothing wrong, and he broke the rules by questioning the reason for it. This assignment was the main thrust of the book, and we get to know the agents that are involved. Nothing is as simple as it seems, neither for the characters nor the reader. In the end, most of the characters are shown to be human, with typical human motives, complex but understandable.

One character besides Milo was unexpectedly interesting from the beginning, and likable in her fearfulness. She was an obese German secret service administrator, who was dedicated to finding the truth even when the rest of her department wanted her to stop.

And the ending - both unexpected and expected in a way, but unusual nonetheless. show less