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An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer is the third installment featuring ex-CIA agent / assassin Milo Weaver and his quest to live his life in peace and quiet. Mr. Steinhauer is a writer, TV show creator who has been nominated for several awards.

Xin Zhu, of the Chinese intelligence, is roaming around China trying to figure out how the CIA will retaliate after he had 33 agents killed. The rest of the Chinese intelligence apparatus is not happy with Xin Zhu’s actions, but he is not punished.

Milo Weaver is back home after linking the Chinese government to the destruction of CIA’s Tourism Department. Milo would like to spend the rest of his life with his family, raise their daughter and disappear off the radar of the intelligence agencies.

Milo’s former boss, Alan Drummond, can’t let the fact that 33 Tourists died under his watch and uses one of Milo’s compromised aliases to go to London, and disappear.

I enjoyed the two previous Milo Weaver books The Tourist and The Nearest Exit, very much, and was looking forward to read An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer. What I got, however, was a tale which was an effort to read and understand, convoluted, and while interesting, not nearly as riveting as the first two books. I do applaud the author for trying something different, it takes guts and considerable talent to pull something like this off.

There are a lot of moving parts in the book, from previous characters who played minor roles, to minor characters who played major roles previously, to new characters who took over the story. The tale goes round and round but does not move forward as quickly and effortlessly as expected. Mr. Steinhauer refuses to make this novel easy for his readers, but the relish in which he writes, creating a world full of paranoia is worth the effort.

Usually there is a murder, many chapters later the same murder is replayed, this time though through the eyes of another which gives the reader more insight of what happened, why, and by who. This technique worked well, but is overdone to the point of confusion.

One of the major selling points of the series, is that gloomy Milo Weaver questions his line of work, the ethics of it, his boss, and the world he knows. This novel has no such qualms, which I felt gave the series some gravitas, and made it more human.

Milo could have sat this novel out, there is very little of him in it. He is still recovering from a gunshot wound, watches what he eats and what he does.

The plotting is very intricate, but the character development which was the star in the Mr. Steinhauer’s books is not here. I’m looking forward to see where the author will take the series from here as he is, in my opinion, one of the best espionage authors currently writing.

A Hungarian intelligence agent notices that Henry Gray (American spy? Journalist?) has disappeared. His girlfriend says he was kidnapped by US or Chinese agents, and Henry is also somehow connected to secret intelligence agent (also called a Tourist) Milo Weaver.

If you like Robert Ludlum's books, you'll love this one. There are tangled plots, you can't tell who's the good guy and who's he bad guy, it's unclear what the plans are and who is actually involved, all by design to keep you on the edge of your seat and turning pages. Just one caveat...you may need to take notes or read it twice to understand all the nuances!

I thoroughly enjoyed this third installment of the series. As in the previous two stories, I found the plot complex and intriguing but not overly so that I was able to follow the series of events. Characters are vivid and real, interesting and more than adequately developed. I did have to refresh my memory of some characters to assure I was following the plot accordingly, but that could potentially be the lag in when I read the previous two stories. Overall, well done!

Although this was originally published back in 2012, it’s been given a new lease of life by the current political tensions between China and America. The story couldn’t be more timely – it’s a complex chess game between rival black ops agencies, a deadly competition which has gone far beyond data gathering and counter espionage.

Personal history plays a huge part in an intricate intelligence operation, where some individuals seek only revenge while others are overwhelmingly motivated by serving their national interest. Deniable departments nestle within recognised agencies: agents are coerced into actions against their best interests (sometime by the other side but occasionally by their own people) and every operative works to her or his individual agenda. They could all have ‘trust no one’ tattooed on their foreheads…

Unusually, the story starts with the Chinese plotline which I found fascinating. Maverick Xin Zhu has already wiped out an entire American team but his position is far from secure – and soon we’re saturated in clever tradecraft and subtle machinations. The plot is revealed from different perspectives with overlapping timelines which always kept the truth obscured but somehow never got entirely tangled.

Only once I was two-thirds of the way through did I recall that I’ve read a previous Milo Weaver espionage adventure; the first in the series, probably a decade ago. Despite that gap, and missing out the middle episode entirely, I had no problem following the action in An American Spy although I maybe wasn’t as involved with the American characters as I might’ve been if I’d read the other books recently.

So the scenario, tradecraft and plotting were all first-class, and I was heavily invested in several of the Chinese characters and the overall mystery. Why, then, does this only rate 7/10?

Because it failed to finish, that’s why. OK, author Olen Steinhauer delivered some of the answers – but then left a huge amount hanging in mid-air. I don’t mind an end of season cliff-hanger – heck, they’re part of the fun – but so much was left unresolved at the end of this book that it spoiled the whole experience. And it’s put me off reading the next one… which may, of course, be why I dibbed out a decade ago after reading the first one!

So if you read this as part of the series, then it’s brilliant. But as a standalone? It’s OK.

7/10

If I didn't have this book on the reader after finishing the second book in the series, The Nearest Exit, just before starting this, I would have thought our intrepid spy Milo Weaver had met an untimely end. Obviously that was not the case, because this thrilling and exciting story by Olen Steinhauer has continued with this very book, An American Spy.

During the course of this series, I have seen Milo rise, fall and rise again, only to fall yet again. A former CIA agent, Milo is now employed with the ultra secret the Department of Tourism. Milo is not your typical hero. He is flawed, can be self-destructive and self-centered. But, he does appreciate justice and works feverishly hard at catching the bad guys. And that is what it is all about in this series.

He is a man well-traveled, often emotionally damaged, with fractured relationships, and has the ability to lose his scruples if things reach a certain point. Milo is called The Tourist, and he is not the only one. They are an elite team and pretty much have their own value system.

The story never stopped when it came to action. I powered through it and really enjoyed reading something so exciting, although this is a rather new turn for me. I am looking forward to the next (maybe last?) book in the series, The Last Tourist, coming in 2020.

Many thanks to Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Wow!! Third book in the series and I am still loving it, could not put it down once I started. Can't wait to read more by this author.

The slow burn that started in the first book, continued to a forest fire in the second book, will completely set the world on fire in this one, the 3rd story in Milo Weaver's eventful career as a "tourist" for the CIA. With only a few members left of the team, Milo is planning a much, much less dangerous future. But, the future he has planned and the future planned for him, are very different. As Milo, travels the globe trying to find and save his target, events will happen that require him to use his considerable skills, just to get out alive.

Minotaur Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of An American Spy. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Milo Weaver wants a normal life, but will he ever be able to leave his clandestine past?

One of the hallmarks of a great spy thriller is the breakneck speed of the action, propelling the plot and the main character forward to an explosive conclusion. An American Spy has a premise that promises to deliver the aforementioned read, but painfully falls flat. The novel takes up where The Nearest Exit left off, with Milo Weaver recovering and hoping to leave his life as a tourist behind. This novel follows the same basic formula as that one: Milo, under duress, must leave his family and traipse around the world to right the wrongs perpetrated by others. The beginning of the novel goes too deep into the Chinese conspiracy, stopping the action in its tracks. It was difficult to push through, as I was not interested or intrigued from the outset. As the novel continues, the tangled web of side plots and the overwhelming number of characters derailed the book completely. Having read The Middleman, a standalone novel by this author, I did expect a convoluted plot with multiple characters and perspectives, but I was hoping to find Milo Weaver to be worth getting to know. An American Spy represents a missed opportunity, a below par spy novel that had the potential to be a thrilling read.

This was my first Steinhauer novel, and I have to admit that I was just not able to keep up. The plot was convoluted, the characters interconnected in non-obvious ways, and as the author sent us around (and around, and around) the world, I ended up confused and dizzy. I have enough “current events anxiety” without adding imagined Chinese plots to end the world.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I struggled through The Tourist by this author but because he is so very well regarded by the public and critics I decided to give An American Spy another chance. I got thru 1/3 of this book and gave up. Olen Steinhauer is a slow burn type of author and that's just not the type of book I want to read for pleasure. I think he's a fine writer and has good character development, it just takes too long to get to the point for my taste.

Fantastic and engaging read; I would recommend this and llmtitles by Olen Steinhauer. I think this is a great read anytime, but love them on a plane or on vacation.

This is the third installment of the Milo Weaver espionage series. Milo believes he is out and done with the spy business. But are you really out? This book is written from several viewpoints and could get a little confusing at times. Overall an enjoyable read. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the Third book in a series. The first two were a disappointment and I was hoping that this one would be an improvement, but it is not to be and so I slogged my way through book three. This is a spy novel that is somewhat predictable with a lot of cliches located throughout the book. While the book is somewhat interesting it is one that the reader can easily walk away from for a while and then circle back to - it is not a page turner. I found it interesting that is was a New York Times bestseller meaning that the book must of either resonated with a number of readers or had a very captivating public relations push.

I received a free Kindle ARC courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would provide an honest review and post it on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.

This is the third book in the Milo Weaver series and I can’t say it was my favorite. The ending wasn’t to my liking at all.
For any modern spy thriller fans, you should read this series but, start from the first book.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give my honest review.

The third (and so far, the final) book in Olen Steinhauer's Milo Weaver series, An American Spy is a solid espionage and action thriller. While a very good read, there was no way this book could measure up to its predecessor The Nearest Exit, which was one of the best spy thrillers I've read in years.

I finished the third in the series about Milo Weaver, a spy who works for the "tourist dept" of the CIA trained assassins. In this book Milo is trying to live a normal life when his former boss takes on of his old identities and travel to Europe. Something goes wrong and Milo must go and found out what is going on. This book was okay, I read it to find out what was going on and to learn more about Milo. I did find the book. I did find the book complicated and a little hard to follow. But I felt invested in the series and was glad to learn more I want to thank Net Galley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

A friend of mine purchased the first 2 books in the Milo Weaver trilogy based on my recommendation. Unfortunately, however, I cannot recommend the 3rd book. I found that the story jumped the shark. It just wasn't believable that a Chinese master spy was secretly operating in the U.S. without anyone knowing, and that everyone he was targetting was so isolated that they had nowhere to turn for help.

I have not posted a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

First, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
Unfortunately, I read 50% of this book, much more than I normally would spend, and stopped over a week ago, as it just was not worth my time. I know it has been reviewed well, and the author is respected. I just found this story very muddled. And I found the conversational language stilted, constructed, and very disingenuous. No one speaks like this.

I am so glad I stuck with this series. Milo Weaver is a not so retired CIA spy. Mr. Steinhauer has created a fantastically complex, clear voiced character. I found it easy to root for and relate to Milo. This book doesnt stand alone, as it is definitely a successive series. I'm glad I read the earlier books, as the backstory means so much. Again, China plays a major role in this thriller. The action is well written, the twists and turns many, and the plot tight. I would recommend this series, and I think there is room for more! 4.0
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

An improvement on the second book in the series. However, disappointed that it ended with a cliffhanger considering that no further books were written (a fourth book is scheduled for release in 2020, but any fan of the series who read the books soon after publication would have been disappointed to see the years pass without another book). The deep dive into Chinese politics and culture was interesting, as was the additional insight into the life and psyche of Xin Zhu. Plenty of mystery and intrigue, especially with the way the book was written, with sections and chapters that tell parts of the story from the perspectives of different characters, so the reader finds out how and why certain events occurred.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.