First published in 2010; reissued by Minotaur Books on November 7, 2019

The Tourist was first published in 2010. I try to read as many reputably published spy novels as I can find, but 2010 was a bad year in my reading life. Several years later, I read and enjoyed a more recent novel by Olen Steinhauer, but I didn’t make it back to the trilogy that began with The Tourist. Fortunately, Minotaur is reissuing trade paperback editions of the Tourist novels and has made them available for review, presumably to promote the publication of a fourth Tourist novel next year. I am grateful for the opportunity to catch up on some spy novels that I didn’t know I’d missed.

Charles Alexander is an American spy. More specifically, he is a Tourist, a CIA agent who travels abroad and makes deadly mischief (as opposed to the Travel Agents who stay in America to facilitate the Tourists). His real name is not Charles Alexander, but he’s used that name for two years.

Taking a break from pondering suicide, Charles goes to Slovenia in search of a station chief who disappeared with a pile of money. The chief was supposed to give the pile to an informant in exchange for the location of a Bosnian war criminal whose capture would put a feather in the American cap. Charles’ contact, who works for the chief, is Angela Yates. Charles quickly finds evidence suggesting that the station chief, despite his long and loyal service, is both a thief and a murderer. After tracking the station chief to Venice, events take a wrong and violent turn, convincing Charles it is time to change his life.

Six years later, Charles is Milo Weaver, a man with a wife and daughter. He has promised to stay home as much as he can. Milo has been tracking an assassin known as The Tiger, who crossed his path in Venice. An encounter with The Tiger takes a strange turn that causes Milo to be suspected of a crime.

Soon after that meeting, Milo travels to Paris to set up Angela Yates, who might or might not be passing secrets to the Chinese. The plot threads involving Yates, the Chinese, the Tiger, and the Tiger’s client quickly entangle. After some nicely written action scenes, Milo finds discovers that lies he told about his past are disrupting his career and marriage. If help is to arrive, it will come from an unexpected source. By the end of the novel, Milo is something of a mess.

Despite being the opening novel of a trilogy, the story is self-contained. The Tourist combines thoughtful character development with a credible, intriguing plot. The novel moves briskly, not because it is action-filled (although it has some adrenalin-boosting scenes), but because the story and characters are so interesting that the reader is motivated to learn what happens next. In fact, The Tourist motivated me to move on to the second novel of the trilogy, which I will do with pleasure.

RECOMMENDED

Very well written, fast paced and immediately gripping. Perfect read for fans of I Am Pilgrim! I cannot wait to read the rest in the series.

I received the first three novels in this series from Netgalley and the publisher, and I’m so glad I started the series. Book 1 was great and I do highly recommend it to readers who enjoy espionage/spy/thriller types. I’m hook and will finish the next two from Netgalley, and definitely get the final book, number 4, coming out in 2020. Loved this book from beginning to end.

Great book really enjoyed the read, absolutely possible these things could happen. Gripping and keeps you guessing.. Look forward to the next book in the series

Milo Weaver is retired. He has left the life of CIA "Tourist" behind. Right.....everytime you think your'e out, they pull you back in. Milo Weaver is a multi layered intriguing character. I appreciated the depth of his character profile. The Tourist kept my interest. There were enough twists and turns to keep me reading. Mr. Steinhauer did an excellent job of keeping the feeling topical and current. As in any thriller, there are times when suspending belief is best, but that's one of the reasons I like thrillers. Based on this book, I will pick up the succeeding books in the Milo Weaver series. 3.5
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

This book has it all, Spies, lies and love. An exciting book with so many twists it will keep you wanting more. An amazing book that will have you guessing until the very end. An excellent read.

A very interesting book to be sure. The cover really caught my eye, and I'm glad Netgalley sent me an email recommending these books. An above average mystery thriller in new locales, with interesting characters and a good plot.

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The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer is an espionage novel set in the early 2000s. The novel involves the fictional “tourism” department of the CIA and it is the first book in the Milo Weaver series.

Milo Weaver got himself a desk job with the CIA, leaving behind his field position as a “tourist”, an undercover agent in a secret department within a secret organization. But you never really “leave” the tourism department, when old cases start to float Milo realizes he has to go undercover again.

Going undercover takes a heavy toll on Milo’s marriage and family. Milo’s wife and daughter had had enough, and he keeps them in the dark for their own protection.

I always enjoy a good espionage book and The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer is no exception. It is fast, well written with twists galore.

The job of an undercover agent takes a toll not only on Milo Weaver, but on his family as well. Keeping secrets from his wife and daughter does not bode well with them and we are privy to their private conversations, and even the therapy sessions between husband and wife. This aspect makes the story, albeit fictional, more realistic and we come to see the characters as flawed humans doing their best to stay afloat, save their marriage and family.

Even though there is action in this book, it’s not a shoot’em up, kiss-kiss-bang-bang type of story. The plot centers around loyalties being tested in a world where you can trust no one, and no one trusts you.

This novel is the full package though, it is compelling, articulate and the struggle of Milo to balance his difficult, secretive, work with the important part of his life, his family, really comes across. The novel is marketed as a Milo Weaver series, but this is a standalone novel, even though there are more to come.

This novel is definitely in league with the top echelon of espionage novels. The good guys aren’t really “good”, the bad guys aren’t really “bad” and they’re all in the same line of work.

This was okay. Milo is a spy who leaves the business. He is drawn back into the business to try and find an assassin code named Tiger. I could not get into the story even though the book was well written. There seem to be a lot of introspection with the characters. I will read the next two I was given them for an honest review. Maybe the story will grab in the next one. I would try it; you might enjoy it. A lot of people did. It just did not grab me. I voluntarily reviewed this book.

Milo Weaver is the star of the book. He was an operative for the CIA, a "tourist" who is now retired. His life settled down and he's married, living a fairly conventional life.

He's been called upon to do one last job and this takes us into the seedy life of hired killers and political intrigue. It's interesting enough to keep me reading and look forward to the next book in the trilogy.  These books have been compared to the works of John LeCarre and Graham Greene but Steinhauer was more enjoyable for me to read.  If you enjoy thrillers and espionage yu'll like this book.

I recency read the director of the Borne Identity is collaborating to make a move based on Milo Weaver and Olen Steinhauer's books.  That's a movie I will definitely want to see.

Much thanks to <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">Netgalley</a>. This book was published in March  2009 but I am just discovering it through NetGalley.   Opinions are mine and I was not compensated.   More about <a href="http://www.olensteinhauer.com/">Olen Steinhauer HERE</a>

This is the first book by the author that I have read and is the first in a series. 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 would not continue with the other two books in the series except that I have committed to reading them through Net Galley. Hopefully, they will be an improvement and if not, I will slog my way through them over the next few months mixing in more interesting reading.

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.

The Tourist, by Olen Steinhauer, relates the exploits of spy Milo Brenner, through six years of his life. Without giving away any spoilers, Milo has a family, and they become the center of his life and his thoughts. For anyone involved in espionage, this is a choke point exploitable by any adversary. And therein the adventure lies for him.

I found the story to be well told and this book kept my interest throughout. As a bestselling espionage author myself (DS Kane's Spies Lie series, nine books long), I can recommend this book and this series Olen Steinhauer has written.

At first the book was hard to get interested in but after the 3 or 4 characters I could not put it down
I will recommend it to my friends

"The Tourist" was quite good and it was much more complex and involved than I had expected. The use of "Tourist" as an euphemism for a CIA assassin was quite amusing. Milo Weaver was an interesting protagonist. Because the book focuses considerable attention on specific points in his life, as well as later providing a more detailed picture of his life, the reader, by the end of the book, gets a good sense of who is "Milo", but there are aspects of him that are still unclear. It is also interesting to learn what he knows, what he wants to know, and what information he seems not to care about not knowing. The author does a good job of utilizing national and international events and politics, including the old Cold War US-Soviet Union/Russia rivalry and the more recent frosty relationship between the US and a rising China in the post-Cold War world, as well as the rivalry among US intelligence agencies, specifically the CIA and Homeland Security. While many of the mysteries in the book are resolved by the end of the book, there are unresolved pieces and a change in focus for Milo that set-up a sequel.

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

The Tourist is a fast paced spy story with twists and turns galore! A Tourist is a CIA operative who is under cover, has no home or identity (or many identies, none of them real). Tourists carry out operations that the CIA denies if caught. Milo Weaver is the Tourist of the title, and he has retired from the field to become a manager in the office instead, which is better if you want a wife, a family and a life. But Milo gets caught up in the search for a terrorist known as the Tiger, and the search will challenge everyone and everything Milo believes.

It took me a little while to get into The Tourist but it's worth the wait. Once I was hooked I couldn't put the book down. I had to know what happened to Milo and his associates, The tantalizing hints about his past kept me up at night. I even started to question the identity of his wife! Trust no one! Tell no one!

The Tourist is a great book, and I am now reading the next in the series. Thank you to Netgalley for giving me an early reader copy, and getting me hooked!

A great spy mystery that has more twists and turns than any book I have read. the plot is confusing at times because I don't know who are the good guys- they all seem bad! I could not put it down and U am looking forward to the next two books!

I enjoyed reading this book. It it a interesting story. The characters are described well. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Milo Weaver has tried to leave his old life of secrets and lies behind by giving up his job as a “tourist” for the CIA—an undercover agent with no home, no identity. He's now married with a wife and daughter to protect. But when the arrest of a long-sought-after assassin sets off an investigation into a colleague, exposing new layers of intrigue in his old cases, he has no choice but to go back undercover and find out who’s been behind it all.
"The Tourist" includes dozens of layers. Just when I thought I had the mystery figured out, another twist returned me to sleuthing. I kept guessing until the very end. In addition to the spy mystery, I also liked the psychological aspect of uncovering Milo's family secrets.
There were a lot of characters and plots to keep straight, though. A character list in the front of the book would have been helpful.
I would read more books in this series. They're entertaining, clever and intriguing.

This was one of the few spy novels I have ever read. I found it to be well written but there were a lot of people. I typically don’t read spy/politically inclined novels as I get a bit lost with all the levels of government and whose who.
I did enjoy the storyline and the twists and turns of intrigue and betrayal. It sure brings to mind the saying “don’t trust anyone!” This book didn’t bring out any emotions in me it was a fairly straight forward read.
If you like spy novels this would be a good book to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and and author for the opportunity to read and review this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
This is a new author to me. I do not normally read espionage but I have to say, I enjoyed reading “The Tourist.” This is a espionage thriller that focuses on spies in the Cold War era. Full of mystery, intrigue, interesting characters and action packed.
This is the first book in the series and I plan on reading the next two.