This is an excellent story involving international black operations by a commercial company that picked up a shuttered government program. It has many interesting and imaginative ideas, and a broad range of very unique characters. Human nature, both good and bad drives the narrative. The writing was great on descriptions, but caused me a little confusion as the narrative shifted between third person, voice of God, and first person. First person would start in a chapter and it took several pages to figure out who was telling the story.. Other than that, a great book..

The Last Tourist is likely to be a homerun for fans of the series already familiar with this world. Coming in without prior context doesn't mean one can't enjoy it, but I found myself getting lost with the myriad characters. This is no fault of the author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I received a free copy of this book from the author. I had the opportunity to review or not.

I had a difficult time following this book. I also got tired of the Trump bashing. I did enjoy “The Tourist” so I tried to plow through this book. But I couldn’t get through it. Sorry Olen, but enough is enough. If I want to read a political book - I will buy one.

Not for me. I should not have taken a spy novel to review. I thought I would try spy novels again. My mistake

I thought after reading the first book that it couldn’t get any better but I’m here to tell you that it has! This is a thrilling page turner that I had a tough time putting down! I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves secret service, spy, thrillers. Thanks for a great book!

I'll start this review by noting that I haven't read any of the other books in the Milo Weaver series (although I may now). That didn't really cause me a problem with this book, I didn't feel lost because of un-read past events at all. But I would now like to read more about them.

The book starts with a CIA analyst who travels to Africa to interview someone named Milo Weaver. The analyst knows very little about Milo, or about operations, and he is not sure why he was sent. Things quickly get out of control, and together we learn what was happening to Milo Weaver, as well as a plot affection multiple governments.

This was very politically current, and I loved how modern politics fit so well into the story. There are lots of characters, and there is a LOT going on. I loved it, and it kept me interested from beginning to end.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Olen Steinhauer, and St. Martin's Press, Monitaur. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

I have tackled this novel on three different occasions, even worked up a cheat sheet with the many characters defined, and still found it too. Too busy, too peopled, too convoluted. I think that in order to keep up with our protagonist Milo Weaver in The Last Tourist one must have read the previous three novels. The mystery itself was well hidden, and I enjoyed several of the characters involved with solving it, just wish there had been fewer of them...
pub date Mar 24, 2020
St. Martin's Press - Monitaur Press

I really enjoyed the three previous Milo Weaver books. I loved the start of this one as well. I was able to keep up with the first two-thirds, without any difficulties. The last third became a bit confusing honestly, and somewhat tried my patience.

Having said that, I spent much of the time trying to decipher which company, and which billionaire in the book represented which person in real life. Many news stories are represented truthfully here, so this novel reads like a non-fiction account of spies, governments, and atrocities.

In some ways it lends itself to a 5th book in the series, but I do hope the convoluted nature of the most of the last third, dwindles in any future endeavors.

I have read the whole Tourist series and was very excited to receive a copy through netgalley. While found this volume to be a little more confusing than than the previous books it contained the theme of a spy trying to balance a job that he is committed to with a home life that he feels is important but not as comfortable. Secondary characters as usual are fascinating. It feels like the series is drawing to an end but I hope for at least one more before the next series.

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Last Tourist by Olen Steinhauer is the fourth novel following ex-CIA assassin Milo Weaver. Mr. Steinhauer is a writer, TV show creator who has been nominated for several awards.

Milo Weaver, the reluctant spy, finds himself facing a CIA analyst about 10 years after the Department of Tourism, CIA’s silent assassins, was disbanded. The two find themselves on the run when a new breed of Tourists tries to kill them both.

Trying to figure out what’s going on Milo recruits several of his friends, and enemies, from the past. Milo, however, has an advantage, he is in charge of The Library, a UN entity his departed father built which acts as a secret intelligence gathering organization, and shares its findings with only 12 countries.

I don’t know how Mr. Steinhauer is able to write such quality books so fast, it’s a good thing because he uses current events as backgrounds which makes the story better (a difficult task because it could easily age a story, or make it ridiculous). In The Last Tourist, author Olen Steinhauer manages to pull off another fascinating chapter in the saga of Milo Weaver, a reluctant ex-CIA assassin who found happiness in the life of a family man.
Only that his past comes to haunt him and doesn’t let him enjoy his peace.

One of the things I really enjoy about the Milo Weaver series, is that it’s like following an exciting chess match between governments and their operatives. Each one trying to outmaneuver the other, sacrificing pawns if necessary, and even generals when the objective must be met.

Much like the previous book in the series, Milo Weaver is almost a supporting cast member in this world of intrigue and manipulation. He does pull the strings that he controls, but let’s others do the work. Weaver is a complex character, he has his faults and somehow seems likeable nonetheless.

The storyline itself is exciting, full of betrayals, double crosses and plot twists galore. Like the previous books in the series, the author doesn’t bother to summarize everything in the beginning, laying it all out for the reader in a nice, neat package.

The author doesn’t not feed the reader clues, but asks for full attention while the story is told .The reader is trying to figure out the chessboard much like Weaver and his friends are, even though they are all playing together, but also against one another. Eventually you get fed the relevant information, but you probably already figured it by yourself.

This book is another solid entry in the series, any fan of espionage thrillers would enjoy the story and the entire series for that matter. I did miss the Milo Weaver playlist though.

This is an ambitious attempt to update the traditional spy story to modern times - when climate change is the biggest threat to people and international corporations have somewhat taken the place of countries in running the world. Milo, our hero, is more world-weary than George Smiley but somehow still optimistic (or naive) enough to keep up the good fight. The plot twists and turns and twists back on itself, large portions of the story are told through flashbacks, and the book, while mainly from Milo's viewpoint, also shifts back and forth to a handful of other characters.

All in all, I found it to be a good book, and a fine addition to the spy fiction genre.

This is my second attempt with this author and his incredibly convoluted spy stories are just not for me. I won’t try a third time. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3 stars. The premise of this story is so far fetched that it stretches the imagination. Milo Weaver is the head of a secret group called "The Library." The Library is a secret intelligence sharing group of 12 countries based in a secret part of UN headquarters in New York city.
The 12 countries are Germany, Luxembourg, Iceland, Kenya, Bangladesh, Ghana, Portugal, Algeria,South Korea, Lebanon and Chile. They send intelligence to the Library, which stores and collates it, building up patterns of information. They then use this information to get favors from China, US, Russia and the UK. Some of the information that they have is hard to believe, i.e., secret codes of Japanese intelligence.
However, if you accept this premise, then it is an exciting, suspenseful spy book full of betrayal, double crosses and many plot twists. This is book 4 in the series and it explains some of what happened in previous books. The Tourists were a group of CIA assassins who worked worldwide. It was disbanded after Chinese intelligence killed a couple dozen of them in 1 day.
One of the groups involved in this story is a private security contractor. Another is a internet app called Nexus, similar to Facebook.
Thanks to St Martin's Press for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.
#TheLastTourist

Published by Minotaur Books on March 24, 2020

Olen Steinhauer is a Plotmeister. The Last Tourist is set ten years after Steinhauer’s Milo Weaver novels, a trilogy that seemed to set up further adventures involving Weaver and a Chinese spy. Instead, The Last Tourist moves in multiple directions, involving Russians and Boko Haram, before it finally circles back to the Chinese and bounces around Europe. Yet the true villain in this novel isn’t a nation or a terrorist organization, a twist that sets The Last Tourist apart from most other spy thrillers, including the earlier Milo Weaver novels.

Since I read the first three novels only after they were recently rereleased, they were fresh in my mind when I read The Last Tourist. This review might spoil some surprises in the earlier novels, so you might not want to read the full review if you plan to read the earlier Milo Weaver novels before you read The Last Tourist. If you are wondering whether you should read those books before you tackle The Last Tourist, the answer for two reasons is yes. First, because the books are excellent. Second, because it’s necessary to read them to have a full appreciation of the new novel. The Last Tourist arguably stands alone, but it stands on one leg if you haven’t read its supporting structure.

The first and third sections are set in January 2019. Parts of those sections are told from the perspective of a young CIA analyst named Abdul Ghali, a first-generation Sahrawi-American. Ghali has been chosen to make contact with Milo Weaver, who is reported to be in the Western Sahara. Ghali has been told that Weaver is working with the Massive Brigade, a violent left-wing movement that was at the heart of Steinhauer’s The Middleman. At one point, it appears that Ghali was assigned to the job not just because he is Sahwari but because he is expendable. As if usually true in a Steinhauer novel, there is more to the CIA’s choice of Ghali than meets the eye, although the truth in this shadowy world is never quite clear.

Weaver tells his story to Ghali in the second section, which fills in the ten-year gap since the last Milo Weaver novel. Weaver took over his father’s role in the Library, a clandestine organization in the bowels of the United Nations that is funded by Germany and a few countries (like Iceland) that don’t have significant intelligence services of their own. He enlisted the help of his sister Alexandra and former Tourism director Alan Drummond. He tried but failed to enlist former Tourist Leticia Jones, but she nevertheless plays a key role in the story.

From clues provided by Kirill Egerov, a former colleague of Milo’s father who is killed before Milo can meet with him, Milo discovers that a new group of Tourists are conducting strategic assassinations. But the CIA disbanded its Tourism section after nearly all the Tourists were killed. Who are these new upstarts? Answering that question sends Milo on a treacherous journey. In the novel’s third part, Milo and the few helpers he manages to enlist try to use the answers to thwart a scheme that poses a new and credible threat to the free (and not-so-free) world.

Steinhauer keeps a number of balls spinning in the air, challenging the reader to understand how they are connected. They include: pirates who are sinking cargo ships in the Philippine Sea; kidnappings of young girls by the Boko Haram; the death of a dissident blogger in Moscow; a successful communications app with undefeatable encryption; an activist for Massive Brigade who may or may not have a plan to threaten the world’s industrialists during their annual gathering at Davos; and the fate of Erica Schwartz, the alcoholic head of German intelligence who was a prominent character in two of the earlier novels.

Milo is a fascinating character because he comes full circle during the course of the four novels. In the beginning, he is an amoral killer, carrying out assassination without question because the CIA views them as necessary. After seeing the consequences of his work, and after fearing for the lives of his wife and daughter, he comes to believe that implementing foreign policy with a bullet is more harmful than helpful. Or at least, he comes to believe that his own priorities leave no room for a life of violence. By the end of The Last Tourist, Milo has changed again, adding nuance to his understanding of his role in the geopolitical world. He is no longer a remorseless killer, but he is no longer deferring moral decisions to amoral people.

Letitia undergoes a similar transformation. She also starts as a Tourist, then becomes a freelance assassin, then gains a moral sense from her revulsion to the rape and kidnapping of children by Boko Haram. Her new ethics are informed not by a rejection of violence but by a rejection of collateral damage. Even Ghali, who begins as a loyal CIA analyst and ends with a broad understanding of new risks that the world faces — some of them posed by the CIA — undergoes a transformation that compels him to make a difficult and inspiring decision.

Steinhauer is able to cram abundant plot and characterization into The Last Tourist, a novel of ordinary length, by eliminating every word that might be unnecessary. The story is a smart balance of plot development, action, characterization and atmosphere, without a hint of padding. The Last Tourist is every bit as impressive as the trilogy that preceded it, further cementing Steinhauer as the best of America’s current spy novelists.

RECOMMENDED

A fast entertaining read that will appeal to thriller fans. While much of it is, well, implausible, it's a good diversionary read, It's also as much about Abdul, who is unaccountably sent to find Milo Weaver, who is hiding out, as it is about Milo, which I liked immensely, These two find themselves on the run from the bad guys (lots of action). There's a global conspiracy, some things that will no doubt echo with you, and great page turning. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I read this as a standalone and very much enjoyed it.

The Last Tourist begins as a reluctant spy thriller but soon transforms into a high-octane chase across the world. Who can you trust when everyone is wearing a dark gray hat?

Abdul is abruptly yanked out of his CIA desk job. He is sent to the remote Western Sahara in Northern Africa to ask a man twenty questions. Milo works for the UN but has ties to a terrorist organization, the Massive Brigade. Milo’s father reportedly ran The Library, a massive data trove for terrorists hidden within UN. After his father’s death, Milo inherited the job but updated its mandate to be more active. The interview is swiftly interrupted by gunfire. Abdul is faced with a choice. Run away with Milo or stay and take his chances. After seeing his only in-country contact dead, he chooses Milo and his life is changed forevermore.

Ultimately, why was Abdul called up for this duty? Is it because his family is from this area? Or because his brother died nearby nearly ten years earlier? As Milo soon explains, “Now I know why then sent you. You’re expendable.”

The Last Tourist is a thrilling fish-out-of-water tale. Abdul is the perfect clueless everyman running lost in the maze of spycraft. It definitely will take your mind of pandemics, money troubles, and lack of toilet paper for a while. 5 stars!

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Welcome back, Milo, you've been missed. Not that Olen Steinhauer's stand-alone thrillers in your eight-year absence have been inferior, not at all. It's just that the best protagonists in spy thrillers are a terrific gateway into a story. I've always thought Milo was an excellent craftsman, in the company of Gregg Hurwitz' Nowhere Man, who's a little too gear-obsessed, and Charles McCarry's Paul Christopher, perhaps excessively cerebral. In this one, just when he thought he was done with The Tourists, Milo finds that he's pulled back in -- shades of Michael Corleone. I will say, however, that this plot demands your attention; some may even find it too labyrinthian for their tastes. But let me ask you: These days, what else have you got to do?

THE LAST TOURIST
Olen Steinhauer
Minotaur Books
ISBN 978-1-250-03621-6
Hardcover
Thriller

It is nice to have Milo Weaver back after several years. The “Tourist” books --- THE TOURIST, THE NEAREST EXIT, and AN AMERICAN SPY --- appeared to be a trilogy, particularly when author Olen Steinhauer subsequently published a trio of stand-alone works, seemingly leaving the world of Milo Weaver behind. Fans of the Weaver books will rejoice in this latest installment, though its complexity and reliance upon what has gone before almost demand a review of the prior novels before jumping into this one.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Weaver was a somewhat disenchanted CIA agent who ran a group of CIA-trained assassins who quietly and effectively solved problems in a manner that avoided recidivism. That program was suddenly brought to a halt. Weaver, with some other retired agents, subsequently put together something called The Library. It is an intelligence clearinghouse of sorts, gathering hard and soft information and selling it by subscription to the select group of nations who fund it. The arrangement works well until two things happen. One is that the member nations decide that they want more bang for their buck. Weaver pushes back and the parties are at a bit of an impasse. Shortly thereafter it appears that someone has started up The Tourists again and is doing so with a vengeance. It is not Weaver, of course, and it in fact appears that he is a target. There is an anarchist terrorist group in the mix as well. Weaver and his family go into hiding. The CIA wants information from Weaver, and after locating him --- it is really, really hard to hide these days --- sends a low-level desk jockey analyst named Abdul Ghali to Weaver’s hidey-hole in a backwater Third World country with a list of questions that cover several topics. Ghali feels outclassed, and he is, at least at first. Sending him on such a mission is a mystery to both Ghali and the reader, though the reason is ultimately made (somewhat) clear as THE LAST TOURIST develops into a book that is almost as much about Ghali as it is about Weaver. The two men go through most of Ghali’s set of questions when they are suddenly attacked and find themselves on the run. Weaver wants to turn things around for the most basic of reasons. He’s not out to save or change the world. He simply wants to live safely with his family. That is going to be tough to do, given that there are very few people who he can trust. Some of them, especially the government types, have similar goals but for markedly different reasons, and as a result, there are a great number of activities occurring at cross-purposes with each other. There are twists and turns as past enemies become allies and vice versa, with the end result being that no one can really totally trust anyone else. Weaver, for his part, may be too nice a guy to ultimately succeed, given that the ultimate enemy behind the curtain is not who or what he thinks it is. It’s something much more powerful. Ghali, meanwhile, gets a couple of very major surprises as well as the last word in THE LAST TOURIST. No peeking.

THE LAST TOURIST is very complex but worth the ride if you can hang on. I made a great deal of use of the eBook “search” feature, given the number of characters in the book, as I had difficulty keeping track of everyone. Younger readers may have a different result. Steinhauer also stumbles when trying to draw his story within the confines of the real world, particularly with respect to certain aspects of American politics, where events have overtaken his narrative. That said, his concepts and displays of sleight-of-hand are fascinating and compelling from beginning to end. If he is inspired for some reason to return to Weaver’s world (if not Weaver himself) hopefully the urge will occur quickly, before the details of THE LAST TOURIST fade into the rearview mirror.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2020, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

It is a thrilling but complex spy novel that ties into the Last novel. I recommend that you read the previous novels.

Readers often love spy novels because of the superhero sophistication of the main characters or the high-tech gadgetry or the intra-agency intrigues or the action-adventure pyrotechnics. These elements are in short supply in Olen Steinhauer’s Tourist series – his characters are neither glamorous nor superficial. His intelligent stories turn more on geopolitics than office politics – as if the Deep State were operating on an international scale.

This book is the fourth in the series featuring Milo Weaver, a former CIA official who ran an underground operation called the Department of Tourism. That operation was disbanded, and Milo is now in disgrace and in hiding.

The Last Tourist uses a kind of bookend structure to update Milo’s story. The opening is narrated in the first person by Abdul, an analyst in the CIA’s Africa desk. Despite his lack of field experience, he is sent to the Western Sahara for a mysterious meeting. Abdul is not one of the book’s lead characters, and when we meet Milo and other former members of his Department of Tourism, the story switches to a third-person narrative.

If you, like me, believe that the United States is in fact governed by huge corporate entities, it should be easy to go along with one of Steinhauer’s premises: the phenomenon is global. We’re taught to see the world in the old terms of ethnic groups, languages and nationalities, according to Milo Weaver. “But those things aren’t the source of power any more. Money ignores borders. Corporations are the new nation-states.”

I really like smart writing that doesn’t talk down to readers, and Olen Steinhauer can always be counted on for that.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for an advance reader’s copy.