Reviews

The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer

lurdesabruscato's review

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5.0

Fast-paced, mysterious, keeps you guessing. A classic spy novel done well. The lead character, Milo, tugs at you from the beginning. Very enjoyable.

singsthewren's review

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3.0

I read this for my book club - it's not the kind of book I normally gravitate towards. I have read a few spy thrillers in the past, but it's a genre I usually prefer to watch. I find the action sequences more interesting on screen, and often it seems like new information is 'discovered' by just sort of... asking someone? And they just tell you? And I find that really boring to read. The 'reveal' of information by dialogue makes my eyes drift closed...

That being said, overall I did like the book, though I don't plan to continue the series. I thought the characters were really well done and that got me through a lot of the less interesting passages. I particularly liked the final part of the book, where we got to see the story unfold from a bunch of different perspectives.

The book definitely suffered from the pace at which I was reading it - because I was devouring about 100 pages in a go and then not picking it up for a week, by the time I got back to it I had forgotten character names (I'm never great with names which I think is part of why this genre doesn't play well for me), so there would be a big reveal that X character had turned out to be involved and I was like.. who is that?! There were two Russian characters and I thought they were the same person for about 3/4 of the book (boy, was I confused...)! So, yeah. I am not great with spy mysteries.

If you like this style of book I think you would really like this one. It was intelligent and fun and the twists were believable but still surprising.

charmainesbooks's review

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3.0

The book was ok It had some good twists like a good mystery should, but it just didn't hold my attention. I wasn't waiting in anticipation to see what would happen next and therefore it took a really long time to finish the book because it was easy to put the book down & not come back to it for weeks at a time.

juliebcooper's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars. Looking forward to the next in the series. This was a reliable page turner and the intrigue kept my attention glued to my kindle on the subway these past few days. Recommended for those who enjoy spy novels!

adamrshields's review

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4.0

Good spy thriller. It is set up for a new book at the end. It is in the vain of the best of the Bourne books (I only read the originals not the new ones). I listened to this as an audiobook off of Audible.com and the narration was very good.

dozylocal's review

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I wasn't really in the mood for this book, so it took me a little longer than usual to get into it. Howver, I quite enjoyed it in the end. It's a spy story with the usual twists and turns and mysteries and deception. Probably good for a holiday beach read :)

peneloperea's review

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3.0

I love a good spy story and was honestly excited to start The Tourist. Sadly it’s taken me 20 plus days to finish it. I just could not stay engaged.

I found Miles Weaver, CIA, interesting to follow but the twist became so intertwined that I almost needed a nitro to keep track of what was going on. I’m not a fan of working that hard to read a book. I want to be enveloped in the world, I don’t want to put the book aside for a week just to figure out if I’m enjoying it or frustrated by it. I found myself pushing this one aside more than wanting to finish it.

I’m sure many will enjoy The Tourist and any future novels but I’m not one of them.

Thank you St. Matrin’s Press & NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for my honest review.

blackshirt's review

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3.0

Not the most upbeat spy novel, but a good read.

codydickson's review

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4.0

Tons of fun, multiple twists, a true spy novel

rsvp2sanjay's review

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2.0

Convoluted plot. Decent writing but I prefer the author's older writings in post-war eastern Europe. I liked the atypical ending.