A review by plan2read
An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer

3.0

This third installment in the series was disappointing and anti-climatic as compared to his previous books. By now, Milo Weaver appears as a beleaguered mash-up of Jack Bauer and Sydney Bristow, half secret agent and half family man anxious to protect and return to his loved ones. Here his previously fine-tuned spy skills are in decline, as is the status of the off-the-books intelligence department he works for. The story draws in characters and plot lines from the previous two books which can be alternately satisfying and confusing, and while shifting allegiances and variable perspectives are trademark moves by this author, this time the multiple views weighed down the story by keeping the main character at arms’ length throughout. The book’s saving grace was the hope it holds out for a bigger plot pay-off in the next book.