Novelist Olen Steinhauer offers up a standalone effort,
not part of his Tourist series, with
the complex novel, The Cairo Affair which
features a ripped from today’s headlines back drop of the Arab Spring.
Steinhauer tells the story of a murdered diplomat, his
traitorous wife and the inner workings and relationships involved in spy tradecraft
from multiple perspectives. Like the layers of an onion, he skillfully peels
back the details of the story, revealing new information as he serves up the
same story from a variety of perspectives.
He drops the hammer early when a mild mannered American
diplomat, Emmett Kohl confronts his wife about an affair in French restaurant
in Hungary of all places when they are confronted by a large, dark figure who
grunts to Kohl, that he is “here for you.” A couple of muted pistol blasts and
the story is launched.
If you like your spy novels with a healthy dose of adrenaline
laden action then you may find The Cairo
Affair a bit plodding in its presentation, but I found Steinhauer’s crafty
use of steadily chumming the water with new bits of story an interesting way to
build tension into the story makes this a winning effort.
No comments:
Post a Comment