The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer
The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer was a good, but convoluted spy novel. This is the first Olen Steinhauer novel I have read and expect to read more of his books.
The story is about Milo Weaver, an ex-Tourist for the CIA. Tourists are globe trotting CIA secret agents who are in the field for years traveling from one assignment to another. They are different from your typical secret agents who have a home base that they always return to. Tourists are always on holiday.
Milo still works for the CIA as a travel agent supervisor. He has a pet project tracking a notorious assassin called the Tiger. Milo and the Tiger have crossed paths in the past when Milo was a Tourist. The Tiger allows himself to get caught and interviewed by Milo before he commits suicide. The Tiger reveals his unknown primary client has infected him with HIV and knows that the Tiger won’t get treatment since he is a Christian Scientist. The Tiger wants Milo to track down the mysterious client. This sets Milo offer on a worldwide quest to track down the Tiger’s benefactor. Milo’s investigation is hindered by the fact he is now a family man with a wife and daughter.
The tourism concept was cleaver. I can’t think of another plot that has secret agents pretending to be perpetual tourists managed by travel agents. It reminded me a bit of the BBC series, The Sandbaggers in the sense that The Tourist dealt with the human aspect of being a secret agent.
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