The Nearest Exit

By Olen Steinhauer

       “The Nearest Exit” continues the story of Milo Weaver that Olen Seinhauer began in “The Tourist.” Since then, Milo has done time in prison, tried counseling with his wife, and worked in the administration sector of The Department of Tourism. The counseling hadn’t gone well, because Milo was too used to keeping secrets to open up to anyone. His wife still believed he would never leave his family to travel for the department again.

Then, Milo’s boss, Thomas Granger, head of the Department of Tourism, is killed. Granger has left Milo a letter instructing him to find and eliminate a mole in the Department. Next, Milo is asked to go back into the field by Tourism’s newest head, Alan Drummond. He is given several assignments in Europe to test his loyalty. But Milo balks at killing s fifteen-year-old girl because he has a young daughter of his own. He goes though with kidnapping the girl, but instead of killing her, he negotiates a compromisewith his father, a Russian in the CIA. Yvgeny Primakov agrees to take the girl to a safe house and let her go when enough time has passed for her “assassins” to believe she’s dead.

“The Nearest Exit” is the genre at its best. The action and tension never stop from beginning to end. Milo Weaver leads the life of a typical fictional spy with one major exception. Weaver has a wife and child and is more human than others. He will take risks to save the innocent who wind up on the executioner’s block. But, as interesting as Milo Weaver is, there is the large probability that he won’t return from his next mission. So, meet Milo Weaver while you can. Read “The Nearest Exit” and make a new friend.