Liberation Movements A Novel

Liberation Movements A Novel

Product Description Olen Steinhauers acclaimed literary crime series set in a fictional country in Eastern Europe began in the heady post--World War II era and has taken readers from the first noise of revolution through to the chaos of the 1960s and 70s. The year is 1975, and one of the Peoples Militia homicide investigators is on a plane out of the capital, bound for Istanbul. The plane is hijacked by Armenian terrorists, but before the Turkish authorities can fulfill their demands, the plane explodes in midair. Two investigators---Gavra Noukas, a secret policeman,and Katja Drdova, a homicide detective---are assigned to the case. Both believe that Brano Sev, their enigmatic superior and himself a career secret policeman, is keeping them in the dark both about the details of the case and all its players and about the true motives of their investigation, but they cant figure out why. That is, until they learn that everything is connected to a seven-year-old murder, aseemingly insignificantmurder that has hadfar-reaching consequences. The politics and history for which Olen Steinhauers novels have been most praised turn intimate and highly compelling in this ambitious new novel. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Steinhauers dazzling fourth book in his series about various police and intelligence agents in an unnamed Communist-era Eastern European country gives a large role to Brano Sev, the seriously conflicted spy who starred in the previous entry, 36 Yalta Boulevard (2005). Sev sums up the new books theme when he says to a younger subordinate, Intelligence work is precisely what it saysits about intelligence. We are not murderers. Theres some irony here: we know that Sev has killed several people himself. But theres also an unexpected note of humanity, as Sev supervises the investigation by two junior agents of a murder in Russian-occupied Prague in 1968 thats later tied to a plane hijacked by Armenian terrorists on its way to Istanbul in 1975. Another new element is the Turkish capital, alive and yeasty compared to the drab, restricted home city of 36 Yalta Boulevard. And the emergence of a major female charactera homicide investigator looking for personal justiceshows how a skilled writer working at the top of his form can keep a series from faltering. (Aug.) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review Praise for Olen Steinhauer Steinhauer again displays his masterful manipulation of character, plot, and reader expectations. . . . A fast, intriguing read. Highly recommended. ---Library Journal (starred review) on Liberation Movements Dazzling . . . a skilled writer working at the top of his form. ---Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Liberation Movements Brano Sev is Steinhauers most intriguing hero yet, and thats saying something. . . . With its shifting perceptions, pervasive paranoia, and truly unpredictable plot, this will be savored by readers of well-crafted espionage ranging from Alan Furst to John le Carr. ---Booklist (starred review) on 36 Yalta Boulevard Steinhauers people are real, the crimes genuine, and he is telling larger truths about that era, making it unusually accessible. ---David Halberstam, Los Angeles Times, on 36 Yalta Boulevard A wonderfully taut tale that is part police procedural, part political thriller, part love story. . . . Steinhauer has created a vivid world in a lost time. ---The Washington Post Book World on The Confession A mesmerizing and richly atmospheric follow-up to his 2003 debut. ---Entertainment Weekly on The Confession The Confession is a clever reworking of the police procedural: The narrative-within-a-narrative exposes multiple levels of complicity and guilt that make this an affecting, sobering entry in one of the most inventive series around. --- Los Angeles Times on The Confession Th