Unfortunately, the story that he tells fell a little short for me in this book.New York Times bestselling author Olen Steinhauer‘s newest standalone thriller, THE MIDDLEMAN, follows the people on all sides of a domestic terrorist group, from the group’s converts to the FBI agents investigating them. Ari Fliakos is a fantastic narrator, and that's worth noting. I didn't have an issue with that, and I can appreciate novels on either side of the aisle, but I there are those people who do not like reading books that are very obviously opposite of them politically, so keep that in mind. There is an obvious left-leaning narrative behind the words. Also, for those of you who don't like books with a specific political bend then beware. It just kind of ended without too much pomp and circumstance. The ending isn't predictable, but I wasn't shocked or surprised. This one did not, as much as I wanted and hoped it would. I am used to books that make it impossible to put down or impossible to stop listening. There are some interesting parts of the book, but it wasn't able to hold my attention. I typically read thrillers, and this is advertised as a thriller, but I definitely didn't feel like it was. This was a different kind of book for me. I've just walked away from the last couple Steinhauer novels wishing he would have spent a bit more time amping up the paranoia, setting the mood, building the characters and less time worrying what Hollywood would buy. I'm trying to obliquely criticize a pretty good domestic terrorism/spy thriller that backs into the Tourist zone. I would rather re-read The Yalta Blvd sequence than the Tourist trilogy, but those (Yalta Blvd) novels aren't likely to be optioned into movies. I look back at his earliest novels as his best. Seriously, I think Steinhauer has the talent but either just not the interest or the money (or both) to step it up. Good spy fiction just not compelling literature. But I think he is happy to stay close to Robert Harris level. I keep hoping for Steinhauer to step up a level to John le Carré or even Don DeLillo, perhaps. “That is why fiction existed, as a way to look at the world without being broken by it.” Olen Steinhauer, The Middleman I'm an Olen Steinhauer completist again. What Rachel uncovers will shock the entire nation, and the aftermath of her investigation will reverberate through the FBI to the highest levels of government. But she needs her colleagues to take her seriously in order to find these people before they put their plan - whatever it is - into action. Special Agent Rachel Proulx has been following the growth of left-wing political groups in the US since the fall of 2016, and is very familiar with Martin Bishop, the charismatic leader of the Massive Brigade. But are they a protest organization, a political movement, or a terrorist group? What do they want? The FBI isn't taking any chances. The movement calls itself the Massive Brigade, and they believe change isn't coming fast enough to America. Former military, disaffected, restless, Kevin leaves behind his retail job in San Francisco, sends a good-bye text to his mother, dumps his phone and wallet into a trash can, and disappears. Where have they gone? Why? The only answer, for weeks, is silence. They leave behind cell phones, credit cards, jobs, houses, families - everything - all on the same day. One day in the early summer of 2017, about 400 people disappear from their lives. In The Middleman, Olen Steinhauer, New York Times best-selling author of 10 titles, including The Tourist and The Cairo Affair, delivers a compelling portrait of a nation on the edge of revolution, and the deepest motives of the men and women on the opposite sides of the divide. Ari Fliakos calmly narrates while capturing colorfully the array of characters in this multilayered book." ( Washington Post) "Steinhauer once again demonstrates his mastery in creating suspense.
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