Review by New York Times Review
THE IMPOSTOR: A Trae Story, by Javier Cercas. Translated by Frank Wynne. (Vintage, $17.) For three decades, Enric Marco, a Catalan mechanic, was a prominent public face of Spanish survivors of the Holocaust - until his story was revealed to be a hoax. Cercas unravels the horrific, yet wildly successful, lie, raising questions about the truth and its consequences and investigating the uneasy kinship he felt with the disgraced man. THE WAITER, by Matias Faldbakken. Translated by Alice Menzies. (Scout Press, $16.) At the Hills, a fusty fine-dining restaurant in Oslo, the title character goes off the rails. Rattled by patrons whose preferences endanger the old guard, the waiter, who prided himself on his impeccable presentation and service, descends into neurosis: mixing up orders, giving nonsensical answers. BUILT: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures, by Roma Agrawal. (Bloomsbury, $18.) A pioneering engineer behind some of the world's tallest towers shares her enthusiasm and appreciation for her craft. The "engineered universe is a narrative full of stories and secrets," Agrawal writes, and the book unveils many of the discipline's solutions to the world's problems. The astonishing ingenuity of engineers makes for fascinating reading. DAYS OF AWE: Stories, by A. M. Flomes. (Penguin, $17.) The absurd and the delicate live side by side in these 12 selections, all shot through with Homes's brand of dark humor. The title story follows a war reporter and a novelist who meet at a conference on genocide (one whose intentions are somewhat undercut by its corporate sponsors) and carry on an affair. Our reviewer, Ramona Ausubel, praised the collection, writing that "everything has a sharp edge, is strikingly beautiful and suddenly also a little menacing." SQUEEZED: Why Our Families Can't Afford America, by Alissá Quart. (Ecco/HarperCollins, $16.99.) Quart coins the term the "Middle Precariat" to describe the swath of Americans whose financial situations are increasingly tenuous. Many of the families she interviews speak of the guilt and shame they feel about their circumstances, though the book makes an argument that personal discipline is not to blame. THE MIDDLEMAN, by Olen Steinhauer. (Picador, $18.) A timely new thriller imagines what would happen if an organized anticapitalist fervor swept the United States. One day, hundreds of Americans across the country simply vanish, raising fears that the organization, known as the Massive Brigade, is actually a terrorist group. Though Steinhauer asks political questions, they don't get in the way of suspense.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 30, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Cold War spy fiction had one big advantage: The pace of change was relatively slow. How can a writer keep up in today's turbulent world? Steinhauer (All the Old Knives, 2015) doesn't chase current events but still somehow captures the zeitgeist. In The Middleman, the mostly young followers of a movement known as the Massive Brigade suddenly begin disappearing but where have they gone and what are they planning? With their absence itself seeming like a threat, FBI Special Agent Rachel Proulx leads an investigation fraught with unknowns. The two putative leaders of the decentralized movement are enigmas, their intentions hard to decipher, and when the first shots are fired, they lead not to catharsis but more puzzlement. Steinhauer is a master at layering gray upon gray, motive upon motive, and, as the months sweep past and the country is swept by a wave of massive protests, the question becomes whether the real war is on the streets or in the institutions policing them. Yes, this features the trappings of a thriller shoot-outs, international locales, a looming sense of threat, sudden reversals but the biggest thrills are the subtlest ones. (Watch for the surprising way Steinhauer connects The Middleman to his Tourism novels featuring Milo Weaver.) Though his earliest fictions were set behind the Iron Curtain, Steinhauer proves himself an equally adept chronicler of a world in which walls have come down and the most potent powers aren't necessarily political. Another must-read from a modern master. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With an announced 150,000-copy run and a major promotional campaign, the publisher will ensure nobody misses Steinhauer's first book in three years.--Graff, Keir Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This smart polemical thriller from bestseller Steinhauer (All the Old Knives) starts off strong, but loses its way. On June 18, 2017, hundreds of people around the U.S. get a call, then discard their phones, credit cards, IDs-and disappear. They are members of the Massive Brigade, a cult organized by social justice revolutionary Martin Bishop. He believes American politics has failed, and repairing it requires radical change, which appears to come about when simultaneous political assassinations are carried out at July 4 celebrations around the country. Steinhauer has captured a very contemporary, very American angst-"people are going to have to pull a trigger, just to be heard"-but the book's muddled second half will leave many readers frustrated because the polarities aren't that clear. Rachel Proulx, an earnest FBI agent, is obviously one of the good guys, but the ostensible bad guys are less well-delineated-and the denouement is unsatisfying. Steinhauer fans will hope for a return to form next time. 150,000-copy first printing. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gernert Co. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Steinhauer (The Tourist) opens his new stand-alone with disappearances. Kevin Moore walks away from his life in what resembles a call to domestic terrorism. A man picks him up and proceeds to another scheduled pickup, making it clear that the call is coordinated, and the disappearance is collective. A heated political argument at a party escalates into a physical altercation; a marriage begins to crumble, and days later, the wife has become one of the hundreds of vanished. At the root of these disparate events is Martin Bishop-rumored to lead a leftist revolution dubbed Massive Brigade against America's ruling elite. Special Agent Rachel Proulx, once tasked with keeping tabs on fringe groups, leads an investigation into Martin's group. Rachel's task force has meager resources until an astounding event on July 4 sends the FBI and the country spinning into another gear. -VERDICT -Steinhauer has written an unnerving and timely thriller with incredible pivots. From a perspective on activist/terrorist civilian organizations to an examination of Big Brother conspiracy plots, there's something here for everyone to grip-with white knuckles. [See Prepub Alert, 2/1/18.]-Julie Kane, Washington & Lee Lib., Lexington, VA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A thoroughly modern thriller, as real as the news."The Massive Brigade," an organization similar to the Occupy movement, has captured the attention of the media and the people. Rolling Stone runs a profile, and the FBI takes notice. When a phone tip reveals the Brigade has cached a Stinger missile, it crosses the line from protest movement to terrorist threat. The FBI, in the person of Special Agent Rachel Proulx, arrives at a party too late to arrest the Brigade's leaders, Martin Bishop and Ben Mittag, and they disappear into the American landscape, along with about 400 of their followers, who similarly vanish. The FBI has an undercover agent, Kevin Moore, among the vanished, permitting the plot to follow the dual tracks of the FBI's efforts to find the Brigade and the Brigade's internal turmoil, which meet in a shootout. The media declares victory for the FBI, careers are advanced, and the movement seems dismantled. But the FBI's subsequent account of the bloodbath, at first kept secret and then released only because of public pressure, differs from the experiences of Proulx and Moore. The two unite in hopes of uncovering who is being protected and why, and the Massive Brigade survives, in some form, to play a role in the denouement. Steinhauer (All the Old Knives, 2015, etc.) is a veteran, a real pro; the issues raised in this well-paced thriller are serious and timely, and the characters are believable and likable. But the targets of the Brigade, corporate conspiracy and the protection of the rich from public scrutiny, never quite reach a viscerally threatening level, and the individuals who conspire to preserve the status quo seem merely bureaucratically venal.A professional and entertaining thriller a little short on menace. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
