36 Yalta Boulevard. Fiction Thriller Historical Fiction. They began in the 1940’s and by the time we reach 36 Yalta Boulevard (the fictitious address of the East European country’s --we never are quite sure which, but is typically Soviet Bloc-- spy service, the Ministry of State Security.) “You’re up here for work?”Brano closed the file. But who is doing it? ), One ingredient of a good spy thriller is a sense of mystery, with the reader and the main protagonist not really sure quite what is happening. Watching Brano Sev survive, often in spite of himself, is worth the ride. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. 3.8 out of 5. Now, nearing 50, Brano has been working for months on the assembly line at a factory as punishment for an espionage scandal that erupted after he was sent on assignment to Vienna. all the characters were very well drawn and the dialogue was top-notch. An ending that leaves you wanting a little more. The answers in 36 Yalta Boulevard, Olen Steinhauer's tour-de-force political thriller, teach Comrade Brano Sev that loyalty to the cause might be the biggest crime of all. This time he is to resume his job in State Security and travel to the village of his birth in order to interrogate a potential defector. Highly recommended." “ Stehen Sie auf! You’ll like this. An exciting ride of a book. Details . The answers in 36 Yalta Boulevard, Olen Steinhauer's tour de force political thriller, teach Comrade Brano Sev that loyalty to the cause might be the biggest crime of all. Have I put something bright into an otherwise dull day?You’ve put something bright into an otherwise dull life.Cerny tossed him the Kurier. 36 YALTA BOULEVARD Olen Steinhauer, Author. He reached in his pocket and handed over Brano’s old internal passport, marked with the crest of the Ministry: a hawk with folded wings, its head turned aside. Location. Skip this list. He then went to the Carp and got drunk.On the following Monday, he appeared for the first time at the Raiffeisen-bank and, as far as the agents could discern from their vantage on the other side of the lobby, opened an account. Just as you think you’ve got a handle on what is happening and why, the mirrors are shifted and a new view appears. Soroka began eating in specific restaurants and going to a limited number of bars—the Carp most often—and made brief friendships before dropping out of touch. Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group Edition: 1 He was not considered important enough to abduct—which, the report speculated, was probably a mistake, because on 18 November he returned to the American embassy and did not emerge again.Brano said, Who’s the Vienna rezident now?Cerny pressed his lips together. Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2010. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAR 28, 2005. ” Guttural, crisp. Well, when Josef Lochert reported that you’d attacked him and tried to sabotage the operation... what did you expect him to think?Thank you again, by the way, said Brano. --Library Journal (starred review), "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." There he discovers a spy ring, how people are getting out and telling secrets. This one -- 36 Yalta Boulevard -- is set during the 1960s when the Berlin Wall is the defining point between East & West in Europe and when unhappy citizens are seeking paths of escape from Romania. Still, I love this series. Not much of a spy thriller when you already know he will be captured multiple times. This book could have been titled "Loneliness and Confusion," or "Nobody is Happy With Their Life." 1st Edition . Strong, musty. In fact, in The Man from Yalta Boulevard, a tour-de-force political thriller from Olen Steinhauer, Comrade Brano Sev learns that loyalty to the cause might be the biggest crime of all. Again, I like Steinhauer for the settings - cold war eastern Europe. As soon as Brano gets to the village, a man is brutally murdered and all the physical evidence is pointing directly at Brano. (Unlike Milo) That's part of what makes Steinhauer so good. That’ll be a shock.”“It certainly will be.”He opened the file again as she walked away, and he looked at the top photograph, of a handsome man’s face—wide, with faint features.This was the reason for interrupting his day’s work—Jan Soroka. Soroka returned to the embassy the next day, for only an hour. A Literary Spy: … 36 Yalta Boulevard. “Those plates are from the Capital.”“That’s very good.”“So?”“Yes?”“Are you here on business?”“You’re very curious.”“My husband says it’ll get me into trouble one day.”“Visiting family,” he said. Set before the fall of the wall, it brings all that time back in a unique way. ---Washington Post Book World on The Confession, "A mesmerizing and richly atmospheric follow-up to his 2003 debut." the milieu of the place and time were well drawn. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. 36 Yalta Boulevard by Olen Steinhauer St. Martin’s Press ISBN: 0-312-33201-7 (hardcover) Reading Group Guide Questions 1. Only Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko series whisked me away behind the Iron Curtain. Read Anywhere. His wife and son have joined him there. ---Esquire, "Brano Sev is Steinhauer's most intriguing hero yet, and that's 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 Carré." A lot of twists and turns. The waitress, a large woman with a cleft lip, frowned a lot at him. From the author of New York Times bestseller The Tourist... Olen Steinhauer's first two novels, The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession, launched an acclaimed literary crime series set in post--World War II Eastern Europe. We’d love your help. 2. Please try your request again later. Era(s): 1960s. Just an oil rigger. ---Booklist (starred review), "Steinhauer is a master at entangling a compelling protagonist in a spellbinding web where each broken thread entraps the character (and the reader) in yet another mystery. The story starts with a man waking up in the park and having no knowledge of who he is or how he got there. 36 Yalta Boulevard $ 2.99. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. “From the Capital to Bóbrka. Buy Now X Buy from Amazon or your favourite bookseller. The plot gets a little repetitive. I don't like this five star rating system as three stars are average five stars are perfect and very few books are that way so four stars are above average and not perfect and it doesn't give you much leeway in rating the book it should be at least 8 in a 10 * system. Super good book. So when he gets a directive from his old bosses---the intimidating men above him at the Ministry of State Security, collectively known for the address of their headquarters on Yalta Boulevard, a windowless building consisting of blind offices and dark cells---he follows orders. During that five-hour visit, his hotel room was searched, but nothing of interest was found. 36 Yalta Boulevard. His childhood was not mentioned, nor his parents’ 1947 transfer to the Bóbrka Petroleum Works, though it was noted that in 1950, at sixteen, Jan was part of a Red Pioneer trip to the Capital to shake hands with General Secretary Mihai and see the sights. Digital Notes and Study Tools Built-in study tools include highlights, study guides, annotations, definitions, flashcards, and collaboration. It happens. Each book is set during a different decade (1940s - 1980s) and revolves around a cast of recurring characters working for the Ministry of State Security. '36 Yalta Boulevard' is another winning novel from Olen Steinhauer. And your car.” She nodded at the mud-grayed window. When he was twenty-three, Jan applied for and received permission to move to the Capital, where he advised the Central Gas Industry Committee as part of the industrial reform program Mihai had implemented the year before, in 1956, some months before his death. 36 Yalta Boulevard (Yalta Boulevard Quintet), Minotaur Books; First edition (July 11, 2006). His series of spy thrillers has been a delight to read. Sometimes people slip through your fingers. The Ministry called him back a few months later for a special assignment: to go back to the village he grew up in and find out why a dissident came back. He always does what he is told. What he did to you was what he thought he had to do.He wanted me in prison.Colonel Cerny shook the newspaper at him. This Reading Group Guide refers to Olen Steinhauer's first three books: The Bridge of Sighs, The Confession, and 36 Yalta Boulevard… Please try again. In fact, in 36 Yalta Boulevard, a tour-de-force political thriller from Olen Steinhauer, Comrade Brano Sev learns that loyalty to the cause might be the biggest crime of all. --James Clar, The Mean Streets In only his third novel, author Olen Steinhauer brings to mind the baroque, highly complicated … He now lives in Hungary with his wife and dau. Say, Brano, I don’t suppose you’d be interested in leaving this factory, would you?The waitress delivered his coffee with an arched brow. A little long and overdrawn in some places, but overall interesting. Even if that means leaving his post to work the assembly line in a factory, fitting electrical wires into gauges. Brano's realization that he was framed and is demoted from the Ministry (he is no longer a spy). Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. The end was very good given the perspective of an Eastern European under the sway of a client state in the Eastern Bloc during the Soviet period. He had reached his fiftieth year the previous month with fewer scars than he deserved, and owned the same white Trabant P50 he had bought ten years before. There were the regular sights—the Stephansdom, the MAK, the Schönbrunn Palace—and bars where one might run into one’s own countrymen, the most well known being the Carp, on Sterngasse. so I would give this a four and a half stars or Nine Stars. The lies he tells. This is an imaginative, brilliantly plotted espionage thriller, with finely detailed settings and a protagonist of marvelous complexity. He doesn't know why. Super good book. Indeed, there are a lot of similarities between the three books. Yawn. Then, yesterday, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Both are set largely in Romania and peopled by the secret police who keep communism pure in their unit of the Soviet bloc. He also spent a year in Romania on a Fulbright grant, an experience that helped inspire his first five books. In only his third novel, author Olen Steinhauer brings to mind the baroque, highly complicated and yet spare plots of the master, John le Carre. Steinhauer manages to maintain this uncertainty to the end of The Vienna Assignment. They began in the 1940’s and by the time we reach 36 Yalta Boulevard (the fictitious address of the East European country’s --we never are quite sure which, but is typically Soviet Bloc-- spy service, the Ministry of State Security. Best novel I have read since “A Man Called Ove.” Very different, extraordinarily good. It was the life of a dissatisfied exile. “In Bóbrka.”“Bóbrka?” She crossed her arms over her chest and raised the mottled side of her lip. Unfortunately, I am again reading/listening to a series out-of-order. Add all three to Cart. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. It was a little bit slow going during parts as the plot was kind of convoluted. Both know how to stand up to torture, and both have father issues. Ratings and Book Reviews (0 6 star ratings 0 reviews ) Overall rating. 36 Yalta Boulevard (The Vienna Assignment in the UK) Liberation Movements (The Istanbul Variations in the UK) Victory Square. Genre(s): Crime, Mystery . LIBERATION MOVEMENTS (Yalta Boulevard Quintet), Bridge of Sighs, The (Yalta Boulevard Quintet), The Last Tourist: A Novel (Milo Weaver, 4), An American Spy: A Novel (Milo Weaver, 3), The Nearest Exit: A Novel (Milo Weaver, 2). His alcoholic foreman stood behind him.Someone to see you, Sev! The answers in 36 Yalta Boulevard, Olen Steinhauer's tour-de-force political thriller, teach Comrade Brano Sev that loyalty to the cause might be the biggest crime of all. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Prova Storytel Storytel Reader Presentkort Lös in presentkort Köp presentkort Boktips Sök Kategorier Barn Biografier Deckare Eyes still closed, he tried to manage the sounds into words, then sentences. In the course of this discovery, he falls in love with a young Yugoslav lady. The dull, robotic, Brano Sev of the first two novels in the series becomes a whole person, though flawed and with most emotions still suppressed. Content. Review 36 Yalta Boulevard. eBooks. He stuck out a hand, and Brano took it. I like the time period of this work. Now he takes his dynamic cast of characters into the shadowy political climate of the 1960s.State Security Officer Brano Sev's job is to do what his superiors ask, no matter what. We want to know what’s going on.We?Myself, and the Comrade Lieutenant General.I see.Don’t misjudge him, said Cerny. The first book was set shortly after WWII; the second was set during the Hungarian uprising (which was put down with Russian tanks). In November, he reentered the American embassy and did not emerge again.Well, we lost track of him at least. Please try again. He stood up and looked through the glass at the factory that reached beyond his line of sight. Even the steering wheel had been replaced in 1961 (31 October, the same day Stalin’s sarcophagus was removed from its Red Square mausoleum), after he had taken a particularly sharp turn while trailing a suspect and found it sitting in his lap.In Vranov he took lunch at the empty restaurant he knew from his last visit three years before, because this stop never changed. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Both men are spies. So where does Soroka say he’s been all this time?The Comrade Colonel grunted his delight. Bridge of Sighs was first, followed by The Confession. Fiction Thriller Historical Fiction. After reading all of John Le Carre's masterpieces in spy fiction, I'd have to say that Steinhauer is his logical successor. Both are lonely men, isolated from their families and friends by the work that they do. He always does what he is told. The answers in 36 Yalta Boulevard, Olen Steinhauer’s tour de force political thriller, teach Comrade Brano Sev that loyalty to the cause might be the biggest crime of all. 6. The Lieutenant General wasn’t in favor of it, but I used my influence. Then, on 25 August, a Thursday, he first entered the American embassy. Read your book anywhere, on any device, through RedShelf's cloud based eReader. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. This was never properly verified.The report became sporadic after that, skimming over the following three months with summaries. More by Olen Steinhauer Skip this list. temporarily reinstate him as a major in the security service, and send him off to his home village, where he is to investigate why a defector has suddenly returned to the village and what he’s planning to do. Now he takes his dynamic cast of characters into the shadowy political climate of the 1960s. Set before the fall of the wall, it brings all that time back in a unique way. I've previously read Bridge of Sighs & The Confession. A good story and character development. This one was just too sad. Olen Steinhauer grew up in Virginia, and has since lived in Georgia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, Massachusetts, and New York. This is an imaginative, brilliantly plotted espionage thriller, with finely detailed settings and a protagonist of marvelous complexity. His protagonist, such as Brano, are complicated, thoughtful, and not always, in the end, likable nor admirable. The answers in 36 Yalta Boulevard, Olen Steinhauer's tour-de-force political thriller, teach Comrade Brano Sev that loyalty to the cause might be the biggest crime of all. As melancholy as its predecessors, but not quite as compelling. “We’ve got the best brandy in the region.”Brano shook his head and watched her return, frowning, to the kitchen, then opened his briefcase and took out the case file with cold fingers.Until last August, Brano had been a major in the Ministry for State Security, located on Yalta Boulevard, number 36. One of the more common questions I get is whether or not I'm planning to return to this particular universe in any future books. He now lives in Hungary with his wife and daughter. 36 Yalta Boulevard. Eastern European spy Brano Sev returns for a third installment of this post- WW2 thriller. From the Back Cover Praise for 36 Yalta Boulevard and Olen Steinhauer My big gripe is that Sev’s home country, in which a large portion of the book takes place, is unnamed and is therefore a bit ephemeral. A small suitcase and briefcase shivered on the passenger seat.His name was Brano Oleksy Sev. Militia Lieutenant Emil Brod investigated it—but without success. An excellent addition to the series. We follow him as he is trying to piece everything together and figure out what might have happened. It was hard for the reader to understand exactly what was going on. They know we’re aware Soroka was in Vienna, but they’re willing to send him in with a terrible cover. I don't know if I find Brano as sympathetic as Emil or Ferenc. 36 Yalta Boulevard: A Novel - Ebook written by Olen Steinhauer. Outside the US, he's lived in Croatia (when it was called Yugoslavia), the Czech Republic and Italy. Steinhauer succeeds brilliantly in making a Communist secret policeman a compelling character, Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2020. Still an intriguing and complex espionage story, but Brano Sev, the main character, has a miserable time of it on every level. An exciting ride of a book. It’s the “why” we’re after. Thoroughly enjoyed this one. And most importantly why? Growing up in California at the height of the Cold War, my heroes of espionage fiction were almost invariably British or American spies, and mostly the former since the Queen's agents seemed to play the game with more panache. A Novel. He said, You ever meet this guy?Who?Filip Lutz.Brano said he hadn’t, then began to understand. His series of spy thrillers has been a delight to read. Those Austrians will believe anything. One ingredient of a good spy thriller is a sense of mystery, with the reader and the main protagonist not really sure quite what is happening. 36 Yalta Boulevard. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! Nice. Lots of characters and a hard-to-follow plot but that didn't deter me. Welcome back. 36 Yalta Boulevard is a suspenseful and, at times, pulse-pounding book. Really enjoyed this one, which manages to make a state "security" spy and killer sympathetic. It evokes the endlessly treacherous world of totalitarian bureaucracy. 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