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The Yalta Boulevard Sequence #3
36 Yalta Boulevard
Olen Steinhauer's acclaimed first two novels, The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession, have garnered thus far an Edgar nomination, an Anthony nomination, a Macavity nomination, a Historical Dagger nomination, and five starred reviews.Now he takes this superb literary series set in a nameless Eastern European country into the 1960s.
State Security Officer Brano Sev is the secretive member of the homicide department of the capital's people's militia. No one else quite trusts him, but it is part of his job to do what the authorities ask, no matter what. So when he gets an order to travel to the village of his birth in order to interrogate a potential defector, he goes. When a man turns up dead shortly after he arrives, and Brano is framed for the murder, he assumes this is part of the plan and allows it to run its course. But when the plan leads him into exile in Vienna, he finally begins to ask questions.
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.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2005
49 people are currently reading
1015 people want to read
About the author
Olen Steinhauer
32 books1,240 followersOlen Steinhauer grew up in Virginia, and has since lived in Georgia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, Massachusetts, and New York. Outside the US, he's lived in Croatia (when it was called Yugoslavia), the Czech Republic and Italy. He also spent a year in Romania on a Fulbright grant, an experience that helped inspire his first five books. He now lives in Hungary with his wife and daughter.
He has published stories and poetry in various literary journals over the years. His first novel, The Bridge of Sighs (2003), the start of a five-book sequence chronicling Cold War Eastern Europe, one book per decade, was nominated for five awards.
The second book of the series, The Confession, garnered significant critical acclaim, and 36 Yalta Boulevard (The Vienna Assignment in the UK), made three year-end best-of lists. Liberation Movements (The Istanbul Variations in the UK), was listed for four best-of lists and was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel of the year. The final novel in the series, Victory Square, published in 2007, was a New York Times editor's choice.
With The Tourist, he has left the Cold War behind, beginning a trilogy of spy tales focused on international deception in the post 9/11 world. Happily, George Clooney's Smoke House Films has picked up the rights, with Mr. Clooney scheduled to star.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/olenst...
He has published stories and poetry in various literary journals over the years. His first novel, The Bridge of Sighs (2003), the start of a five-book sequence chronicling Cold War Eastern Europe, one book per decade, was nominated for five awards.
The second book of the series, The Confession, garnered significant critical acclaim, and 36 Yalta Boulevard (The Vienna Assignment in the UK), made three year-end best-of lists. Liberation Movements (The Istanbul Variations in the UK), was listed for four best-of lists and was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel of the year. The final novel in the series, Victory Square, published in 2007, was a New York Times editor's choice.
With The Tourist, he has left the Cold War behind, beginning a trilogy of spy tales focused on international deception in the post 9/11 world. Happily, George Clooney's Smoke House Films has picked up the rights, with Mr. Clooney scheduled to star.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/olenst...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
January 30, 2009
Expatriate American author Olen Steinhauer's five part Iron Curtain series gets better with every book, every decade he showcases, and every character he focuses on. 36 Yalta Boulevard is no exception.
Brano Sev, the enigmatic apparatchik who played supporting roles in The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession, finds himself at the heart of a conspiracy to overthrow his unnamed country while on assignment as rezident in Vienna, Austria.
Weaving his way through a sixties Europe populated by the Beatles, Christian sponsored CIA groups, the Austrian secret service, double dealings and betrayals, hash smoke, too much drink and just a hint of free love, Sev remains a loyal party man and devout socialist, fighting for what he believes is right.
Sev's politics (not to mention his advanced age and tenuous health) make him a strange protagonist in a novel of intrigue, but it is refreshing to imagine the Cold War struggle from the other side, and with an agent as loyal to his cause as we expected the agents of our side to be.
It makes an otherwise familiar spy story something entirely entertaining because -- despite the Soviet flavour of Steinhauer's setting and the unique point of view of his protagonist -- Steinhauer's tale is one that we've read before. Sev is that classic Cold War agent trying to root out a nasty Mole in his own organization while being framed as the Mole himself. His boss is helpful and caring; his boss's boss is angry, unreasonable and under suspicion; and there are even the obligatory love entanglements and family ties to corruption that throw Sev's loyalty even deeper into question.
Without the moody setting of Steinhauer's Cold War Europe and Comrade Major Brano Olesky Sev, 36 Yalta Boulevard would have been a pedestrian, though still enjoyable, spy yarn. But Steinhauer's characters and setting elevate the third installment of his Eastern European series into the realm of real excellence.
If you are a nostalgic leftist or just a fan of Cold War spy fiction, Steinhauer's work is well worth a read.
Brano Sev, the enigmatic apparatchik who played supporting roles in The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession, finds himself at the heart of a conspiracy to overthrow his unnamed country while on assignment as rezident in Vienna, Austria.
Weaving his way through a sixties Europe populated by the Beatles, Christian sponsored CIA groups, the Austrian secret service, double dealings and betrayals, hash smoke, too much drink and just a hint of free love, Sev remains a loyal party man and devout socialist, fighting for what he believes is right.
Sev's politics (not to mention his advanced age and tenuous health) make him a strange protagonist in a novel of intrigue, but it is refreshing to imagine the Cold War struggle from the other side, and with an agent as loyal to his cause as we expected the agents of our side to be.
It makes an otherwise familiar spy story something entirely entertaining because -- despite the Soviet flavour of Steinhauer's setting and the unique point of view of his protagonist -- Steinhauer's tale is one that we've read before. Sev is that classic Cold War agent trying to root out a nasty Mole in his own organization while being framed as the Mole himself. His boss is helpful and caring; his boss's boss is angry, unreasonable and under suspicion; and there are even the obligatory love entanglements and family ties to corruption that throw Sev's loyalty even deeper into question.
Without the moody setting of Steinhauer's Cold War Europe and Comrade Major Brano Olesky Sev, 36 Yalta Boulevard would have been a pedestrian, though still enjoyable, spy yarn. But Steinhauer's characters and setting elevate the third installment of his Eastern European series into the realm of real excellence.
If you are a nostalgic leftist or just a fan of Cold War spy fiction, Steinhauer's work is well worth a read.
May 11, 2013
Just finished blitzing through Olen Steinhauer's 5-book crime & espionage series set in a fictional Soviet-bloc country during the Cold War. 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. Any resemblance to Romania is intentional as Steinhauer began writing as a Fulbright Scholar there. But then he moved to Budapest and there's a heavy Hungarian shade as well.
36 Yalta Boulevard (3rd in the series) gets attention here because early on you realize this book is a huge progression from the previous two and its exciting as a reader to see Steinhauer finding his voice and coming into his own as a writer. You'll nod and smile and concur with the New York Times' comparisons to Le Carre.
36 Yalta Boulevard (3rd in the series) gets attention here because early on you realize this book is a huge progression from the previous two and its exciting as a reader to see Steinhauer finding his voice and coming into his own as a writer. You'll nod and smile and concur with the New York Times' comparisons to Le Carre.
January 8, 2013
Brano Sev--mid-ranking officer in the security services of an unnamed Eastern European country during the Cold War--is given an opportunity to regain his position and title with a simple investigation back in his hometown: find out why a man who had recently defected to Austria has returned. What results takes Brano far from his home territory and forces him to reexamine everyone he knows.
This is Olen Steinhauer's third novel in his Yalta Boulevard Sequence. Like his previous novel, there is more detail in the plot and characters than there was in his debut. It's a testament to Steinhauer's writing ability that he can take a man like Brano Sev, who is a hardcore believer in socialism and the brutalities needed to enforce it, and still make him sympathetic and understandable. Where lesser authors would have given the Western reader a feel-good tale that appeals to our values, Steinhauer keeps Brano Sev honest and true to his ideals.
The settings are all handled deftly. Whether it is Brano's hometown, the European countryside, Vienna, etc., we have a clear sense of time and place. The plot, too, is sure to entertain fans of the most complex of thrillers.
And, yet, that's where I think it falters. There is just too much plot. Brano is a very interesting character, but we still don't get to know much about him--we only get a taste. He seems as knowable now, as the protagonist of his own novel, as he did when he was just a minor character in the previous ones. I wanted more Brano Sev. I wanted to know more of what he was discovering and struggling with. I wanted more narrative. What this novel delivers is a lot of little events. It's full of twists, coincidences, contrivances, and then more twists--in case we didn't have our fill already. With all the potential for weighty matters to be examined, it comes across as a rather light-weight novel--albeit, with a complicated plot.
Is this novel powerful enough to cause people to reexamine or reinforce their own beliefs? I doubt it. Does it expose anything or educate the reader? Not really. Is it entertaining and enjoyable. For some, yes. I just found it mildly so. Not as well-written as anything John le Carré or Graham Greene has ever done, but about on par with Martin Cruz Smith, and a bit more complicated than an Alan Furst novel. Still, pretty good company for Steinhauer.
This is Olen Steinhauer's third novel in his Yalta Boulevard Sequence. Like his previous novel, there is more detail in the plot and characters than there was in his debut. It's a testament to Steinhauer's writing ability that he can take a man like Brano Sev, who is a hardcore believer in socialism and the brutalities needed to enforce it, and still make him sympathetic and understandable. Where lesser authors would have given the Western reader a feel-good tale that appeals to our values, Steinhauer keeps Brano Sev honest and true to his ideals.
The settings are all handled deftly. Whether it is Brano's hometown, the European countryside, Vienna, etc., we have a clear sense of time and place. The plot, too, is sure to entertain fans of the most complex of thrillers.
And, yet, that's where I think it falters. There is just too much plot. Brano is a very interesting character, but we still don't get to know much about him--we only get a taste. He seems as knowable now, as the protagonist of his own novel, as he did when he was just a minor character in the previous ones. I wanted more Brano Sev. I wanted to know more of what he was discovering and struggling with. I wanted more narrative. What this novel delivers is a lot of little events. It's full of twists, coincidences, contrivances, and then more twists--in case we didn't have our fill already. With all the potential for weighty matters to be examined, it comes across as a rather light-weight novel--albeit, with a complicated plot.
Is this novel powerful enough to cause people to reexamine or reinforce their own beliefs? I doubt it. Does it expose anything or educate the reader? Not really. Is it entertaining and enjoyable. For some, yes. I just found it mildly so. Not as well-written as anything John le Carré or Graham Greene has ever done, but about on par with Martin Cruz Smith, and a bit more complicated than an Alan Furst novel. Still, pretty good company for Steinhauer.
April 19, 2024
This is the third book in the "Yalta Boulevard" series. The first was outstanding, the second, was, in my opinion less enjoyable. The troubles and intrigues of Eastern Europe can be heavy, draining the joy of reading out from anyone. This third book, redeemed my feelings about this author. I'm looking forward to the next one.
April 6, 2017
In this, the third novel in Olen Steinhauer’s outstanding Central European cycle, we view the world through the eyes of Brano Sev, a World War II partisan fighter turned secret policeman in his unnamed Soviet satellite country. 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. Without warning, his superiors pull him out of the factory. 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. The ensuing complications threaten not just to end Brano’s career but possibly his life as well. He flees to Vienna, where his long-held beliefs in the Communist system are challenged from all quarters.
36 Yalta Boulevard — the address is that of the security service headquarters in The Capital — continues the story begun in The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession, which follows the life and work of the five men who make up the homicide department in The Capital’s police department. (Brano is the secret service spy in their midst.) The first book is set in 1948, the second in 1956, and 36 Yalta Boulevard in 1966-67. Two later novels — Liberation Movements and Victory Square — carry the tale forward into the 1970s and 1980s, thus traversing the entire half-century history of Communism in Eastern Europe.
Now, nearly a quarter-century after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Empire in Central and Eastern Europe, a new generation is growing up ignorant of the Cold War reality that hung over our lives for as long as most of us over 30 can remember. Olen Steinhauer brings back one important aspect of that reality in these unusually well-crafted books: the life and times of the millions who existed under the varying but always oppressive weight of state socialism — some, like Brano, willingly, even eagerly; others, indifferent or resisting.
Steinhauer has won numerous awards for the novels in this unusually engaging cycle. He deserves more.
(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)
36 Yalta Boulevard — the address is that of the security service headquarters in The Capital — continues the story begun in The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession, which follows the life and work of the five men who make up the homicide department in The Capital’s police department. (Brano is the secret service spy in their midst.) The first book is set in 1948, the second in 1956, and 36 Yalta Boulevard in 1966-67. Two later novels — Liberation Movements and Victory Square — carry the tale forward into the 1970s and 1980s, thus traversing the entire half-century history of Communism in Eastern Europe.
Now, nearly a quarter-century after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Empire in Central and Eastern Europe, a new generation is growing up ignorant of the Cold War reality that hung over our lives for as long as most of us over 30 can remember. Olen Steinhauer brings back one important aspect of that reality in these unusually well-crafted books: the life and times of the millions who existed under the varying but always oppressive weight of state socialism — some, like Brano, willingly, even eagerly; others, indifferent or resisting.
Steinhauer has won numerous awards for the novels in this unusually engaging cycle. He deserves more.
(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)
December 30, 2014
This is the first novel I have read by Olen Steinhauser, but I plan to read more. His characters are finely drawn and the plot is complicated. This is a very somber, gray work about a current/former? spy for his Eastern European totalitarian government. Although it was interesting and progressed nicely, the one overriding emotion I felt as I read the final sentence of the book is numbness, that life is, in the end, futile, and that, for some, happiness is not possible.
April 11, 2021
The reason I am giving this book 3 stars is just because this Cold War spy novel was from the point of view of a behind the Iron Curtain spy who was the "good" guy. And though he had many chances to fllee to the West he never did so. Not normally my kind of book, but did like that twist.
December 1, 2025
I don’t know why I keep reading this series.
July 10, 2020
Very interesting promise to start the book. This book is not as bleak as the 1st 2 in the series and the parts of the book that focus on spying is really intriguing.
July 30, 2012
Unfortunately, I am again reading/listening to a series out-of-order. Bridge of Sighs was first, followed by The Confession. 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.)
Brano Sev is sent/led/tricked (we’re never quite sure which) into going to Austria where he is framed for a murder. Relegated to a factory job by his bosses, he is resurrected for another in his home town where he accidentally kills one of his handlers - or is he?. Always one to follow orders and assuming he is part of a grand plan, he’s soon up to his ears in a nebulous labyrinth of betrayal and deceit, unable to trust anyone, and he begins to question his superiors orders.
In one of the great ironies, Brano really believes in the system, even as it betrays and beats him, and despite his knowledge of its corruption. He retains a child-like faith that’s at once simplistic and complicated. It’s confusing at times, but that confusion reflects Brano’s own.
There are some really good novels out there in the spy genre examining the gray netherworld of human actions where the protagonists stumble their way through a maze that often seems to have no end, and writers like Le Carre, Seymour, Cruz Smith, Furst, and others have fertile ground to display the misty world of human frailty. Add Steinhauer to the list.
Ludlum fans will not be interested.
Brano Sev is sent/led/tricked (we’re never quite sure which) into going to Austria where he is framed for a murder. Relegated to a factory job by his bosses, he is resurrected for another in his home town where he accidentally kills one of his handlers - or is he?. Always one to follow orders and assuming he is part of a grand plan, he’s soon up to his ears in a nebulous labyrinth of betrayal and deceit, unable to trust anyone, and he begins to question his superiors orders.
In one of the great ironies, Brano really believes in the system, even as it betrays and beats him, and despite his knowledge of its corruption. He retains a child-like faith that’s at once simplistic and complicated. It’s confusing at times, but that confusion reflects Brano’s own.
There are some really good novels out there in the spy genre examining the gray netherworld of human actions where the protagonists stumble their way through a maze that often seems to have no end, and writers like Le Carre, Seymour, Cruz Smith, Furst, and others have fertile ground to display the misty world of human frailty. Add Steinhauer to the list.
Ludlum fans will not be interested.
May 12, 2012
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. Steinhauer manages to maintain this uncertainty to the end of The Vienna Assignment. Just as you think you’ve got a handle on what is happening and why, the mirrors are shifted and a new view appears. The prose is mostly quite functional, but the plotting is carefully constructed, the shifting ground and mind games well framed and paced, tempting the reader along. The characterization is for the most part good, with Sev in particular a well-penned character, with depth, layers and rich back story. The Cold War sense of place in Vienna is well portrayed and contextualised. 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. I’m not really sure why. It makes for an odd balance, where the history and places of Austria and Hungary are a central component, but they are opposed by a generic Iron Curtain country lacking in context. Overall, a solid spy thriller with an interesting protagonist and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until near the end.
July 31, 2011
Steinhauer is my nominee to succeed John LeCarre. His series of spy thrillers has been a delight to read. I've previously read Bridge of Sighs & The Confession. Both are set largely in Romania and peopled by the secret police who keep communism pure in their unit of the Soviet bloc. The first book was set shortly after WWII; the second was set during the Hungarian uprising (which was put down with Russian tanks). 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. Each book has focused on a different member of the secret police staff, and nicely portrays the inherent conflicts between the choices they face: the human thing to do, or what they're ordered to do. I'm now totally hooked and starting the 4th book, set in the 1970s, where the main character from 36 Yalta Boulevard is training a rookie who hasn't become sufficiently hardened to the job yet.
January 10, 2011
Thoroughly enjoyed this one. I've previously read 'The Tourist', which was also excellent, though probably more of a mainstream spy novel.
'The Vienna Assignment' is particularly good because it doesn't do, as in the main character doesn't do, what you probably expect it/him to. At least, that's how I felt anyway.
It's set in Eastern Europe - and, as Vienna and Austria are in Western Europe - Western Europe, in the mid-sixties. It's about spies, about Socialism about suspicion and trust, betrayal and idealism when all the evidence points against it.
Atmospheric, intriguing and thought-provoking. Read it, you won't be disappointed.
'The Vienna Assignment' is particularly good because it doesn't do, as in the main character doesn't do, what you probably expect it/him to. At least, that's how I felt anyway.
It's set in Eastern Europe - and, as Vienna and Austria are in Western Europe - Western Europe, in the mid-sixties. It's about spies, about Socialism about suspicion and trust, betrayal and idealism when all the evidence points against it.
Atmospheric, intriguing and thought-provoking. Read it, you won't be disappointed.
June 9, 2011
An exciting ride of a book. Brano Sev is in the secret intelligence business. He always does what he is told. Then one day, he is demoted to working in a factory. He doesn't know why. then he is secretly sent to Austria. There he discovers a spy ring, how people are getting out and telling secrets. In the course of this discovery, he falls in love with a young Yugoslav lady. Set before the fall of the wall, it brings all that time back in a unique way. Most of the books I have read about this time always pit an American or Alli force against a communist agent. This one is more the pyschological side of the Communist agent.
May 5, 2009
Lots of characters and a hard-to-follow plot but that didn't deter me. 1967 Vienna. A likable hero. An ending that leaves you wanting a little more. Nice.
July 1, 2009
Dark and powerful, like the others by Steinhauer.
April 15, 2013
So far I like this one the best of the Steinhauer books I have read. The plot is very convoluted but almost predictable. I like the time period of this work.
March 2, 2020
* This is the third in the series, the second being The Confession. This is another book that had some promise but at the end disappointed.
* In this book the hero is the minor member of state security, Brano Sev, who seems caught in the web of a spy way between - or is it among? - the Austrian intelligence services, the CIA (called the Americans) and who remain quite in the shadows, and and the good guys, such as they are, the State Militia who grew up out of the anti-Nazi partisans in WWII. Sev is manipulated by all around him - the Austrians, the Americans, and his own service. Loyal and a romantic who believes devoutly in the socialist enterprise, he seems buffeted by all about him with right now a slim hope of finding a bit of love and happiness in Dijana.
* Brano was a minor character in The Bridge of Sighs, although he plays a quite consequential role in the resolution.
* Like Bridge of Sighs the book is well thought through, but I am not sure how compelling a tale. That sense of turning ones characters loose in a world of the author’s making doesn’t seem to be at play here - all is too controlled.
* The ending doesn’t really work for me - there are so many red herrings pointing to the General that it became quite clear that it was the Comrade Colonel.
* Not clear what the purpose of the revolution was - nor is it clear or sufficient that the death of his wife was sufficient to ‘sow the doubt’ that had him turn to the other side.
* In this book the hero is the minor member of state security, Brano Sev, who seems caught in the web of a spy way between - or is it among? - the Austrian intelligence services, the CIA (called the Americans) and who remain quite in the shadows, and and the good guys, such as they are, the State Militia who grew up out of the anti-Nazi partisans in WWII. Sev is manipulated by all around him - the Austrians, the Americans, and his own service. Loyal and a romantic who believes devoutly in the socialist enterprise, he seems buffeted by all about him with right now a slim hope of finding a bit of love and happiness in Dijana.
* Brano was a minor character in The Bridge of Sighs, although he plays a quite consequential role in the resolution.
* Like Bridge of Sighs the book is well thought through, but I am not sure how compelling a tale. That sense of turning ones characters loose in a world of the author’s making doesn’t seem to be at play here - all is too controlled.
* The ending doesn’t really work for me - there are so many red herrings pointing to the General that it became quite clear that it was the Comrade Colonel.
* Not clear what the purpose of the revolution was - nor is it clear or sufficient that the death of his wife was sufficient to ‘sow the doubt’ that had him turn to the other side.
March 19, 2019
I really loved and enjoyed the first half of the book. The story starts with a man waking up in the park and having no knowledge of who he is or how he got there. We follow him as he is trying to piece everything together and figure out what might have happened. Brano's realization that he was framed and is demoted from the Ministry (he is no longer a spy). 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. As soon as Brano gets to the village, a man is brutally murdered and all the physical evidence is pointing directly at Brano. It appears he is, once again, being framed. But who is doing it? And most importantly why?
Unfortunately for me, the novel took a nose dive right after that. Nothing was happening for almost 200 pages (and in a novel that's only 300 pages, it's a HUGE chunk). By the time the story picked up again and things started happening (about 50 pages from the end), I was soo bored and tired of reading this book that I didn't even care anymore.
Unfortunately for me, the novel took a nose dive right after that. Nothing was happening for almost 200 pages (and in a novel that's only 300 pages, it's a HUGE chunk). By the time the story picked up again and things started happening (about 50 pages from the end), I was soo bored and tired of reading this book that I didn't even care anymore.
June 12, 2022
What price for loyalty and patriotism?
Olen Steinhauer has a good spy thriller/mystery in 36 Yalta Boulevard.
His quintet of novels in this series is quite unique. The main character of each book is different, yet they all have a minor role in the other books. Each novel highlights a different era as well. So this makes for creative story line as the characters evolve and their relationship to their government grows more complex with it.
This book, set in an undisclosed country behind the Iron Curtain the concepts of loyalty, patriotism, and the limits one’s country goes to protect its way of life. There are blurred lines along the way, which Steinhauer examines with deep complexity of his protagonist, Brano Sev, a tough no-nonsense major in the security forces.
The book reads easily enough, but it didn’t compel me to read more quickly. The story evolves quickly and is a little difficult to follow. So that didn’t help.
Still the series is interesting and I’ll keep reading it.
Olen Steinhauer has a good spy thriller/mystery in 36 Yalta Boulevard.
His quintet of novels in this series is quite unique. The main character of each book is different, yet they all have a minor role in the other books. Each novel highlights a different era as well. So this makes for creative story line as the characters evolve and their relationship to their government grows more complex with it.
This book, set in an undisclosed country behind the Iron Curtain the concepts of loyalty, patriotism, and the limits one’s country goes to protect its way of life. There are blurred lines along the way, which Steinhauer examines with deep complexity of his protagonist, Brano Sev, a tough no-nonsense major in the security forces.
The book reads easily enough, but it didn’t compel me to read more quickly. The story evolves quickly and is a little difficult to follow. So that didn’t help.
Still the series is interesting and I’ll keep reading it.
May 16, 2018
Super good book. 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. so I would give this a four and a half stars or Nine Stars. It was a little bit slow going during parts as the plot was kind of convoluted. It was hard for the reader to understand exactly what was going on. 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. the protagonist Brano was an interesting character, a perfect anti-hero. the ending of the story was very well done interesting disappointing and given the behavior and thoughts of branle believable although like I said disappointing. all the characters were very well drawn and the dialogue was top-notch. the milieu of the place and time were well drawn.
December 10, 2022
This is the third book from the Yalta Boulevard series.
This story is set in 1966-67 in an unnamed Eastern European country. Brano Sev is a spy. He does what he is told to do. The story starts in Austria and ends in Austria. Brano is instructed to take out the leaders of a counter-revolutionary group. You don't know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are in this one. Lots of twists and turns which I enjoy.
Like a lot of Steinhauer's novels, I was about a third of the way through this and I wasn't sure I was following the story. Hang in there because Steinhauer puts you in the same position as the main character. Brano didn't know what was going on. He only knew that he was to kill certain individuals. Even if he was successful, he could end up being killed by his own government.
Brano makes decisions that you really don't want him to make, but he is only doing what he has been taught. Read it is big chunks helps to keep things straight.
This story is set in 1966-67 in an unnamed Eastern European country. Brano Sev is a spy. He does what he is told to do. The story starts in Austria and ends in Austria. Brano is instructed to take out the leaders of a counter-revolutionary group. You don't know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are in this one. Lots of twists and turns which I enjoy.
Like a lot of Steinhauer's novels, I was about a third of the way through this and I wasn't sure I was following the story. Hang in there because Steinhauer puts you in the same position as the main character. Brano didn't know what was going on. He only knew that he was to kill certain individuals. Even if he was successful, he could end up being killed by his own government.
Brano makes decisions that you really don't want him to make, but he is only doing what he has been taught. Read it is big chunks helps to keep things straight.
October 24, 2017
Eastern European spy Brano Sev returns for a third installment of this post- WW2 thriller. He can't tell who to trust and has no idea why he is framed for murder and led into exile. He can't get any answers and has to just keep his wits and play along, all the while trying to figure out who is who and what is what. Enjoyed this, but not quite as much as I remember enjoying the first two -- granted it's been a good many years.
December 27, 2016
This book could have been titled "Loneliness and Confusion," or "Nobody is Happy With Their Life." As melancholy as its predecessors, but not quite as compelling. Indeed, there are a lot of similarities between the three books. I don't know if I find Brano as sympathetic as Emil or Ferenc. Still, I love this series.
June 21, 2022
The Brano Sev story was much much better than the Ferenc story. I like how Steinhauer has broken this serious up into different main characters from the department. Very interesting approach. 36 Yalta Boulevard is the best in the series so far. Book one too a while to build the story. Book 2 was OK. This one was much more brilliant and much less predictable .
July 6, 2022
One of the best of Steinhauer's books. The audio version was exceptionally well-read, with the characters clearly delineated. The story of a loyal security agent from an eastern European country navigating a perilous interlude in Vienna. The characters, the plot, the evocation of the period (the 60s) - all are exquisitely done.
May 6, 2020
Really enjoyed this one, which manages to make a state "security" spy and killer sympathetic. It evokes the endlessly treacherous world of totalitarian bureaucracy. The plot gets a little repetitive. Watching Brano Sev survive, often in spite of himself, is worth the ride.
October 20, 2020
Steinhauer is often not the happy ending type. His protagonist, such as Brano, are complicated, thoughtful, and not always, in the end, likable nor admirable. (Unlike Milo) That's part of what makes Steinhauer so good.
March 16, 2018
A lot of twists and turns. A little long and overdrawn in some places, but overall interesting.
May 6, 2018
Great book
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