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The Yalta Boulevard Sequence #5
Victory Square
The revolutionary politics and chaotic history of life inside Olen Steinhauer's fictionalized Eastern European country have made his literary crime series, with its two Edgar Award nominations along with other critical acclaim, one of today's most acclaimed. Finally having reached the tumultuous 1980s, the series comes full circle as one of the earliest cases of the People's Militia reemerges to torment all of the inspectors, including Emil Brod, now the chief, who was the original detective on the case. His arrest of one of the country's revolutionary leaders in the late 1940s resulted in the politician's conviction and imprisonment, but Emil was too young in those days to understand what it meant to go up against someone so powerful--and win. Only now, in 1989, when he is days from retirement and spends more time looking over his shoulder than ahead, does he realize that what he did may get him--and others--killed.
Told against the backdrop of the crumbling forty-year-old government--with the leaders who were so new in the series debut, The Bridge of Sighs--Victory Square is Steinhauer at his best. Once again he masterfully makes crime fiction both personal and political, combining a story of revenge at any cost with a portrait of a country on the brink of collapse.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published August 21, 2007
40 people are currently reading
1033 people want to read
About the author
Olen Steinhauer
32 books1,239 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 66 reviews
September 24, 2023
A powerful,heart wrenching ending to an extraordinary series.
April 6, 2017
A powerful tale of life in Eastern Europe during the fall of Communism
Some years ago I chanced upon one of Olen Steinhauer’s excellent contemporary spy stories, sped through it and read another, and finally, in searching for more of his work, found his five-novel cycle set in a fictional Central European country nestled among Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria. (Geographically, the country has to be Slovakia, which only recently gained its independence, but some readers think it more closely resembles Hungary.) Steinhauer’s cycle spanned the years from 1948, when the Soviet Empire consolidated its hold on the nations directly to its West, until 1990, when the USSR and the Warsaw Pact collapsed.
Victory Square is the fifth and final novel in Steinhauer’s Eastern European cycle, and in some ways it’s the best. Steinhauer, an American who has lived for extended periods in several countries in the region, spent months, perhaps years, meticulously researching the fall of Ceausescu’s regime in Romania. That history forms the basis of the events that unfold in the novel in 1989-90. Against this background, Steinhauer introduces us to an aging homicide cop, Emil Brod, now Chief of the Militia, whom we met as a young rookie when he joined the Militia’s Homicide Squad in the country’s capital in 1948. Brod was the protagonist of the first novel in the cycle, The Bridge of Sighs, and has popped up throughout. Now just days from retirement, Brod is forced to contend with an unraveling government, a series of shocking murders, a best friend engaged at the very center of the revolutionary movement, and an adoring wife even older than he who wants him to leave the capital early, before the inevitable explosion.
The full cycle includes the following:
+ The Bridge of Sighs (2003), featuring Emil Brod in 1948
+ The Confession (2004), centering on Brod’s colleague, Ferenc Kolyeszar, taking place in 1956
+ 36 Yalta Boulevard (2005), featuring Brano Sev, the secret policeman who works in the Homicide + Department and spies on the squad, set in 1966–1967
+ Liberation Movements (2006), featuring Brano Sev and Brod’s young colleagues, Katja Drdova and Gavra Noukas, taking place in 1968 and 1975
+ Victory Square (2007)
Together, these five novels constitute a superb introduction to life in Central Europe during the half-century of Soviet domination. Nonfiction couldn’t possibly match the depth of feeling that emerges from these works.
Some years ago I chanced upon one of Olen Steinhauer’s excellent contemporary spy stories, sped through it and read another, and finally, in searching for more of his work, found his five-novel cycle set in a fictional Central European country nestled among Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria. (Geographically, the country has to be Slovakia, which only recently gained its independence, but some readers think it more closely resembles Hungary.) Steinhauer’s cycle spanned the years from 1948, when the Soviet Empire consolidated its hold on the nations directly to its West, until 1990, when the USSR and the Warsaw Pact collapsed.
Victory Square is the fifth and final novel in Steinhauer’s Eastern European cycle, and in some ways it’s the best. Steinhauer, an American who has lived for extended periods in several countries in the region, spent months, perhaps years, meticulously researching the fall of Ceausescu’s regime in Romania. That history forms the basis of the events that unfold in the novel in 1989-90. Against this background, Steinhauer introduces us to an aging homicide cop, Emil Brod, now Chief of the Militia, whom we met as a young rookie when he joined the Militia’s Homicide Squad in the country’s capital in 1948. Brod was the protagonist of the first novel in the cycle, The Bridge of Sighs, and has popped up throughout. Now just days from retirement, Brod is forced to contend with an unraveling government, a series of shocking murders, a best friend engaged at the very center of the revolutionary movement, and an adoring wife even older than he who wants him to leave the capital early, before the inevitable explosion.
The full cycle includes the following:
+ The Bridge of Sighs (2003), featuring Emil Brod in 1948
+ The Confession (2004), centering on Brod’s colleague, Ferenc Kolyeszar, taking place in 1956
+ 36 Yalta Boulevard (2005), featuring Brano Sev, the secret policeman who works in the Homicide + Department and spies on the squad, set in 1966–1967
+ Liberation Movements (2006), featuring Brano Sev and Brod’s young colleagues, Katja Drdova and Gavra Noukas, taking place in 1968 and 1975
+ Victory Square (2007)
Together, these five novels constitute a superb introduction to life in Central Europe during the half-century of Soviet domination. Nonfiction couldn’t possibly match the depth of feeling that emerges from these works.
October 27, 2013
What had confused me more than once while reading this and others in the series, is whether the three of them are set in a fictional East European country, or I’ve just missed - or been too stupid to put two and two together, it’s possible - which Eastern European country he’s actually set them in. I began piecing clues together like this - The country is, west of Ukraine. It was overrun by the Germans at the start of WWII. "Early on in the occupation, the Germans had enlisted the help of malcontents from our Ukrainian population. These young men had been promised that, once the war was won, the eastern half of our country (including the capital) would be returned to the Ukraine…” What can be confusing, when trying to figure out what’s going on, is that the previous two books in this series, had their names changed for the publication outside the USA (if I’m right). So it is a relief to stop having to berate myself that I really should be able to place the people and places. A quick visit to Olen Steinhauer's website and it seems that the novels these reviews were mentioning, '36 Yalta Boulevard' and 'Liberation Movements', I do actually have. It's just I have them as 'The Vienna Assignment' and 'The Istanbul Variations' as they were published in the UK. So, I'm not going mad. Quite. Yet. Still, a name like Brano Sev should stick in the memory, I guess. Even if you think it’s a kind of drain cleaner.
Really, anyone who’s been alive in 1988 (apart from me, obviously), is surely going to be reading this and say ‘Romania!' and the collapse of their version of Communism. Then the pursuit and trial of the husband and wife leaders, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu.
So, 'Victory Square' seems to be the final in his series of novels about Brano Sev, Emil Brod and the like. 'Victory Square' completes the cycle/circle (or square!), by taking Brod back to looking into, or at least having to deal with the after-effects, of one of his earliest cases. Back in the days where uncertainty about the right of his leaders to lead wasn’t filling the air and the whole system he knows nothing else of but, is collapsing around his ears. Steinhauer writes the character of Emil Brod really well indeed, writing subtly, but convincingly, the role of a man, thinking he’s too old for this shit, going through the last few days before his retirement. Reaching the end of his (working) life, but facing up to that with the end of the system that sustained him the whole of the life he can remember, means he is in effect going to have to start again, as if his previous life never happened. Imagine that. Add in finding your name on a list of people who are quite clearly being swept away by the new revolutionary broom. Weighty stuff, but made light work by Olen S. There’s a weary bleakness you get, almost without noticing how he’s doing it. Also, the character of Gavra Noukas, another member of the old regime, but younger and maybe even smarter than Brod (though not Sev), having his world rocked to its foundations by being forced to be an part of the trial of the leaders they once revered. He realises he’s being set up, but can’t get out of it, even though he’s not really forced into it. It’s happening almost without him knowing what is happening. I got a distinct impression of how they might be doing this whilst also feeling like they were detached from it all, looking at themselves doing it, because their real selves surely wouldn’t dare. Then, at one point, to put it into perspective for us, Emil Brod says "...I didn't think about the hypocrisy of the people who had arranged and run the trial." Hypocrisy because they took part, often willingly in the excesses and crimes they're now putting the two leaders on trial for. They seem absolved, just because they are doing the accusing. Gavka seems tormented by this hypocrisy too. But more because he can't find any innocent victims anywhere amongst the accusers. 'Who am I to cast the first stone?' Is probably why he has such a hard time at the trial. He had no choice while the regime was functioning and he has no choice now it’s falling apart. It is, as Brod puts it, for many people it is the “end of everything”, but, there are also other forces and other people behind it all (as is always the case) with other reasons for setting it all in motion and profiting from regime change. And the roots of all that, go back, as said to the early days of Brod’s working life and Brano Sev’s subtle machinations.
This isn’t a spy novel, in the traditional sense. It’s more - and also less - than that. More interesting than just an examination of, or an allegory of, the collapse of Communism and a lot less action than a le Carre, or 'Bond' or (certainly) ‘Bourne’. I think it’s quite possible that different readers will get a lot of different things from the same book. By focussing in on the seemingly mundane, the stark reality and forcedly dull dreams of the people, he is of course, illuminating the big problems and faults in the system that has otherwise provided everything the people need. Except the people who have decided what the people need, aren’t the ‘people' themselves. A person in a Olen Steinhauer novel, might appear to be dull and lead a dull life, but they dream of being a free dull person in the west and deciding just how dull their life is, for themselves.
Thought provoking and interesting, with many hours of after-contemplation. Always the sign of a really good book, I find.
Really, anyone who’s been alive in 1988 (apart from me, obviously), is surely going to be reading this and say ‘Romania!' and the collapse of their version of Communism. Then the pursuit and trial of the husband and wife leaders, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu.
So, 'Victory Square' seems to be the final in his series of novels about Brano Sev, Emil Brod and the like. 'Victory Square' completes the cycle/circle (or square!), by taking Brod back to looking into, or at least having to deal with the after-effects, of one of his earliest cases. Back in the days where uncertainty about the right of his leaders to lead wasn’t filling the air and the whole system he knows nothing else of but, is collapsing around his ears. Steinhauer writes the character of Emil Brod really well indeed, writing subtly, but convincingly, the role of a man, thinking he’s too old for this shit, going through the last few days before his retirement. Reaching the end of his (working) life, but facing up to that with the end of the system that sustained him the whole of the life he can remember, means he is in effect going to have to start again, as if his previous life never happened. Imagine that. Add in finding your name on a list of people who are quite clearly being swept away by the new revolutionary broom. Weighty stuff, but made light work by Olen S. There’s a weary bleakness you get, almost without noticing how he’s doing it. Also, the character of Gavra Noukas, another member of the old regime, but younger and maybe even smarter than Brod (though not Sev), having his world rocked to its foundations by being forced to be an part of the trial of the leaders they once revered. He realises he’s being set up, but can’t get out of it, even though he’s not really forced into it. It’s happening almost without him knowing what is happening. I got a distinct impression of how they might be doing this whilst also feeling like they were detached from it all, looking at themselves doing it, because their real selves surely wouldn’t dare. Then, at one point, to put it into perspective for us, Emil Brod says "...I didn't think about the hypocrisy of the people who had arranged and run the trial." Hypocrisy because they took part, often willingly in the excesses and crimes they're now putting the two leaders on trial for. They seem absolved, just because they are doing the accusing. Gavka seems tormented by this hypocrisy too. But more because he can't find any innocent victims anywhere amongst the accusers. 'Who am I to cast the first stone?' Is probably why he has such a hard time at the trial. He had no choice while the regime was functioning and he has no choice now it’s falling apart. It is, as Brod puts it, for many people it is the “end of everything”, but, there are also other forces and other people behind it all (as is always the case) with other reasons for setting it all in motion and profiting from regime change. And the roots of all that, go back, as said to the early days of Brod’s working life and Brano Sev’s subtle machinations.
This isn’t a spy novel, in the traditional sense. It’s more - and also less - than that. More interesting than just an examination of, or an allegory of, the collapse of Communism and a lot less action than a le Carre, or 'Bond' or (certainly) ‘Bourne’. I think it’s quite possible that different readers will get a lot of different things from the same book. By focussing in on the seemingly mundane, the stark reality and forcedly dull dreams of the people, he is of course, illuminating the big problems and faults in the system that has otherwise provided everything the people need. Except the people who have decided what the people need, aren’t the ‘people' themselves. A person in a Olen Steinhauer novel, might appear to be dull and lead a dull life, but they dream of being a free dull person in the west and deciding just how dull their life is, for themselves.
Thought provoking and interesting, with many hours of after-contemplation. Always the sign of a really good book, I find.
August 22, 2007
Steinhauer wraps up his People's Militia Series with this engrossing tale of revenge in the midst of the revolutionary events of 1989.
It is not the sleek razor edged thriller Liberation Movements, but is a fascinating conclusion to this under-appreciated series.
It is not the sleek razor edged thriller Liberation Movements, but is a fascinating conclusion to this under-appreciated series.
February 21, 2020
This is the last book in the Eastern Bloc series that tells the story of an Eastern Bloc country during the Cold War. On the one hand, this book was a summary of everything that had happened and clearing up the old corrupt guard. It shows who still believes in communism, but which is actually more like totalitism and who has recognized the true meaning of socialism, but is slowed down by the corrupt elite. It is very exciting to read, like the other books. Olen Steinhauer has managed to write a fictional story, which is very accurate in its main features. I can highly recommend this series to anyone interested in the history of Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
July 4, 2021
Three and a half, really. It's a good book and a good final part of the series. But, just good.
There were too many threads to tie together, to many stories to be explained, too many references to previous volumes, and too many philosophical issues addressed.
Like so many disappointing finales, I think this would have been more enjoyable and make a cleaner ending as two shorter novels.
Steinhauer is still a go-to author for me. If a need a break from the mundane, Steinhauer always accommodates. I just wanted this one to be better
There were too many threads to tie together, to many stories to be explained, too many references to previous volumes, and too many philosophical issues addressed.
Like so many disappointing finales, I think this would have been more enjoyable and make a cleaner ending as two shorter novels.
Steinhauer is still a go-to author for me. If a need a break from the mundane, Steinhauer always accommodates. I just wanted this one to be better
October 30, 2012
It’s taken me a couple of days of mourning before I could review the last of Olen Steinhauer’s Yalta books, Victory Square. I have enjoyed all five books very much, but all good things must come to an end, and that makes me a bit sad.
Endings are a theme in Victory Square; careers end, lives end, governments end. In several ways, Victory Squarebrings the story started in Bridge of Sighs full circle. Emil Brod, the hero of Bridge of Sighs, returns as the hero of Victory Square. In the first book, he was at the very beginning of his career; here, he is a few days from retirement. Likewise, the anonymous Eastern Bloc country he lives in (which I thought was Poland, but the author’s notes at the end of this book say it is based on Romania) was in its infancy in Bridge of Sighs; here, it is about to fall.
I can’t say too much about the plot without spoiling the fun, but suffice to say that Brod’s first case comes back to haunt him in a big way, and he must call upon the help of his current and past coworkers and friends in order to survive and strike back. But Brod and his compatriots aren’t the young, healthy men they once were, and age is as much a villain in this novel as are the men Brod is trying to stop.
Steinhauer learned a lesson about narrative structure from the previous installment in the series, Liberation Movements. I took issue with how Steinhauer switched from third person to first person in that book. In this, he sticks with first person: although there are two point of view characters, Brod and Gavra Noukas, we learn everything through the filter of Brod’s after-the-fact account. Sure, there are some things it’s hard to believe that Gavra “told” Brod, but it works a lot better overal than the structure of Liberation Movements.
The pacing and tension is, as always, top-notch. At no point in the book are you sure what will happen next. Because it is a first-person story, you know Brod lives at least long enough to write all of this down; nevertheless, I found myself wondering if Brod was going to survive. Part of the reason for my uncertainty is due to a trick Steinhauer pulled in his other first-person installment in this series, The Confession. In that book, another character steps in at the end to tell the reader what happened to the narrator after he wrote his confession. I thought that Victory Square might end similarly; whether or not it does is something you’ll have to find out for yourself.
Olen Steinhauer had earned a place on my “must read” list with his Milo Weaver series, and Victory Square only served to further cement his position. As sad as I am that there will be no more new Yalta books (nor, apparently, any new Milo Weaver novels), I eagerly await the next story Steinhauer publishes.
Endings are a theme in Victory Square; careers end, lives end, governments end. In several ways, Victory Squarebrings the story started in Bridge of Sighs full circle. Emil Brod, the hero of Bridge of Sighs, returns as the hero of Victory Square. In the first book, he was at the very beginning of his career; here, he is a few days from retirement. Likewise, the anonymous Eastern Bloc country he lives in (which I thought was Poland, but the author’s notes at the end of this book say it is based on Romania) was in its infancy in Bridge of Sighs; here, it is about to fall.
I can’t say too much about the plot without spoiling the fun, but suffice to say that Brod’s first case comes back to haunt him in a big way, and he must call upon the help of his current and past coworkers and friends in order to survive and strike back. But Brod and his compatriots aren’t the young, healthy men they once were, and age is as much a villain in this novel as are the men Brod is trying to stop.
Steinhauer learned a lesson about narrative structure from the previous installment in the series, Liberation Movements. I took issue with how Steinhauer switched from third person to first person in that book. In this, he sticks with first person: although there are two point of view characters, Brod and Gavra Noukas, we learn everything through the filter of Brod’s after-the-fact account. Sure, there are some things it’s hard to believe that Gavra “told” Brod, but it works a lot better overal than the structure of Liberation Movements.
The pacing and tension is, as always, top-notch. At no point in the book are you sure what will happen next. Because it is a first-person story, you know Brod lives at least long enough to write all of this down; nevertheless, I found myself wondering if Brod was going to survive. Part of the reason for my uncertainty is due to a trick Steinhauer pulled in his other first-person installment in this series, The Confession. In that book, another character steps in at the end to tell the reader what happened to the narrator after he wrote his confession. I thought that Victory Square might end similarly; whether or not it does is something you’ll have to find out for yourself.
Olen Steinhauer had earned a place on my “must read” list with his Milo Weaver series, and Victory Square only served to further cement his position. As sad as I am that there will be no more new Yalta books (nor, apparently, any new Milo Weaver novels), I eagerly await the next story Steinhauer publishes.
August 3, 2015
During the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, a Militia chief is investigating a seemingly simple heart attack of a State Security officer. But events take a turn when it's discovered the dead man was reviewing the chief's very first investigation at the start of his career 40 years ago.
This is book five in Steinhauer's Yalta Boulevard Sequence, and, like the others, it takes place in his fictional, Eastern European country which he describes as "the intersection of Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania". Even if you read the other novels out of sequence, which I don't really recommend, this one must be read last because of spoilers and poignancy. It provides a nice conclusion for all the other characters in the previous novels, even if the story itself is rushed and unsatisfying.
And, that's the problem. I think Steinhauer was getting tired of his little world that he had created and was feeling restless and wanted to move on to something else. It shows in the plot, which seems complicated at first, but quickly descends into run-of-the-mill thriller territory. It's a little sad that the author who gave us Ferenc Kolyeszar's story in The Confession and the enigmatic Brano Sev, especially in 36 Yalta Boulevard, couldn't carry the momentum through to the return of Emil Brod in this novel. For all the tragedy and thematic elements that this story could have delved into, it stays safely in generic territory.
If you've read the first four books, I'd still suggest you read this one, but I think he topped out with the second book.
This is book five in Steinhauer's Yalta Boulevard Sequence, and, like the others, it takes place in his fictional, Eastern European country which he describes as "the intersection of Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania". Even if you read the other novels out of sequence, which I don't really recommend, this one must be read last because of spoilers and poignancy. It provides a nice conclusion for all the other characters in the previous novels, even if the story itself is rushed and unsatisfying.
And, that's the problem. I think Steinhauer was getting tired of his little world that he had created and was feeling restless and wanted to move on to something else. It shows in the plot, which seems complicated at first, but quickly descends into run-of-the-mill thriller territory. It's a little sad that the author who gave us Ferenc Kolyeszar's story in The Confession and the enigmatic Brano Sev, especially in 36 Yalta Boulevard, couldn't carry the momentum through to the return of Emil Brod in this novel. For all the tragedy and thematic elements that this story could have delved into, it stays safely in generic territory.
If you've read the first four books, I'd still suggest you read this one, but I think he topped out with the second book.
May 31, 2012
Oddly satisfying, strangely disappointing....
After getting to know the various members of the Homicide dept. of the Militia of the unnamed Eastern European Soviet Bloc country after WWII, it was satisfying to see how they all ended up after the Iron Curtain fell. This was especially true of Emil Brod, the almost retired main protagonist of this concluding 5th book of the series as well as the newbie in the first book set in the late 1940’s.
OTOH, the first three books had the tension of police procedurals which kept running up against the Ministry of State Security (yes, very reminiscent of the earlier (and better) Arkady Renko books by Martin Cruz Smith). In fact two of the characters seem to wear both hats, adding to the confusion/tension.
This book is quite different: the police procedural quickly devolves into a grand political scheme, reaching back to Brod’s first case/arrest in Book 1. Much is directly taken from the fall of the Ceausescu in Romania and his impromptu trial. Plenty of action; but to me not up to the level of the first three books.
After getting to know the various members of the Homicide dept. of the Militia of the unnamed Eastern European Soviet Bloc country after WWII, it was satisfying to see how they all ended up after the Iron Curtain fell. This was especially true of Emil Brod, the almost retired main protagonist of this concluding 5th book of the series as well as the newbie in the first book set in the late 1940’s.
OTOH, the first three books had the tension of police procedurals which kept running up against the Ministry of State Security (yes, very reminiscent of the earlier (and better) Arkady Renko books by Martin Cruz Smith). In fact two of the characters seem to wear both hats, adding to the confusion/tension.
This book is quite different: the police procedural quickly devolves into a grand political scheme, reaching back to Brod’s first case/arrest in Book 1. Much is directly taken from the fall of the Ceausescu in Romania and his impromptu trial. Plenty of action; but to me not up to the level of the first three books.
April 10, 2021
It's December 1989 and all over Eastern Europe communist regimes are crumbling. The unnamed country of this sequence of novels too is about to face upheaval, with revolution brewing, people rising up, and various factions banding together to topple the government. Meanwhile Emil Brod, now Chief of the People's Militia and about to retire, must face the ghosts of his past as a case from 40 years ago comes back to haunt him with far greater implications than he can at first grasp.
Everything comes full circle in this excellent conclusion to the series. Each and every book in it is brilliant, but I do believe this one was the best of them all.
Everything comes full circle in this excellent conclusion to the series. Each and every book in it is brilliant, but I do believe this one was the best of them all.
August 26, 2017
I have now finished the Yalta Boulevard Sequence. Olen Steinhauer continues to intrigue me with his writing. It is not always easy to keep track of things, but I plow on and then the last 50 pages I can't put down. Emil Brod and Brano Sev become the characters that I will always think of when I think of Eastern Europe. Steinhauer has helped me understand that communist period between 1948 and 1989. His fictitious country resembles mostly Romania but you can take your pick. Anyone making this sojourn should start with "The Bridge of Sighs" and work through each decade.
September 5, 2018
This was a very enlightening historical fiction . It hauntingly reminds the reader of the revolutionary events that occurred in Romania . It is a long and suspenseful read with espionage, nationalism and victory. The reader should have a greater appreciation for what freedoms Western nations enjoy.
October 7, 2019
I started reading books in this serious over 3 years ago. Read one...come back to the next one after a few months. Though I recognized at each iteration the story was being told through a different point of view but involving the same cast...I had no idea there would be a central connection that all came to play in a gripping conclusion with Victory Square. Strong finish...enjoyed the ride.
December 26, 2022
This is the 5th and final book from the Yalta Boulevard series. This is the best one of the five.
This book is set in an unnamed Eastern European nation in December of 1989. This book brings back many of the characters from the previous four books and ties up a lot of loose ends. The series consists of one book from each decade beginning in 1948. This book deals with the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the jockeying for positions that took place. Ideology was often cast aside for power. People will say and do anything for power.
This book goes back and forth from the perspective of Emil Brod and Gavra Noukas who each made appearances in other books. Emil and Gavra each have assignments to complete while the countries they are employed by are falling apart.
Like all Steinhauer books the plot is complicated and there are twists and turns which I enjoy.
This book is set in an unnamed Eastern European nation in December of 1989. This book brings back many of the characters from the previous four books and ties up a lot of loose ends. The series consists of one book from each decade beginning in 1948. This book deals with the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the jockeying for positions that took place. Ideology was often cast aside for power. People will say and do anything for power.
This book goes back and forth from the perspective of Emil Brod and Gavra Noukas who each made appearances in other books. Emil and Gavra each have assignments to complete while the countries they are employed by are falling apart.
Like all Steinhauer books the plot is complicated and there are twists and turns which I enjoy.
August 15, 2022
Last book in the very intense Ruthenia (a fictitious Communist ruled East European country) series. Emil Brod, head of the homicide department in the Capital and a main character in the previous four books, is ready to retire. But it’s 1989 and the Communist satellites are falling like dominoes. Will Brod make it out alive?
There are still murders to solve. His old colleague is a protest leader. His long time frenemy, the resident spy in his department, has disappeared. And there may well be a treat to him and his wife.
The course of the revolution is modeled on that in Rumania, so there will be blood. Enjoy!
There are still murders to solve. His old colleague is a protest leader. His long time frenemy, the resident spy in his department, has disappeared. And there may well be a treat to him and his wife.
The course of the revolution is modeled on that in Rumania, so there will be blood. Enjoy!
March 8, 2019
I received a copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program in exchange for an honest review. While this book was an interesting and well-researched account of what life was like in Communist era Eastern Europe, I found the story complex to follow (although this is likely in part because I haven't read the other books in the series).
Would recommend that other readers start with Book One in the series as I found myself quite confused for the first 100 pages or so of this book.
Would recommend that other readers start with Book One in the series as I found myself quite confused for the first 100 pages or so of this book.
November 8, 2019
Well, I made it through the sequence and enjoyed it all. In this one I especially liked learning about the revolution, which was closely based on the Romanian revolution. Oddly, Brano Sev turned out to be my favorite character and I was happy the way his story finished up. Good writing, fascinating peek behind the 'iron curtain' (from an ex-pat writer's point of view), anguished and complex plots.
November 29, 2024
I started reading this series because, given the state of our tettering democracy I wanted to read something that would give me a vague idea of what it's like to live in a totalitarian state. Something that was fictional so it wouldn't leave me sleepless.
It turns out that this series is more than I bargained for, but so powerful and compelling that I am recommending it to my reading friends.
That includes you.
It turns out that this series is more than I bargained for, but so powerful and compelling that I am recommending it to my reading friends.
That includes you.
July 18, 2020
A very nice way to wrap up the series. If you are new to the Yalta series do start at book one these five books really need to be read in order. A better job of rounding out characters in this book. The plot was very intriguing bouncing between a good detective story and a great look at mid 80's Eastern Europe (with a very close resemblance to Romania).
September 1, 2019
The conclusion of an epic story of political intrigue, betrayal and Eastern Europe at the fall of communism. A vivid picture of a revolution (largely based on Romania) told through memorable characters and cataclysmic events.
May 16, 2021
My least favorite of the series. Still good but too many unbelievable things happening. More of a traditional thriller. I loved the series, though, and recommend reading it straight through and in order. Quite an achievement for the author to be so consistent across five books.
February 25, 2023
I really enjoyed this series. What I always like about Steinhauer novels is nothing is straight forward. Very little is predictable….which keeps you trying to predict. The character development in the series is also fantastic.
September 17, 2018
Superb ending to this great series. Lots of loose ends tied up, surprise reveals.
Now, need to read the lot again!
Now, need to read the lot again!
January 29, 2019
Great wrap for the series. Steinhauer did an excellent job.
February 19, 2019
I couldn’t help but feel bad for Chief Brod. Caught in the cat’s claw .... 😾
January 20, 2021
Very interesting twists, and excellent narration.
July 12, 2021
Steinhauer closes out his Yalta Blvd. series with precision. It's nice to see an ending but it's a series that I wish would have kept going as well.
July 25, 2022
Audible listen. This series by Olen Steinhauer is very well written.
July 6, 2023
A story that is much alike a slow and winding river. Basically a slow reader and the fact that, obviously, all the characters have eastern europe names doesn't help.
September 5, 2022
Audible.com 10 hours 34 min. Narrated by Don Leslie (B)
3.5 stars A little confusing as I spent most of the book trying to figure out which post post Gorbachev Russian satellite country was the setting ( It is ficticious.) It did have an unexpected ending.
3.5 stars A little confusing as I spent most of the book trying to figure out which post post Gorbachev Russian satellite country was the setting ( It is ficticious.) It did have an unexpected ending.
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