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The Yalta Boulevard Sequence #1
The Bridge of Sighs
From the author of New York Times bestseller The Tourist...It's August, 1948, three years after the Russians "liberated" the nation from German Occupation. But the Red Army still patrols the capital's rubble-strewn streets, and the ideals of the Revolution are but memories. Twenty-two-year-old Detective Emil Brod finally gets his chance to serve his country, investigating murder for the People's Militia. The first victim is a state songwriter, but the facts point to a political motive. Emil would like to investigate further, but his colleagues in Homicide are suspicious or He is on his own in this new, dangerous world. The Bridge of Sighs launches a unique series of crime novels featuring a cast of characters in an ever-evolving landscape, the politically volatile terrain of Eastern Europe in the second half of the 20th century.The Bridge of Sighs is a 2004 Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 13, 2003
197 people are currently reading
2745 people want to read
About the author
Olen Steinhauer
32 books1,249 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 268 reviews
April 25, 2025
This was the very first book published by Olen Steinhauer, he of The Tourist fame. Written in 2003 while living in Budapest, he chose to take as his setting the murky environs of Eastern Europe at the close of World War II. He thought to create a somewhat anonymous country recovering from its wrangle between the Nazis and the Russians, people it with survivors, and focus on young Emil Brod - who has just finished training to be part of a local homicide squad...
A twenty-two-year-old in a stiff suit with a stupid, bashful grin marking his pale features, a blond schoolboy among these dark veterans...
That is not correct at all - that stupid, bashful grin - which we as readers realize in short order. It takes our author a bit longer to rectify the mistake. Chapters and chapters will pass before he recognizes that there was no grin, and nothing bashful, and not much of the stupid going on here at all. It is, I suspect, because Steinhauer was new to the writing of novels that he has begun his story before he's fully established the character in his mind. And so we are along for the ride, not only in terms of character formation but structure, exposition, dialogue; he is learning as he goes. This makes the novel less of a novel and more a workbook of sorts.
The tale begins, truly begins, at the three-quarter mark. Here is where he locates his sea legs and edges toward the development of the voice he will use in later books to such popular acclaim. In the meantime things are dark in stereotypical ways, and miserable, and plodding, and morose. Because, hey, it's Eastern Europe right after the Nazis left. Stalin's just around the corner. Look, some more dead bodies! Yay!
A twenty-two-year-old in a stiff suit with a stupid, bashful grin marking his pale features, a blond schoolboy among these dark veterans...
That is not correct at all - that stupid, bashful grin - which we as readers realize in short order. It takes our author a bit longer to rectify the mistake. Chapters and chapters will pass before he recognizes that there was no grin, and nothing bashful, and not much of the stupid going on here at all. It is, I suspect, because Steinhauer was new to the writing of novels that he has begun his story before he's fully established the character in his mind. And so we are along for the ride, not only in terms of character formation but structure, exposition, dialogue; he is learning as he goes. This makes the novel less of a novel and more a workbook of sorts.
The tale begins, truly begins, at the three-quarter mark. Here is where he locates his sea legs and edges toward the development of the voice he will use in later books to such popular acclaim. In the meantime things are dark in stereotypical ways, and miserable, and plodding, and morose. Because, hey, it's Eastern Europe right after the Nazis left. Stalin's just around the corner. Look, some more dead bodies! Yay!
May 9, 2012
I read somewhere that Olen Steinhauer was a good mystery writer. He is. And is more. The Bridge Of Sighs, set in an unnamed Eastern European country, post WWII, traces the efforts of newly-minted homicide detective Emil Brod to solve the murder of a fairly-famous songwriter. The investigation is also his coming-of-age as policeman, adult, and survivor in a totalitarian society.
The Bridge of Sighs is Venetian, the last crossing for convicted criminals before their incarceration in a famously brutal prison. I thought I remembered a recent movie of the same name, but could only find old ones, produced long before the 2003 publication of Steinhauer’s version of what has obviously been a phrase that attracted artists of various media for some time. In this case, it’s a metaphor for crossing into brutal horrors of Stalinist oppression.
Brod’s a young guy who makes a ton of mistakes. I don’t recall an author putting his protagonist in worse situations than Steinhauer creates for poor Emil. But we’re always on his side and hopeful even when he stumbles and bumbles. Sometimes because he has such a good heart (he doesn’t always), and sometimes because the evil guys are so unimaginably vile. Reviewers often use the word “gritty” to describe detective novels. In this case, it’s not figurative. In a bombed out environment where so much is in ruins and the main dish is cabbage, it’s impossible to stay clean, it seems. Streets, clothes, water, morals, are all soiled all the time. I guess that’s another thing that makes Brod appealing, his desperate struggle to stay clean. And that’s what makes The Bridge of Sighs a literary as well as a genre novel. The crime is greater than the sum of the plot.
The Bridge of Sighs is Venetian, the last crossing for convicted criminals before their incarceration in a famously brutal prison. I thought I remembered a recent movie of the same name, but could only find old ones, produced long before the 2003 publication of Steinhauer’s version of what has obviously been a phrase that attracted artists of various media for some time. In this case, it’s a metaphor for crossing into brutal horrors of Stalinist oppression.
Brod’s a young guy who makes a ton of mistakes. I don’t recall an author putting his protagonist in worse situations than Steinhauer creates for poor Emil. But we’re always on his side and hopeful even when he stumbles and bumbles. Sometimes because he has such a good heart (he doesn’t always), and sometimes because the evil guys are so unimaginably vile. Reviewers often use the word “gritty” to describe detective novels. In this case, it’s not figurative. In a bombed out environment where so much is in ruins and the main dish is cabbage, it’s impossible to stay clean, it seems. Streets, clothes, water, morals, are all soiled all the time. I guess that’s another thing that makes Brod appealing, his desperate struggle to stay clean. And that’s what makes The Bridge of Sighs a literary as well as a genre novel. The crime is greater than the sum of the plot.
June 16, 2024
I don't remember this very well, so I'm rereading to prepare for the rest of the series. I hope it will be worth it, but so far it's been pretty good. I have been enjoying other books about the earlier days of Russia and the USSR. This one takes place a bit earlier, in 1948, 3 years after the Russians liberated the land from the Germans.
Finished this one, again, and hopefully it will stay in my mind as I progress through the series. Rereading it wasn't much different than reading it for the first time - I didn't remember much at all, and definitely nothing important.
I've actually started the next book in the series, "The Confession", and it is a continuation, but it seems that Emile isnot be the main character, but I'm not far enough along yet. It's written in the first person by one of the other members of the team.
-------original review-------
Another winner by Olen Steinhauer. I've enjoyed all the books I've read by this author, and I'm happy to see there's more in this series. The main character in this book is a strange young man named Emil Brod, a new homicide inspector in some Eastern European country in 1948 who doesn't know when to quit. He goes after some higher up politico that has the power to just have someone shot without any apparent consequences, something he demonstrates pretty dramatically, though fortunately unsuccessfully, with Brod, who is told to drop the case. But he can't do that, because the book would be pretty uninteresting if he did. But the good news is that all the people he works with (and for) no longer seem to hate him after this happens, and he even becomes friendly with some, including the one who kicked him in the testicles earlier in the story.
Finished this one, again, and hopefully it will stay in my mind as I progress through the series. Rereading it wasn't much different than reading it for the first time - I didn't remember much at all, and definitely nothing important.
I've actually started the next book in the series, "The Confession", and it is a continuation, but it seems that Emile isnot be the main character, but I'm not far enough along yet. It's written in the first person by one of the other members of the team.
-------original review-------
Another winner by Olen Steinhauer. I've enjoyed all the books I've read by this author, and I'm happy to see there's more in this series. The main character in this book is a strange young man named Emil Brod, a new homicide inspector in some Eastern European country in 1948 who doesn't know when to quit. He goes after some higher up politico that has the power to just have someone shot without any apparent consequences, something he demonstrates pretty dramatically, though fortunately unsuccessfully, with Brod, who is told to drop the case. But he can't do that, because the book would be pretty uninteresting if he did. But the good news is that all the people he works with (and for) no longer seem to hate him after this happens, and he even becomes friendly with some, including the one who kicked him in the testicles earlier in the story.
December 20, 2013
I have a new detective to add to favorites––Harry Bosch, Kinsey Millhone, Guido Brunetti -- and he is Emil Brod, 23 year-old newly hired homicide investigator for the People's Militia. The story is set in 1948's post Russia's liberating Brod's small country from German occupation. His first case is of a state's songwriter. The young detective is not welcomed by his fellow homicide investigators, making Brod waffle on his career decision. Having never read any fiction (contemporary) about this time period the history of the political and social upheaval was enticing to me witnessing, not only the killings that continue, but the desperation of the economy and people. The author, Olen Steinhauser, draws in the reader through this desperation seen in all the characters, a desperation that doesn't stop life nor Detective Comrade Brod from doing his job. This is Steinhauser's first novel and I look forward to more. The Skye in June
April 6, 2017
A fully satisfying murder mystery set in post-war Europe
It has been three years since the Second World War ended, leaving his country in still in ruins and under the rule of a one-party Communist government headed by Comrade Mihai. The despised Germans and their sympathizers have been driven out or executed, but their legacy taints daily life at all levels of society. Just 22 and fresh out of the police academy, Emil Brod reports for duty to the homicide department in The Capital, only to be thrown, unaided, into investigating the murder of one of the country’s leading citizens. Treated to hostility by his fellow officers, Brod stumbles headlong into the murky circumstances surrounding the murder. Soon, he finds himself in the arms of the murdered man’s wife, who helps point him to a connection with a celebrated war hero rumored to be a candidate for the Politburo and a possible successor to Comrade Mihai. The Bridge of Sighs tells the tale of Brod’s persistence on this case in the face of official disapproval and several attempts on his life.
The Bridge of Sighs is a deeply satisfying novel that joins complex characters with a credible story in a well-researched setting. The book was nominated for five literary awards, and it’s not difficult to see why.
Published in 2003, with the action taking place in 1948, The Bridge of Sighs was the first in Olen Steinhauer‘s five-novel series set in a fictional Central European country most closely resembling Slovakia.
The Bridge of Sighs was followed in successive years by The Confession (set in 1956), 36 Yalta Boulevard (1966), Liberation Movements (1968 & 1975), and Victory Square (1989). The series thus spans the duration of Communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe.
Immediately after finishing his Central European saga, Steinhauer wrote an espionage trilogy featuring Milo Weaver in 2009-12: The Tourist, The Nearest Exit, and An American Spy.
Olen Steinhauer is a young man, and one worthy to watch.
(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)
It has been three years since the Second World War ended, leaving his country in still in ruins and under the rule of a one-party Communist government headed by Comrade Mihai. The despised Germans and their sympathizers have been driven out or executed, but their legacy taints daily life at all levels of society. Just 22 and fresh out of the police academy, Emil Brod reports for duty to the homicide department in The Capital, only to be thrown, unaided, into investigating the murder of one of the country’s leading citizens. Treated to hostility by his fellow officers, Brod stumbles headlong into the murky circumstances surrounding the murder. Soon, he finds himself in the arms of the murdered man’s wife, who helps point him to a connection with a celebrated war hero rumored to be a candidate for the Politburo and a possible successor to Comrade Mihai. The Bridge of Sighs tells the tale of Brod’s persistence on this case in the face of official disapproval and several attempts on his life.
The Bridge of Sighs is a deeply satisfying novel that joins complex characters with a credible story in a well-researched setting. The book was nominated for five literary awards, and it’s not difficult to see why.
Published in 2003, with the action taking place in 1948, The Bridge of Sighs was the first in Olen Steinhauer‘s five-novel series set in a fictional Central European country most closely resembling Slovakia.
The Bridge of Sighs was followed in successive years by The Confession (set in 1956), 36 Yalta Boulevard (1966), Liberation Movements (1968 & 1975), and Victory Square (1989). The series thus spans the duration of Communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe.
Immediately after finishing his Central European saga, Steinhauer wrote an espionage trilogy featuring Milo Weaver in 2009-12: The Tourist, The Nearest Exit, and An American Spy.
Olen Steinhauer is a young man, and one worthy to watch.
(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)
May 29, 2010
WWII has recently ground to a halt, and Eastern Europe is now occupied by the Russians rather than the Germans. Not much difference, life is still exceedingly grim. Into this atmosphere, idealistic new detective Emil Brod begins his career. As if survival itself isn't difficult enough, Emil's fellow police officers shun him. When he finally lands his first case, it turns out to be a political quagmire of a murder. In a way, The Bridge of Sighs ( a symbol of this brave new prole society) is a retro sort of cold war novel. There is very little difference between the criminals and the politicos, and poor Emil must struggle mightily to make any headway in solving this murder. Along the way, he falls in love, visits Germany, drinks a lot, refuses to follow well meant advice, and barely escapes with his life. By the time the story comes to a conclusion, twenty three year old Emil feels as old as his grandfather.
This is an interesting murder mystery, but the atmosphere is so desolate that it drains the reader of energy. Emil in his naivete and optimism is a likable protagonist who must fight more than pimps, murderers, and thieves as he tries to build a life for himself. Tres noir.
This is an interesting murder mystery, but the atmosphere is so desolate that it drains the reader of energy. Emil in his naivete and optimism is a likable protagonist who must fight more than pimps, murderers, and thieves as he tries to build a life for himself. Tres noir.
October 16, 2015
It's August 1948 in an unnamed Eastern European country, and Emil Brod has reported for his first day on the job as the newbie in the People's Militia. He lives with his grandparents, and as if he were a kid off to his first day at school, his grandmother has made sure he wore his best suit. It's tight, ill-fitting, and pure torture in the sweltering heat of the office. None of his new co-workers are welcoming. Instead, he is ignored, finds a threatening note in his desk drawer and is physically assaulted.
The atmosphere of the office feels like a microcosm of the outside world, poisoned by mutual suspicion, Cold War paranoia, politically motivated imprisonments and executions and secret files on nearly everyone. Bombed out rubble and bullet-pocked buildings still scar the city three years after the end of the war. Russian soldiers roam like hooligans, a constant reminder of the new order.
There is a plot. Janos Crowder, celebrated writer of patriotic songs, intimate of the political elite, and husband of Lena Hanic, heir to a fortune thanks to the machinations of her late father, has been found murdered in his apartment. Emil has been assigned the case because it is politically dangerous. No one wants to be mired in a case with political connections. A convoluted and suspenseful story of intrigue flows from this beginning.
I have to admit, however, that I found Emil's uncomfortable relationship with his grandfather more interesting than the plot. Emil spent World War II, known as the Patriotic War, on a Finnish seal-hunting boat rather than at the front. He is a disappointment to his grandfather, a staunch communist whose views were molded by witnessing the proletarian uprising in Russia in 1917 and the German invasion during World War II. “For Avram Brod, there were two events in history: The Russian Revolution and the Patriotic War which resulted in his country's proletarian liberation. In both these events he had been close enough to smell the dead, but too late to make a difference.” (p.61) Avram projects that sense of impotence on Emil and on his wife with outbursts of brutality and abuse. Avram's idol is a man named Jerzy Michalec, known as Smerdyakov the Butcher for his wartime exploits. Michalec is now a dangerous politico somehow connected to Emil's case. As for the man's wartime accolades, “Grandfather called it courage, but Emil wasn't sure that courage was the right word for butchers.” (p.101)
The book is interspersed with flashbacks of Emil's life. His own parents were killed in the war. With his grandparents, he fled to the provinces when the Germans invaded. There, he encountered a growing stream of Jews fleeing from the Germans. He developed a weakness for damaged women. Then he fled to Finland, seeking his own independence from the dogmatism of his grandfather. On the seal-hunting boat he discovered his own skill at butchering seals, and chilling encounters with impulsive violence.
This was the first novel in a series referred to as the Yalta Blvd. Quintet. The succeeding titles are: THE CONFESSION, 36 YALTA BOULEVARD, LIBERATION MOVEMENTS and VICTORY SQUARE. I had mixed feelings about the book. The Eastern bloc mood and Emil's conflicted feelings were interesting. However, at some point the plot veers off and becomes a romance which never felt plausible. This book did not encourage me to complete the series.
The atmosphere of the office feels like a microcosm of the outside world, poisoned by mutual suspicion, Cold War paranoia, politically motivated imprisonments and executions and secret files on nearly everyone. Bombed out rubble and bullet-pocked buildings still scar the city three years after the end of the war. Russian soldiers roam like hooligans, a constant reminder of the new order.
There is a plot. Janos Crowder, celebrated writer of patriotic songs, intimate of the political elite, and husband of Lena Hanic, heir to a fortune thanks to the machinations of her late father, has been found murdered in his apartment. Emil has been assigned the case because it is politically dangerous. No one wants to be mired in a case with political connections. A convoluted and suspenseful story of intrigue flows from this beginning.
I have to admit, however, that I found Emil's uncomfortable relationship with his grandfather more interesting than the plot. Emil spent World War II, known as the Patriotic War, on a Finnish seal-hunting boat rather than at the front. He is a disappointment to his grandfather, a staunch communist whose views were molded by witnessing the proletarian uprising in Russia in 1917 and the German invasion during World War II. “For Avram Brod, there were two events in history: The Russian Revolution and the Patriotic War which resulted in his country's proletarian liberation. In both these events he had been close enough to smell the dead, but too late to make a difference.” (p.61) Avram projects that sense of impotence on Emil and on his wife with outbursts of brutality and abuse. Avram's idol is a man named Jerzy Michalec, known as Smerdyakov the Butcher for his wartime exploits. Michalec is now a dangerous politico somehow connected to Emil's case. As for the man's wartime accolades, “Grandfather called it courage, but Emil wasn't sure that courage was the right word for butchers.” (p.101)
The book is interspersed with flashbacks of Emil's life. His own parents were killed in the war. With his grandparents, he fled to the provinces when the Germans invaded. There, he encountered a growing stream of Jews fleeing from the Germans. He developed a weakness for damaged women. Then he fled to Finland, seeking his own independence from the dogmatism of his grandfather. On the seal-hunting boat he discovered his own skill at butchering seals, and chilling encounters with impulsive violence.
This was the first novel in a series referred to as the Yalta Blvd. Quintet. The succeeding titles are: THE CONFESSION, 36 YALTA BOULEVARD, LIBERATION MOVEMENTS and VICTORY SQUARE. I had mixed feelings about the book. The Eastern bloc mood and Emil's conflicted feelings were interesting. However, at some point the plot veers off and becomes a romance which never felt plausible. This book did not encourage me to complete the series.
July 12, 2014
Book 1, in the Emil Brod series
This unique portrayal begins in 1948 and captures the life and crime of a small Eastern Country (Unnamed) after the Russians liberated it from the German Occupation. The people continue to struggle with rebuilding and coming to terms with their destiny. There are suspicious of their liberators and their Communist ideology. We are into a volatile terrain throughout this auspicious crime novel.
I am a huge fan of the Milo Weaver series so it is of no surprise my curiosity brought me to his debut novel written in 2003 which introduced 22 year old Emil Brod as homicide inspector of the People‘s Militia as the protagonist. Emil spent the war working on a fishing boat in Finland and finally gets his chance to serve his country investigating murders. This is his first outing in a series of 5 installments so far.
This not an easy read. The depiction of broken people who survive the Nazi to only find themselves in the clutch of the Russians is a hard story to take and follow. This book has a repressive atmosphere: highlighting corruption, the starvation, the violence, etc. all the while seeing the protagonist (a rookie) trying to find his way through the maze of intrigue, cruelty and ugliness in order to investigate and solve his cases.
I had trouble concentrating and keeping up with this blend of police procedural, political treatise and love story. My mind kept on wandering and I never could grasp the essence of all what was going on. There was something in the style that didn't agree with me, the narrative did not pique my interest and I fast lost interest. The plot was rather weak IMO and I could easily predict the outcome from the get-go. It was a rough read and I am surprise I actually made it to the ending. Maybe it is better to set our mind that this novel is not some frolic in escapism but rather about Soviet repression….
Many have enjoyed this novel immensely seems I may I missed the boat on this one altogether.
This unique portrayal begins in 1948 and captures the life and crime of a small Eastern Country (Unnamed) after the Russians liberated it from the German Occupation. The people continue to struggle with rebuilding and coming to terms with their destiny. There are suspicious of their liberators and their Communist ideology. We are into a volatile terrain throughout this auspicious crime novel.
I am a huge fan of the Milo Weaver series so it is of no surprise my curiosity brought me to his debut novel written in 2003 which introduced 22 year old Emil Brod as homicide inspector of the People‘s Militia as the protagonist. Emil spent the war working on a fishing boat in Finland and finally gets his chance to serve his country investigating murders. This is his first outing in a series of 5 installments so far.
This not an easy read. The depiction of broken people who survive the Nazi to only find themselves in the clutch of the Russians is a hard story to take and follow. This book has a repressive atmosphere: highlighting corruption, the starvation, the violence, etc. all the while seeing the protagonist (a rookie) trying to find his way through the maze of intrigue, cruelty and ugliness in order to investigate and solve his cases.
I had trouble concentrating and keeping up with this blend of police procedural, political treatise and love story. My mind kept on wandering and I never could grasp the essence of all what was going on. There was something in the style that didn't agree with me, the narrative did not pique my interest and I fast lost interest. The plot was rather weak IMO and I could easily predict the outcome from the get-go. It was a rough read and I am surprise I actually made it to the ending. Maybe it is better to set our mind that this novel is not some frolic in escapism but rather about Soviet repression….
Many have enjoyed this novel immensely seems I may I missed the boat on this one altogether.
October 27, 2025
The title comes from the bridge in Venice which criminals must cross over to the prison. Crossing over this bridge they are said to sigh, because once having gotten to the other side, there is no hope. The reference is made a couple of times in this novel, but I didn't fully see the connection. There are a couple of brutal murders, but when the references to the bridge are made no one is facing prison time. However, if I think about it carefully, it likely refers to the investigator facing no hope.
This is the first in a series. The series is different in that there is no continuing character. The novels take place in a fictitious country and each installment takes place in a different decade, each one moving toward the breakup of the Soviet Union. This one takes place in 1948. The country is trying to recover from the war.
The main character is Emil Brod who, at age 22, has just completed courses to qualify as a homicide investigator. We meet him on his first assignment. After more than a week of doing nothing, he is assigned to investigate a brutal murder - which then is followed by another murder obviously commited by the same perpetrator. Soon, we see there may be political implications.
When I acquired this one, it was on the basis of a recommendation from one of my backgammon friends. The writing is good, and there is plenty of plot. There is some violence. I didn't expect much in the way of characterization, but there is enough for me to say that at least Emil Brod's character is not just 2-dimensional, though to say he is fully-fleshed would be an exaggeration.
My friend has made a couple of other recommendations and, based on how well I liked this one, I'll be happy to seek them out. In the meantime, I'll add the next in this series to my over-burdened wish list, though I expect it to move to my On Hand shelf sooner rather than later. This is 4-stars, mostly for plot - it became a page turner.
This is the first in a series. The series is different in that there is no continuing character. The novels take place in a fictitious country and each installment takes place in a different decade, each one moving toward the breakup of the Soviet Union. This one takes place in 1948. The country is trying to recover from the war.
The main character is Emil Brod who, at age 22, has just completed courses to qualify as a homicide investigator. We meet him on his first assignment. After more than a week of doing nothing, he is assigned to investigate a brutal murder - which then is followed by another murder obviously commited by the same perpetrator. Soon, we see there may be political implications.
When I acquired this one, it was on the basis of a recommendation from one of my backgammon friends. The writing is good, and there is plenty of plot. There is some violence. I didn't expect much in the way of characterization, but there is enough for me to say that at least Emil Brod's character is not just 2-dimensional, though to say he is fully-fleshed would be an exaggeration.
My friend has made a couple of other recommendations and, based on how well I liked this one, I'll be happy to seek them out. In the meantime, I'll add the next in this series to my over-burdened wish list, though I expect it to move to my On Hand shelf sooner rather than later. This is 4-stars, mostly for plot - it became a page turner.
June 13, 2022
Emil Brod is the downright worst fictional detective I have ever read. Not in the bumbling Inspector Clouseau way; nor in the action-is-everything Elvis Cole way that he will punch his way out of – Emil Brod is earnest, honest, idealistic, and has a gentle heart. It’s just that he is a seriously bad detective.
The Bridge of Sighs is Olen Steinhauer’s first novel, and one can call it a (recent) historical mystery. It’s set in the late ‘40s, soon after the war, in an unnamed, decrepit, poor, and war-ravaged (Eastern) European city, on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Emil Brod is a very young, freshly minted Police Detective of the People’s Militia. He joins the police forces of the city, and after initial hostilities, is faced with an absolutely hopeless case with the murder of a reasonably-famous state songwriter, and a subsequent linked murder to follow.
The effort to solve the case, his first, takes him into the incredibly evil and corrupted world of state politics. And in the arms of the estranged (and exquisite) widow of said songwriter. Brod is a good egg, though – sincere and soft-hearted. He approaches the case like many wouldn’t, with no worry for life nor career, like a typical bull in a china shop. He makes innumerable mistakes and upsets way too many apple carts. Indeed, at the end of the book and after the denouement, one sits back to wonder why one of the few near-death experiences did not, actually, result in him being bumped off along the way.
But he doesn’t, and you go along for the ride. You go along because you have developed a liking for Emil Brod. He is naively hopeful (notwithstanding the tough past that he is still sometimes haunted by), he wants to be good, and he stands out among the sea of bleakness and immorality around him. You go along because this is a peek into a world one does not know of. And you go along because even though detours are frustrating at times, the story does move along at pace. As for me, I have been brought up on Robert Ludlum and Frederick Forsyth. Slow set ups and detour-esque middle-thirds don't scare me. This isn’t bad at all.
There is a point-of-view that a mystery novel should not be too "well-written" in the literary sense, such that the writing takes away from the plot. I am not an advocate of the idea, but would just like to mention that there are passages here in this book that certainly would make such haters of the "literary" apoplectic with rage. Olen Steinhauer is excellent at building up the unnamed Eastern European city, with its bleak structures, forbidding walls and open countryside. This is lovely writing.
I have one complaint though. Lena is very cardboard, very manic-pixie-dream-girl. Even tertiary characters are written better, and have more life in them. Unfortunately, that seems to be a normal thing for many mystery stories written by male writers. Steinhauer is no Dashiell Hammett in writing women. But he can write alright. Perhaps the next novels would be better at this aspect?
Four stars in five is well-earned, I think. I look forward to reading the other Yalta Boulevard Novels.
The Bridge of Sighs is Olen Steinhauer’s first novel, and one can call it a (recent) historical mystery. It’s set in the late ‘40s, soon after the war, in an unnamed, decrepit, poor, and war-ravaged (Eastern) European city, on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Emil Brod is a very young, freshly minted Police Detective of the People’s Militia. He joins the police forces of the city, and after initial hostilities, is faced with an absolutely hopeless case with the murder of a reasonably-famous state songwriter, and a subsequent linked murder to follow.
The effort to solve the case, his first, takes him into the incredibly evil and corrupted world of state politics. And in the arms of the estranged (and exquisite) widow of said songwriter. Brod is a good egg, though – sincere and soft-hearted. He approaches the case like many wouldn’t, with no worry for life nor career, like a typical bull in a china shop. He makes innumerable mistakes and upsets way too many apple carts. Indeed, at the end of the book and after the denouement, one sits back to wonder why one of the few near-death experiences did not, actually, result in him being bumped off along the way.
But he doesn’t, and you go along for the ride. You go along because you have developed a liking for Emil Brod. He is naively hopeful (notwithstanding the tough past that he is still sometimes haunted by), he wants to be good, and he stands out among the sea of bleakness and immorality around him. You go along because this is a peek into a world one does not know of. And you go along because even though detours are frustrating at times, the story does move along at pace. As for me, I have been brought up on Robert Ludlum and Frederick Forsyth. Slow set ups and detour-esque middle-thirds don't scare me. This isn’t bad at all.
There is a point-of-view that a mystery novel should not be too "well-written" in the literary sense, such that the writing takes away from the plot. I am not an advocate of the idea, but would just like to mention that there are passages here in this book that certainly would make such haters of the "literary" apoplectic with rage. Olen Steinhauer is excellent at building up the unnamed Eastern European city, with its bleak structures, forbidding walls and open countryside. This is lovely writing.
I have one complaint though. Lena is very cardboard, very manic-pixie-dream-girl. Even tertiary characters are written better, and have more life in them. Unfortunately, that seems to be a normal thing for many mystery stories written by male writers. Steinhauer is no Dashiell Hammett in writing women. But he can write alright. Perhaps the next novels would be better at this aspect?
Four stars in five is well-earned, I think. I look forward to reading the other Yalta Boulevard Novels.
September 9, 2012
With Bridge of Sighs, Olen Steinhauer cemented his place in my top five favorite writers. He joins Elmore Leonard, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, and Paolo Bacigalupi -- all writers I can depend on for a great story well told.
I was a fan of Steinhauer after reading The Tourist, and the hook dug ever deeper as I read the sequels, Nearest Exit and An American Spy.
From what I can tell, Bridge of Sighs is the first novel Steinhauer wrote. The edges are a bit rougher than his most recent trilogy, but they aren't that rough. Bridge of Sighs is the first book in a series of five. Set in 1948, it tells the story of Comrade Inspector Emil Brod, the newest edition of the Homicide Division of the State Militia in a country Steinhauer never gets around to naming. We know it isn't Russia, Germany, Yugoslavia, or a few other Eastern Bloc countries mentioned during the course of the novel. According to other reviewers, the country is something the author made up, a hodgepodge drawn from Steinhauer's studies abroad.
Brod enters the Homicide Division fresh out of the Academy, but quickly finds it is not at all like his instructors described. His fellow inspectors won't speak to him, and have left a threatening note in his desk as their only greeting to him. His boss, likewise, doesn't seem to want Brod around, and only begrudgingly assigns him to a case after Brod demands it.
That's when things begin to go very wrong.
Soon, Brod finds himself in over his head in more ways than one. As he slowly pieces together the clues to solve a murder, he becomes a bigger and bigger target of some very powerful and deadly people. I know that sounds like the tagline to half of the thrillers out there, but to say more would spoil the story for you.
Suffice it to say, Steinhauer keeps you turning the pages. Bridge of Sighs paints a vivid portrait of post-war life behind the Iron Curtain. The author's knack for detail is incredible, and had me rereading paragraphs in admiration for his touch. There's a fine line between creating an evocative setting and dumping in so much detail that it stops the story; Steinhauer knows how to stay on the evocative side.
Likewise, his characters are believably human while also being compelling heroes and villains. The book could have easily fallen prey to "Boris and Natasha" stereotypes, but it does not. Every character is unique, yet utterly realistic. I had no trouble believing their motivations, their actions, and their desires.
If you're not reading Olen Steinhauer, you are doing yourself a grave disservice. He is a treasure, and I am very glad to have discovered him.
I was a fan of Steinhauer after reading The Tourist, and the hook dug ever deeper as I read the sequels, Nearest Exit and An American Spy.
From what I can tell, Bridge of Sighs is the first novel Steinhauer wrote. The edges are a bit rougher than his most recent trilogy, but they aren't that rough. Bridge of Sighs is the first book in a series of five. Set in 1948, it tells the story of Comrade Inspector Emil Brod, the newest edition of the Homicide Division of the State Militia in a country Steinhauer never gets around to naming. We know it isn't Russia, Germany, Yugoslavia, or a few other Eastern Bloc countries mentioned during the course of the novel. According to other reviewers, the country is something the author made up, a hodgepodge drawn from Steinhauer's studies abroad.
Brod enters the Homicide Division fresh out of the Academy, but quickly finds it is not at all like his instructors described. His fellow inspectors won't speak to him, and have left a threatening note in his desk as their only greeting to him. His boss, likewise, doesn't seem to want Brod around, and only begrudgingly assigns him to a case after Brod demands it.
That's when things begin to go very wrong.
Soon, Brod finds himself in over his head in more ways than one. As he slowly pieces together the clues to solve a murder, he becomes a bigger and bigger target of some very powerful and deadly people. I know that sounds like the tagline to half of the thrillers out there, but to say more would spoil the story for you.
Suffice it to say, Steinhauer keeps you turning the pages. Bridge of Sighs paints a vivid portrait of post-war life behind the Iron Curtain. The author's knack for detail is incredible, and had me rereading paragraphs in admiration for his touch. There's a fine line between creating an evocative setting and dumping in so much detail that it stops the story; Steinhauer knows how to stay on the evocative side.
Likewise, his characters are believably human while also being compelling heroes and villains. The book could have easily fallen prey to "Boris and Natasha" stereotypes, but it does not. Every character is unique, yet utterly realistic. I had no trouble believing their motivations, their actions, and their desires.
If you're not reading Olen Steinhauer, you are doing yourself a grave disservice. He is a treasure, and I am very glad to have discovered him.
March 30, 2018
They crossed the Georgian Bridge and parked near the arched footbridges leading to the labyrinth. It was quiet here – no farmers shouting out their vegetables, and no engines rumbled – so their footsteps on stone, and the fifth step of Emil’s cane, echoed before them. They walked in perpetual shadow. Faces peered through slits in yellowed lace curtains, and some pensioners came out on their stoops to watch Emil and Leonek pass. In place of engines, there was the quiet murmur of water smacking stone. Cats in windowsills kept track of them.
1948, in the Eastern Bloc, a young Inspector Emil Brod, fresh from the academy has joined the Militia’s Homicide section. He is shunned and abused by the other detectives, finally to be assigned the case of a songwriter, Janus Crowder, found beaten to death in his apartment, that has been ransacked. He tries to interview the building supervisor, Alekander Tudor, who found the body and is notably nervous. No luck with the neighbours, a family from Eastern Poland who fled there when that part of the country became Belarus. In vain he arranges to get a motor vehicle to speak to the widow, Lena Hanic, who lives in a grand house in the countryside. When the body of Aleksander Tudor is brought from the canal Brod suspects the murders might be politically motivated.
The Bridge of Sighs is the first of five novels based in the Eastern Bloc, each spanning a different decade. Author Olen Steinhauer paints a vivid picture of daily life in the capital, three years after the war ended: Russians soldiers on the streets, women queuing to fill bottles and buckets with water from spigots, food consisting of bread and cabbage soup, drinking brandy, smoking rough black Russian cigarettes, women in black sleeping in doorways while they search for missing husbands.
There are flashbacks to the early years of the war when young Brod stayed with his grandparents in the south, the family giving shelter to Romanian Jews, while his parents went to the front and perished. His late teens in Helsinki where he went seal hunting in the Arctic to earn money. Against this background is an emerging love story and police procedural.
A little slow at first but a worthy read, with references to Dostoyevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”, the title is taken from a description of Venice from a crew on the seal hunt.
The Croat described the walk from his friend’s palazzo to a canal that was overlooked, high up, by a covered bridge that connected two stone walls. The doomed, he told them. They crossed here to their way to the prisons. They call it the Bridge of Sighs ...at the end of that short walk across the bridge, his life would be lived behind a stone wall. Behind iron bars. He would live and die in the dark.
1948, in the Eastern Bloc, a young Inspector Emil Brod, fresh from the academy has joined the Militia’s Homicide section. He is shunned and abused by the other detectives, finally to be assigned the case of a songwriter, Janus Crowder, found beaten to death in his apartment, that has been ransacked. He tries to interview the building supervisor, Alekander Tudor, who found the body and is notably nervous. No luck with the neighbours, a family from Eastern Poland who fled there when that part of the country became Belarus. In vain he arranges to get a motor vehicle to speak to the widow, Lena Hanic, who lives in a grand house in the countryside. When the body of Aleksander Tudor is brought from the canal Brod suspects the murders might be politically motivated.
The Bridge of Sighs is the first of five novels based in the Eastern Bloc, each spanning a different decade. Author Olen Steinhauer paints a vivid picture of daily life in the capital, three years after the war ended: Russians soldiers on the streets, women queuing to fill bottles and buckets with water from spigots, food consisting of bread and cabbage soup, drinking brandy, smoking rough black Russian cigarettes, women in black sleeping in doorways while they search for missing husbands.
There are flashbacks to the early years of the war when young Brod stayed with his grandparents in the south, the family giving shelter to Romanian Jews, while his parents went to the front and perished. His late teens in Helsinki where he went seal hunting in the Arctic to earn money. Against this background is an emerging love story and police procedural.
A little slow at first but a worthy read, with references to Dostoyevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”, the title is taken from a description of Venice from a crew on the seal hunt.
The Croat described the walk from his friend’s palazzo to a canal that was overlooked, high up, by a covered bridge that connected two stone walls. The doomed, he told them. They crossed here to their way to the prisons. They call it the Bridge of Sighs ...at the end of that short walk across the bridge, his life would be lived behind a stone wall. Behind iron bars. He would live and die in the dark.
April 19, 2014
A couple of small spoilers are included.
Emil Brod was an interesting character. He was 22 and we meet him on the first day of his new job as a homocide detective. He sounds like a young guy full of naivte and enthusiasm, but we quickly learn that he has already killed a man, and watch as he attacks and beats up the chief suspect in his first case. It is fun to listen in as he operates with such an openly defiant approach from within an office full of careerists. The other detectives seem to be as afraid of actually solving something as they are of the Russians.
This was a time when ex-Nazi's were trying to reinvent themselves against the backdrop of the emerging Cold War and the Berlin Airlift and the era and sense-of-place sets the stage for a handful of other interesting characters. I liked the grandfather as a character. He was an avid Socialist, but with a secret, and very much in the mold of those who bought into what the Russians were selling. I also liked the girl. She seemed like a survivor in an impossible world and the romance was a nice touch, but not overdone.
There were other signs of belief in a system so very foreign to our own including when Brod himself was offered assylum in West Berlin, but turned it down.
The major story line was in the end, plausible and very complex. The solution to the crime did not reveal itself until the end. However, the character of Emil Brod makes this story. He will surprise you at every turn.
.......
Note on a minor subplot:
My favorite crime scene in the book was secondary to the main story and involved a girl who was being sexually abused by her father. She had decided to give herself to a young boy, and to then confess to him afterward that she was not exactly pure. She was worried that the boy might not take it well, so she arranged for her best friend to hide in some bushes with an axe and watch the encounter. Indeed, the boy does NOT take it well and strangles the girl, whereupon the friend jumps out of the bushes and kills him with her axe. I could not help but think that whenever CSI develops a "CSI Eastern Europe 1948" this will be their first crime scene.
Emil Brod was an interesting character. He was 22 and we meet him on the first day of his new job as a homocide detective. He sounds like a young guy full of naivte and enthusiasm, but we quickly learn that he has already killed a man, and watch as he attacks and beats up the chief suspect in his first case. It is fun to listen in as he operates with such an openly defiant approach from within an office full of careerists. The other detectives seem to be as afraid of actually solving something as they are of the Russians.
This was a time when ex-Nazi's were trying to reinvent themselves against the backdrop of the emerging Cold War and the Berlin Airlift and the era and sense-of-place sets the stage for a handful of other interesting characters. I liked the grandfather as a character. He was an avid Socialist, but with a secret, and very much in the mold of those who bought into what the Russians were selling. I also liked the girl. She seemed like a survivor in an impossible world and the romance was a nice touch, but not overdone.
There were other signs of belief in a system so very foreign to our own including when Brod himself was offered assylum in West Berlin, but turned it down.
The major story line was in the end, plausible and very complex. The solution to the crime did not reveal itself until the end. However, the character of Emil Brod makes this story. He will surprise you at every turn.
.......
Note on a minor subplot:
My favorite crime scene in the book was secondary to the main story and involved a girl who was being sexually abused by her father. She had decided to give herself to a young boy, and to then confess to him afterward that she was not exactly pure. She was worried that the boy might not take it well, so she arranged for her best friend to hide in some bushes with an axe and watch the encounter. Indeed, the boy does NOT take it well and strangles the girl, whereupon the friend jumps out of the bushes and kills him with her axe. I could not help but think that whenever CSI develops a "CSI Eastern Europe 1948" this will be their first crime scene.
May 22, 2011
During the early part of the Cold War, an inexperienced investigator in an unnamed, fictitious Eastern European country is given a case that no one wants solved.
In an impressive, Edgar-nominated debut (Best First Novel), Olen Steinhauer gives us a mystery and a story of Cold War political intrigue, set in a country he describes as "the intersection of Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania." It's part one of a five book series--with each novel featuring different characters--but all revolving around the same Militia office on Yalta Boulevard in that country.
Steinhauer's narrative style is fairly spare, yet the atmosphere and the characters' personalities slowly emerge through each chapter. The mystery and tension are built up slowly, and there isn't much in the way of ridiculous, impossible-to-believe action. The protagonist is made of flesh, and he's one of the few I've read who gets hurt and stays realistically hurt. While there are a few mystery clichés present in the novel, they do relate to the plot and are not always used in the traditional sense (read the novel, you'll know what I mean).
If I were to log a complaint, it would have to be the last three chapters. The climax seemed like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be action or anti-action. Also, there was too much summing up and wrapping up for my taste. If you are a reader who likes a nice summary to explain everything at the end of the novel and have all your questions answered, then you may not be as affected by it as I was. I'd say the last three chapters caused the novel to drop from four stars to three.
Nevertheless, I do recommend this novel to fans of John le Carré, Martin Cruz Smith, Alan Furst, and Philip Kerr. I look forward to reading the next one in the sequence.
In an impressive, Edgar-nominated debut (Best First Novel), Olen Steinhauer gives us a mystery and a story of Cold War political intrigue, set in a country he describes as "the intersection of Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania." It's part one of a five book series--with each novel featuring different characters--but all revolving around the same Militia office on Yalta Boulevard in that country.
Steinhauer's narrative style is fairly spare, yet the atmosphere and the characters' personalities slowly emerge through each chapter. The mystery and tension are built up slowly, and there isn't much in the way of ridiculous, impossible-to-believe action. The protagonist is made of flesh, and he's one of the few I've read who gets hurt and stays realistically hurt. While there are a few mystery clichés present in the novel, they do relate to the plot and are not always used in the traditional sense (read the novel, you'll know what I mean).
If I were to log a complaint, it would have to be the last three chapters. The climax seemed like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be action or anti-action. Also, there was too much summing up and wrapping up for my taste. If you are a reader who likes a nice summary to explain everything at the end of the novel and have all your questions answered, then you may not be as affected by it as I was. I'd say the last three chapters caused the novel to drop from four stars to three.
Nevertheless, I do recommend this novel to fans of John le Carré, Martin Cruz Smith, Alan Furst, and Philip Kerr. I look forward to reading the next one in the sequence.
September 23, 2011
Steinhauer captured post World War II Eastern Europe in this gritty novel about a rookie homicide investigator with the People's Militia, in an unnamed country behind the iron curtain. What hooked me, was Steinhauer's ability to add texture like a painter using a palette knife. He introduces a character, and then paints him with words. He shows you--not tells you, in layers until you can see their day old stubble and smell the vodka on their breath. The characters are coarse, flawed, fat, and certainly human. I could smell the left over cabbage soup and see the grime on the windows. The plot wasn't unusually complex-- it didn't need to be. This was my first of Steinhauer's works. I can wait to start the next
March 23, 2016
Early in The Bridge of Sighs I was unsure whether I would like the novel, but as I continued I became quite engaged, not only in the characters, but also in the setting. Olen Steinhauer provides a picture of a time and place that I have read little about - not long after the end of WWII, during the time of the Berlin Airlift and in the eastern bloc occupied by the Soviets. Well worth the reading and I certainly plan to continue reading the books of the Yalta Boulevard Sequence.
July 8, 2016
Raymond Chandler, please meet Frederick Forsyth! Shades of The Third Man: dark, gritty, compelling, the way a hard-boiled detective yarn should be. We're in an Eastern European country, 1948. The Russians are in charge; the cold war and the Berlin airlift are under way. Truth doesn't exist, misery is everywhere and a 22 year old freshly minted cop is on his first day at his new job. He is assigned to a case that no one wants to see solved.
This one has it all: an alluring woman whose life is in danger; corrupt politicos pulling hidden strings; jaded, hard-drinking cops; disreputable bars; sleazy prostitutes; dark alleyways; crumbling waterfront neighborhoods; dead bodies appearing everywhere. And no answers. What more could a noir enthusiast ask for?
This one has it all: an alluring woman whose life is in danger; corrupt politicos pulling hidden strings; jaded, hard-drinking cops; disreputable bars; sleazy prostitutes; dark alleyways; crumbling waterfront neighborhoods; dead bodies appearing everywhere. And no answers. What more could a noir enthusiast ask for?
August 25, 2015
I have already all of Steinhauer later works starting with "The Tourist" and have loved all of them and I thought it was time to go at the earlier works which are more detective/police procedurals. Not as polished as the later works but every bit as exciting and once again he is the king of the flawed character. We love Inspector Brod.
January 24, 2011
This book kickstarts Steinhauer's 5-part series of crime/spy/literary/whatever novels about a fictional Soviet satellite nation during the Cold War. Wonderful, smart, engaging.
November 5, 2021
After World War II, Emil returns from his Arctic fishing expedition with Norwegian crews to his native Eastern European country. He joins the militia as a homicide detective. He gets his first case, but it's clear a cover-up is in the works. It reads like a thriller, particularly when he finally goes to East Germany to follow a lead. The murdered man's wife becomes a romantic interest of the young detective. We learn a little about Emil's family, particularly about his grandfather. I'm not the best fit for thrillers, and this one had its share of problems besides the genre itself. I was interested in the time period and setting, but I found it frustrating in this particular book. I listened to the audio book read by Ned Schmidtke who really didn't make it exciting. I noticed a place where the recording levels did not match, and the narrator sounded different.
February 23, 2012
Not terrible, but I didn't find it that riveting, either.
It is ostensibly a mystery novel, but really spends most of its time as a depressing mood piece. (Set in post war Communist Eastern Europe.) Repetitious accounts of graphic (though not horrendously so) violent encounters do not help.
I enjoy mood pieces sometimes, and like to get into characters, but this character was not that interesting, and delving into his mind this far took away from any mystery intrigue.
Even the character himself describes a pivotal event as an "anti-climax", and the reader will agree.
Average way to pass some time.
It is ostensibly a mystery novel, but really spends most of its time as a depressing mood piece. (Set in post war Communist Eastern Europe.) Repetitious accounts of graphic (though not horrendously so) violent encounters do not help.
I enjoy mood pieces sometimes, and like to get into characters, but this character was not that interesting, and delving into his mind this far took away from any mystery intrigue.
Even the character himself describes a pivotal event as an "anti-climax", and the reader will agree.
Average way to pass some time.
March 7, 2011
With recent publicity about his newest book coming out in paperback, I decided to check out his first.
Not for those looking for high tech/supermen spy heroes (James Bond or Jason Bourne). Like LeCarre or Graham Greene, the focus is on the human element, and the historical milieu. The plot is OK, but it's the sense of time, place, and people that makes this book work well. The years after WWII in ex-Nazi, now Soviet dominated eastern europe, make for a dark, brooding mood, which certainly affects how people behave.
Doesn't skimp on graphic violence, and all of the characters aren't fully realized, but for the most part it is quite well done.
Not for those looking for high tech/supermen spy heroes (James Bond or Jason Bourne). Like LeCarre or Graham Greene, the focus is on the human element, and the historical milieu. The plot is OK, but it's the sense of time, place, and people that makes this book work well. The years after WWII in ex-Nazi, now Soviet dominated eastern europe, make for a dark, brooding mood, which certainly affects how people behave.
Doesn't skimp on graphic violence, and all of the characters aren't fully realized, but for the most part it is quite well done.
April 23, 2011
Emil is a man who wants to make a living. He becomes a inspector in the police force. He is in a small Communist country, shortly after World War II. At first he is made the butt of jokes and just told that he was not wanted. Afterwards he is given a case to investigate. He quickly steps on soneone's toes, and finds himself the victim of an assault. From there he tries everything he can think of to solve the case. The characters are very well described, the plot is engaging, it is a good read.
August 17, 2011
Steinhauer's first novel is a strong combination of police procedural and political thriller (leans 3.5 stars). Characters are well developed, plot is interesting, and setting is original. Sometimes his writing is a little repetitive (OK, I GET your motif...move on) and transparently aimed at the literary genre market, but for the most part very well-crafted.
July 9, 2025
Very promising debut got this great series off to a good start. Steinhauer imaginatively creates a classic hard-boiled detective novel set in Soviet occupied Eastern Europe during the early Cold War.
January 19, 2026
I thought the setting was very interesting and the writing quite good but I just kept thinking that the events were all so implausible. There were no plot holes or things that didn't work at all but just so many things that didn't ring true, both in the historical context and interpersonal.
July 22, 2021
The unnamed Eastern European country never worked for me. It seemed a choice the author made to keep his options open, but only distracted me. The idea that the main character left his country, fished in Finland, and then returned home after the war left me confused. Why didn't everyone else come up with that idea? Why hang out during all that disruptive fighting and bombing, when one could just go fishing?
The quality of writing is there, but I was distracted by these two choices.
The quality of writing is there, but I was distracted by these two choices.
May 17, 2012
Not to be confused with a book set in Venice, Italy, this The Bridge of Sighs takes place in an unnamed Eastern European country in 1948. Young homicide detective Emil Brod is new to the People's Militia and he is anxious to get to work solving crimes. However, he is inexplicably ostracized and eventually attacked by his fellow detectives. Eventually, he is given a case, the gruesome murder of a songwriter. In no time Emil is shot and then beaten to a pulp, probably by a German, in a city filled with Russians. He has found some photographs that lead his to suspect that blackmail may be the motive for the murders. On the bright side, Emil discovers that his trouble with the other detectives is all a misunderstanding and he falls in love with the widow of the songwriter, from whom she was estranged.
This is the first book in a series and although the plot zips along and the murders are convincingly solved, this book primarily establishes an interesting cast of characters and an atmospheric setting. Author Olen Steinhauser is a seriously evocative writer and I loved the way he portrayed the post-World War II world of the unnamed city. At one point the action moves to Berlin and I was reminded of the movie The Third Man and its brilliant portrayal of post-war Vienna. The book is extremely cinematic; I can see the noir scenes. The final climatic scene of takes place back in the unnamed city, in a half-submerged neighborhood called the Deeps in The Canal District: cold, damp, and mossy, with ankle-deep water and swimming rats. Americans forget that first Eastern Europeans had to endure the Nazis and then the Russians. But by the end of the book, Emil has made friends, found a lover, and solves some murders. I'm looking forward to volume 2 in the series.
This is the first book in a series and although the plot zips along and the murders are convincingly solved, this book primarily establishes an interesting cast of characters and an atmospheric setting. Author Olen Steinhauser is a seriously evocative writer and I loved the way he portrayed the post-World War II world of the unnamed city. At one point the action moves to Berlin and I was reminded of the movie The Third Man and its brilliant portrayal of post-war Vienna. The book is extremely cinematic; I can see the noir scenes. The final climatic scene of takes place back in the unnamed city, in a half-submerged neighborhood called the Deeps in The Canal District: cold, damp, and mossy, with ankle-deep water and swimming rats. Americans forget that first Eastern Europeans had to endure the Nazis and then the Russians. But by the end of the book, Emil has made friends, found a lover, and solves some murders. I'm looking forward to volume 2 in the series.
April 16, 2018
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway and was asked to provide an unbiased review. So while I am grateful for the free book, I can't say that I liked it very much. The strength of the novel is in its depiction of daily life in an Eastern European country shortly after WWII. The Soviet army still patrols and the socialist government that's been installed is increasingly oppressive and corrupt. The main character, rookie detective Emil Brod, also makes a side trip to Berlin, where the post-war devastation is convincingly portrayed.
But somehow the generic Eastern European setting did not mesh well with the standard elements of detective fiction, which are the underpinning of the plot. Maybe if the story had been set in a real country, instead of an unnamed fictional one, it would have been more plausible. Or perhaps the problem is that the young hero is so deadly serious that the deadpan narrative lacks the dark, sardonic humor that spices the best noir fiction. Or maybe the book is just too long.
I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it. The novel has its virtues and its admirers. But it wasn't a good match for me.
But somehow the generic Eastern European setting did not mesh well with the standard elements of detective fiction, which are the underpinning of the plot. Maybe if the story had been set in a real country, instead of an unnamed fictional one, it would have been more plausible. Or perhaps the problem is that the young hero is so deadly serious that the deadpan narrative lacks the dark, sardonic humor that spices the best noir fiction. Or maybe the book is just too long.
I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it. The novel has its virtues and its admirers. But it wasn't a good match for me.
June 18, 2009
The thing I found the most interesting about this book was it's sense of place and story around Eastern Europe right after WWII. It's a vivid description of a small nameless country which has said good-bye to the Germans, just to say hello to the Russians. It's about politics, corruption and survival. Although it is also a mystery, the mystery does not hold the same satisfaction. But I did find it fascinating to learn about a period of time which is not as familiar to me. I know more about what happened on this side of the Berlin divide than the other side.
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