The Last Tourist

A decade ago, the CIA’s Department of Tourism, a corps of highly trained assassins, went defunct, but now something similar has emerged from its ruins in bestseller Steinhauer’s stunning fourth thriller featuring ex-CIA operative Milo Weaver (after 2012’s An American Spy). As chief of the Library, a stealthy espionage operation buried within the UN’s bureaucracy, Milo has been attempting to serve as a reasonably honest broker of sensitive information, but a series of increasingly violent assaults drives him into hiding in the Western Sahara. Milo eventually figures out that he’s being pursued by a darkly plausible, utterly ruthless assassins corps created by multinational corporations acting beyond the reach of any country’s laws to lock down global dominance. No dummies survive in this twisty shadow realm, and Milo's wits keep him alive as the complex, layered plot reaches a shrewd, nuanced climax at the World Economic Forum, leaving the reader with the hope that global elites can’t rig the rules of every game. The author does a masterly job of evoking dingy desert cities and the rarified air of Davos, Switzerland. Steinhauer reinforces his position at the top of the espionage genre. 125,000-copy announced first printing. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gernert Co. (Mar.)