VICTORY SQUARE, by Olen Steinhauer

(originally posted on June 26, 2007)

Steinhauer closes his five-book series of espionage-tinged novels set in Eastern Europe with a flourish, circling back to Emil Brod (the earnest protagonist of the Edgar-nominated THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS) now sixty-four and very much feeling his age, the impending collapse of Cold War tactics and incoming change both professionally and personally. Of course there are loose strands dangling but here, as before, Steinhauer demonstrates why he's one of the smartest, most thoughtful crime novelists to emerge in recent years.