Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

The middleman / Olen Steinhauer.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York : Minotaur Books, 2018.Edition: First editionDescription: 360 pages ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 9781250036179
  • 1250036178
Other title:
  • The middle man
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 813/.6 23
Summary: "Traces the rise and fall of a domestic left-wing terrorist group. Told from the individual perspectives of an FBI agent, an undercover agent within the group, a convert to the terrorist organization, and a writer on the edges of the whole affair"-- Provided by publisher.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Star ratings
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Phillipsburg Free Public Library Adult Fiction Adult Fiction FIC STEINHAUER Available 36748002410530
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

One of The Boston Globe 's Best Mysteries of the Year

"A thought-provoking political thriller, a dark story for dark times." - The Washington Post

With The Middleman , the perfect thriller for our tumultuous, uneasy time, Olen Steinhauer, the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including The Tourist and The Cairo Affair , delivers a compelling portrait of a nation on the edge of revolution, and the deepest motives of the men and women on the opposite sides of the divide.

One day in the early summer of 2017, about four hundred people disappear from their lives. They leave behind cell phones, credit cards, jobs, houses, families--everything--all on the same day. Where have they gone? Why? The only answer, for weeks, is silence.

Kevin Moore is one of them. Former military, disaffected, restless, Kevin leaves behind his retail job in San Francisco, sends a good-bye text to his mother, dumps his phone and wallet into a trash can, and disappears.

The movement calls itself the Massive Brigade, and they believe change isn't coming fast enough to America. But are they a protest organization, a political movement, or a terrorist group? What do they want? The FBI isn't taking any chances. Special Agent Rachel Proulx has been following the growth of left-wing political groups in the U.S. since the fall of 2016, and is very familiar with Martin Bishop, the charismatic leader of the Massive Brigade. But she needs her colleagues to take her seriously in order to find these people before they put their plan--whatever it is--into action.

What Rachel uncovers will shock the entire nation, and the aftermath of her investigation will reverberate through the FBI to the highest levels of government.

"Traces the rise and fall of a domestic left-wing terrorist group. Told from the individual perspectives of an FBI agent, an undercover agent within the group, a convert to the terrorist organization, and a writer on the edges of the whole affair"-- Provided by publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Steinhauer (The Tourist) opens his new stand-alone with disappearances. Kevin Moore walks away from his life in what resembles a call to domestic terrorism. A man picks him up and proceeds to another scheduled pickup, making it clear that the call is coordinated, and the disappearance is collective. A heated political argument at a party escalates into a physical altercation; a marriage begins to crumble, and days later, the wife has become one of the hundreds of vanished. At the root of these disparate events is Martin Bishop-rumored to lead a leftist revolution dubbed Massive Brigade against America's ruling elite. Special Agent Rachel Proulx, once tasked with keeping tabs on fringe groups, leads an investigation into Martin's group. Rachel's task force has meager resources until an astounding event on July 4 sends the FBI and the country spinning into another gear. -VERDICT -Steinhauer has written an unnerving and timely thriller with incredible pivots. From a perspective on activist/terrorist civilian organizations to an examination of Big Brother conspiracy plots, there's something here for everyone to grip-with white knuckles. [See Prepub Alert, 2/1/18.]-Julie Kane, Washington & Lee Lib., Lexington, VA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

This smart polemical thriller from bestseller Steinhauer (All the Old Knives) starts off strong, but loses its way. On June 18, 2017, hundreds of people around the U.S. get a call, then discard their phones, credit cards, IDs-and disappear. They are members of the Massive Brigade, a cult organized by social justice revolutionary Martin Bishop. He believes American politics has failed, and repairing it requires radical change, which appears to come about when simultaneous political assassinations are carried out at July 4 celebrations around the country. Steinhauer has captured a very contemporary, very American angst-"people are going to have to pull a trigger, just to be heard"-but the book's muddled second half will leave many readers frustrated because the polarities aren't that clear. Rachel Proulx, an earnest FBI agent, is obviously one of the good guys, but the ostensible bad guys are less well-delineated-and the denouement is unsatisfying. Steinhauer fans will hope for a return to form next time. 150,000-copy first printing. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gernert Co. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Cold War spy fiction had one big advantage: The pace of change was relatively slow. How can a writer keep up in today's turbulent world? Steinhauer (All the Old Knives, 2015) doesn't chase current events but still somehow captures the zeitgeist. In The Middleman, the mostly young followers of a movement known as the Massive Brigade suddenly begin disappearing but where have they gone and what are they planning? With their absence itself seeming like a threat, FBI Special Agent Rachel Proulx leads an investigation fraught with unknowns. The two putative leaders of the decentralized movement are enigmas, their intentions hard to decipher, and when the first shots are fired, they lead not to catharsis but more puzzlement. Steinhauer is a master at layering gray upon gray, motive upon motive, and, as the months sweep past and the country is swept by a wave of massive protests, the question becomes whether the real war is on the streets or in the institutions policing them. Yes, this features the trappings of a thriller shoot-outs, international locales, a looming sense of threat, sudden reversals but the biggest thrills are the subtlest ones. (Watch for the surprising way Steinhauer connects The Middleman to his Tourism novels featuring Milo Weaver.) Though his earliest fictions were set behind the Iron Curtain, Steinhauer proves himself an equally adept chronicler of a world in which walls have come down and the most potent powers aren't necessarily political. Another must-read from a modern master. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With an announced 150,000-copy run and a major promotional campaign, the publisher will ensure nobody misses Steinhauer's first book in three years.--Graff, Keir Copyright 2018 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A thoroughly modern thriller, as real as the news."The Massive Brigade," an organization similar to the Occupy movement, has captured the attention of the media and the people. Rolling Stone runs a profile, and the FBI takes notice. When a phone tip reveals the Brigade has cached a Stinger missile, it crosses the line from protest movement to terrorist threat. The FBI, in the person of Special Agent Rachel Proulx, arrives at a party too late to arrest the Brigade's leaders, Martin Bishop and Ben Mittag, and they disappear into the American landscape, along with about 400 of their followers, who similarly vanish. The FBI has an undercover agent, Kevin Moore, among the vanished, permitting the plot to follow the dual tracks of the FBI's efforts to find the Brigade and the Brigade's internal turmoil, which meet in a shootout. The media declares victory for the FBI, careers are advanced, and the movement seems dismantled. But the FBI's subsequent account of the bloodbath, at first kept secret and then released only because of public pressure, differs from the experiences of Proulx and Moore. The two unite in hopes of uncovering who is being protected and why, and the Massive Brigade survives, in some form, to play a role in the denouement. Steinhauer (All the Old Knives, 2015, etc.) is a veteran, a real pro; the issues raised in this well-paced thriller are serious and timely, and the characters are believable and likable. But the targets of the Brigade, corporate conspiracy and the protection of the rich from public scrutiny, never quite reach a viscerally threatening level, and the individuals who conspire to preserve the status quo seem merely bureaucratically venal.A professional and entertaining thriller a little short on menace. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Phillipsburg Free Public Library
200 Broubalow Way
Phillipsburg, NJ 08865
(908)-454-3712
www.pburglib.org

Powered by Koha