In Brano Sev, the hero of Olen Steinhauer’s novel 36 Yalta Boulevard, you can see hints of Milo Weaver, the hero of his later novel The Tourist. Both men are spies. Both are lonely men, isolated from their families and friends by the work that they do. Both know how to stand up to torture, and both have father issues.But whereas Milo Weaver is an American spy working in Europe in today’s world, Brano Sev spies for his Communist masters, the Ministry of State Security — headquartered at 36 Yalta Boulevard — in 1967. Yalta, as the windowless building is known, is not a place you want to see the inside of — because most who go in never come out. After botching a mission in Vienna, Brano returns to his own country and finds himself inside Yalta, and this time he’s the one being interrogated, instead of the one doing the interrogation. Stripped of his rank, he narrowly avoids being sent to the work camps and is instead assigned a job in a factory. But soon his old boss comes to him with another mission, and a chance to redeem himself.Redemption, however, does not come easily. As a State Security officer, Brano is hated and feared by most of the citizens of his county. His home town doesn’t welcome him back, his family isn’t particularly glad to see him, and even the local police distrust him. Only when he finally returns to Vienna does Brano find a modicum of happiness. The more he investigates what happened on that botched mission, the more his new life is threatened — until he is finally forced to choose between happiness and duty.36 Yalta Boulevard is a mystery, and a good one. But like all of Steinhauer’s novels, it’s populated with real, flawed people — characters who come alive on the page, even if that page is the only time they appear in the book. I’ve praised Steinhauer’s writing so extensively in my reviews of his other books that I feel like I’m repeating myself, so suffice it to say that this book is every bit as rich and tense and perfectly tuned as all of the author’s other novels.Steinhauer set five books in Brano Sev’s nameless Eastern Bloc country, and 36 Yalta Boulevard is the third of these. I have called the set a series in my reviews of Bridge of Sighs and The Confession, but it’s really just five literary mysteries with the same setting and shared characters. You could pick up any one of these books and start reading, without having to have read the books that come earlier. In that regard, it reminds me of the novels of Jonathan Carroll, who recycles characters constantly. It’s one of my favorite things about Carroll’s books, actually, and I do something similar in my own work because it’s fun for me as a reader. But Carroll’s books aren’t a series, and although Steinhauer’s Yalta books have more of a connection, they really aren’t a series either. They’re just really good novels with a shared setting and interconnected characters.Next up is Richard Kadrey’s new novel, Devil Said Bang, and then it’s back to Steinhauer. I really cannot get enough of his books.36 Yalta Boulevard36 Yalta BoulevardOlen Steinhauer
Expatriate American author Olen Steinhauer's five part Iron Curtain series gets better with every book, every decade he showcases, and every character he focuses on. 36 Yalta Boulevard is no exception.Brano Sev, the enigmatic apparatchik who played supporting roles in The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession, finds himself at the heart of a conspiracy to overthrow his unnamed country while on assignment as rezident in Vienna, Austria. Weaving his way through a sixties Europe populated by the Beatles, Christian sponsored CIA groups, the Austrian secret service, double dealings and betrayals, hash smoke, too much drink and just a hint of free love, Sev remains a loyal party man and devout socialist, fighting for what he believes is right. Sev's politics (not to mention his advanced age and tenuous health) make him a strange protagonist in a novel of intrigue, but it is refreshing to imagine the Cold War struggle from the other side, and with an agent as loyal to his cause as we expected the agents of our side to be. It makes an otherwise familiar spy story something entirely entertaining because -- despite the Soviet flavour of Steinhauer's setting and the unique point of view of his protagonist -- Steinhauer's tale is one that we've read before. Sev is that classic Cold War agent trying to root out a nasty Mole in his own organization while being framed as the Mole himself. His boss is helpful and caring; his boss's boss is angry, unreasonable and under suspicion; and there are even the obligatory love entanglements and family ties to corruption that throw Sev's loyalty even deeper into question. Without the moody setting of Steinhauer's Cold War Europe and Comrade Major Brano Olesky Sev, 36 Yalta Boulevard would have been a pedestrian, though still enjoyable, spy yarn. But Steinhauer's characters and setting elevate the third installment of his Eastern European series into the realm of real excellence.If you are a nostalgic leftist or just a fan of Cold War spy fiction, Steinhauer's work is well worth a read.
Do You like book 36 Yalta Boulevard (2006)?
Brano Sev--mid-ranking officer in the security services of an unnamed Eastern European country during the Cold War--is given an opportunity to regain his position and title with a simple investigation back in his hometown: find out why a man who had recently defected to Austria has returned. What results takes Brano far from his home territory and forces him to reexamine everyone he knows.This is Olen Steinhauer's third novel in his Yalta Boulevard Sequence. Like his previous novel, there is more detail in the plot and characters than there was in his debut. It's a testament to Steinhauer's writing ability that he can take a man like Brano Sev, who is a hardcore believer in socialism and the brutalities needed to enforce it, and still make him sympathetic and understandable. Where lesser authors would have given the Western reader a feel-good tale that appeals to our values, Steinhauer keeps Brano Sev honest and true to his ideals.The settings are all handled deftly. Whether it is Brano's hometown, the European countryside, Vienna, etc., we have a clear sense of time and place. The plot, too, is sure to entertain fans of the most complex of thrillers.And, yet, that's where I think it falters. There is just too much plot. Brano is a very interesting character, but we still don't get to know much about him--we only get a taste. He seems as knowable now, as the protagonist of his own novel, as he did when he was just a minor character in the previous ones. I wanted more Brano Sev. I wanted to know more of what he was discovering and struggling with. I wanted more narrative. What this novel delivers is a lot of little events. It's full of twists, coincidences, contrivances, and then more twists--in case we didn't have our fill already. With all the potential for weighty matters to be examined, it comes across as a rather light-weight novel--albeit, with a complicated plot.Is this novel powerful enough to cause people to reexamine or reinforce their own beliefs? I doubt it. Does it expose anything or educate the reader? Not really. Is it entertaining and enjoyable. For some, yes. I just found it mildly so. Not as well-written as anything John le Carré or Graham Greene has ever done, but about on par with Martin Cruz Smith, and a bit more complicated than an Alan Furst novel. Still, pretty good company for Steinhauer.
—SlowRain
36 Yalta Boulevard is my second book by Olen Steinhauer. My first was the Cairo Affair which is a recent stand alone. 36 Yalta is the third of a series ... I always read things out of sequence, not by choice but because the first two books in what is called the Yalta Sequence were not available to me. So I have to find a way to obtain The Bridge of Sighs and the Confession. Brano Sev is an interesting character, an intelligence operative from a fictitious Balkan country. Set primarily in 1966-67, 36 Yalta Boulevard introduced me to very shadowy world where you really never know who your friends are or if you even have any. You don't trust anyone.
—Jim
Unfortunately, I am again reading/listening to a series out-of-order. Bridge of Sighs was first, followed by The Confession. They began in the 1940’s and by the time we reach 36 Yalta Boulevard (the fictitious address of the East European country’s --we never are quite sure which, but is typically Soviet Bloc-- spy service, the Ministry of State Security.) Brano Sev is sent/led/tricked (we’re never quite sure which) into going to Austria where he is framed for a murder. Relegated to a factory job by his bosses, he is resurrected for another in his home town where he accidentally kills one of his handlers - or is he?. Always one to follow orders and assuming he is part of a grand plan, he’s soon up to his ears in a nebulous labyrinth of betrayal and deceit, unable to trust anyone, and he begins to question his superiors orders.In one of the great ironies, Brano really believes in the system, even as it betrays and beats him, and despite his knowledge of its corruption. He retains a child-like faith that’s at once simplistic and complicated. It’s confusing at times, but that confusion reflects Brano’s own.There are some really good novels out there in the spy genre examining the gray netherworld of human actions where the protagonists stumble their way through a maze that often seems to have no end, and writers like Le Carre, Seymour, Cruz Smith, Furst, and others have fertile ground to display the misty world of human frailty. Add Steinhauer to the list.Ludlum fans will not be interested.
—Eric_W
