The Cairo Affair

By: Olen Steinhauer

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Sophie Kohl is living her worst nightmare. Minutes after she confesses to her husband, a mid-level diplomat at the American embassy in Hungary, that she had an affair while they were in Cairo, he is shot in the head and killed.

Stan Bertolli, a Cairo-based CIA agent, has fielded his share of midnight calls. But his heart skips a beat when he hears the voice of the only woman he ever truly loved, calling to ask why her husband has been assassinated.

Omar Halawi has worked in Egyptian intelligence for years, and he knows how to play the game. Foreign agents pass him occasional information, he returns the favor, and everyone's happy. But the murder of a diplomat in Hungary has ripples all the way to Cairo, and Omar must follow the fall-out wherever it leads.

American analyst Jibril Aziz knows more about Stumbler, a covert operation rejected by the CIA, than anyone. So when it appears someone else has obtained a copy of the blueprints, Jibril alone knows the danger it represents.

As these players converge in Cairo in The Cairo Affair, Olen Steinhauer's masterful manipulations slowly unveil a portrait of a marriage, a jigsaw puzzle of loyalty and betrayal, against a dangerous world of political games where allegiances are never clear and outcomes are never guaranteed.

©2014 Third State, Inc. (P)2013 Macmillan Audio

The Cairo Affair - a fragmented plot

The Cairo Affair presents itself as a thriller, a murder mystery. The wife of a diplomat sets out to find the man behind the man who killed her husband. Or is it the woman behind the man who...well, you know.

Olen Steinhauer writes beautifully. He evokes visions of Egypt and other lands that are intriguing and worth exploring. His characters, especially the veteran diplomats and spies, are individual and multifaceted. He reveals their strategies and their frailties. Some characters are deep and authentic while others are cold. With the exception of one, the women were not as well written as the men.

Based on my limited knowledge of regional accents, Edoardo Ballerini's narration is on point. He has a wide range and given the number of characters in this book, did a masterful job of recreating their voices.

The story line was a problem. It was if the book were written on glass tablets, shattered, and then pasted together by someone who didn't know the plot. The characters, the timelines, the decades and the locations jump around and cannot find their way back to center. It becomes tedious. I didn't feel, as some other reviewers stated, there were too many characters. My criticism is that the disjointed story lines ruined the pacing.

The Cairo Affair didn't make it to my top ten list. Nevertheless, because of his writing style, I will try another book by Olen Steinhauer.

Who's on Third? Or Second or First? Or at Home?

1. This is not a Dept. Q novel.
2. This is not like a Dept. Q novel - no delightfully goofy characters.
3. It's a spy story and probably a reasonably good one, but I couldn't remember who was who or who had done what to whom, when.
4. I appreciated the sound of the narrator's voice and the author's (translator's?) words and I got the gist of the story but didn't follow it from chapter to chapter.
5. I didn't play it during a long car trip and it might be good for that. I don't think it would be confusing to read, but I wouldn't put this on a list of books to actually read - ever.

Don't trust anyone

Good story that kept me listening way too late. I couldn't stop. There are many characters and that was a bit confusing at times (especially with the audiobook.) As in real life, bad things happen to good people. Or are they good people? This book will make you question loyalties.

Great narrator.

I really like this author.

Excellently plotted

After reading a number of mediocre books where the plot went nowhere, "The Cairo Affair" was a breath of fresh air. The plot unveils in layers, each chapter revealing a new shade of meaning to what you knew before. The characters find out what is happening right along with you. Each one is holding his or her own piece of the puzzle...and in the end it all comes together seamlessly. It's hard to say much without spoilers, so I will simply recommend this for those of you who like spy thrillers and intrigue that is ultimately human.

Solid Espionage Thriller

As others have noted, Olen Steinhauer is the new John leCarre. Though maybe not at the same level as the Tourist series, this is a very solid book that should appeal to fans of that series and to the genre.