Liberation Movements (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Two days ago-Saturday-we find you in the middle of Ceské Budejovice, walking the main street in a daze..." (more)
Key Phrases: Brano Sev, Adrian Martrich, Ludvík Mas (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Steinhauer's dazzling fourth book in his series about various police and intelligence agents in an unnamed Communist-era Eastern European country gives a large role to Brano Sev, the seriously conflicted spy who starred in the previous entry, 36 Yalta Boulevard (2005). Sev sums up the new book's theme when he says to a younger subordinate, "Intelligence work is precisely what it says—it's about intelligence. We are not murderers." There's some irony here: we know that Sev has killed several people himself. But there's also an unexpected note of humanity, as Sev supervises the investigation by two junior agents of a murder in Russian-occupied Prague in 1968 that's later tied to a plane hijacked by Armenian terrorists on its way to Istanbul in 1975. Another new element is the Turkish capital, alive and yeasty compared to the drab, restricted home city of 36 Yalta Boulevard. And the emergence of a major female character—a homicide investigator looking for personal justice—shows how a skilled writer working at the top of his form can keep a series from faltering. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Praise for Liberation Movements

 

“It is an exhilarating and enjoyable ride.”
---Los Angeles Times

 

“An inspired choice---giving history and politics a chance to simmer over the flame of murder.”
---Chicago Tribune
 
“Dazzling . . . a skilled writer working at the top of his form.”
---Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“Steinhauer again displays his masterful manipulation of character, plot, and reader expectations. . . . A fast, intriguing read.”
 ---Library Journal (starred review)
“Cool and cerebral crime thriller.”
---Kirkus Reviews
 
Praise for 36 Yalta Boulevard
 
“Steinhauer’s people are real, the crimes genuine, and he is telling larger truths about that era.” 
---David Halberstam

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (May 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031233205X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312332051
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #222,158 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Literary Crime fiction, August 22, 2006

By	Kevin Holtsberry (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Liberation Movements (Hardcover)

If you haven't read Olen Steinhauer yet, I highly recommend you get his previous books and read them. This latest work is the best yet, however, and doesn't require that you read any of the previous works in his Eastern European crime series.

I won't get into the plot as you can get the gist of that from the Book Description above. The story jumps between the events leading up to a hijacking, and the resulting investigation, and the murder of a Russian solider in Prague seven years earlier. The chapters are short and fast paced. At first each character and story line seems unrelated, but as Steinhauer begins to weave the various elements together the suspense and the pace builds. It didn't take too long for me to be hooked. I found myself feverishly reading trying to figure out the clues and unlock the mystery.

What unifies each character, besides their connection to the murder investigation, is their search for meaning in the seeming unrelated events that have led them to where they are. Not only are they trying to unravel the mystery of the hijacking but they are also wrestling with where their life is going; with how they got here and why. This theme is also highlighted by the use of a character that may or may not be able to predict the future.

Do we truly have free will or do outside forces and the predetermined course of events carry us along? Is each choice we face an opportunity to set a different course or do some choices determine the path our life will take? Will one bad choice mar our lives or do we have a chance for redemption (or revenge)? These are some of the philosophical questions that are the undercurrent of the story. They are subtly weaved into the plot so they don't awkwardly intrude, but they bounce around in your mind as you are reading. Steinhauer doesn't give any answers but he asks some powerful questions.

In case the above hasn't made it clear, I found Liberation Movements to be a thoroughly fascinating and entertaining book. Two reasons stick out:

1) The characters. The characters really drive the story and Steinhauer allows the reader to get inside their heads. He manages to keep the reader focused on the "now" of the story and yet keep the tension and pace moving forward. In other words, each character feels fully developed rather than just a stock piece needed to make the plot work; their actions flow naturally. Surprisingly, this is done without pages of backstory and exposition.

2) The quick pace. It doesn't take long before Steinhauer has you sucked into the story. Short, tightly written chapters push the story forward and as events unfold the tension builds. But this is done without losing the style and power of the previous books. Although the pace is quicker you still get the feeling of visiting a foreign country and of getting a glimpse into the lives of the inhabitants of this fictional, yet seemingly real, place. It has the structure in some ways of an airport paperback but has the style and depth of a literary novel.

Olen Steinhauer has quickly become one of my favorite authors (and blogger). I highly recommend his books to anyone. Whether you like history, crime fiction, espionage thrillers, literary novels or all of the above you will enjoy his skillful and evocative stories. Liberation Movements is his best book yet, and a work that I hope gains the recognition that it deserves.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intrigue and murder behind the iron curtain, October 16, 2006

By	Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Liberation Movements (Hardcover)

Edgar Award finalist Steinhauer's beautifully crafted novels of crime and political intrigue center on various members of the People's Militia in an unnamed Eastern European country during the Cold War. Each novel moves forward a decade and homes in on a secondary character from the previous book.

This fourth (there is one more coming) shifts point-of-view between several characters and moves between the horrors of 1968's Prague Spring, when Soviet bloc troops crushed the Czech liberation movement, and the aftermath of a terrorist attack on a passenger plane in 1975.

The book opens with the interrogation of a student, Peter, caught near the Austrian border in 1968. Peter, apolitical, only got involved because of a girl. He's learning to regret it. Over the next few days he befriends a foreign soldier, wallows in envious misery and discovers new abilities in himself.

In the next chapter we meet Libarid Terzian, an ethnic Armenian from the People's Militia, traveling to an Interpol conference in Istanbul. He plans to defect and is trying to compose a letter to his wife. A strange woman who seems to know way too much about him and his future sits down beside him on the plane. The chapter ends with her cryptic comments fulfilled in a highjacking of the plane.

In Istanbul the People's Militia officers Brano Sev (the main character from "36 Yalta Boulevard") and his young protégé Gavra Noukas, await Terzian's plane. Also waiting is Ludvik Mas, an agent from the Secret Police. "What's he doing here?" Brano asks, just before he learns the plane has exploded in midair.

As Brano, Gavra and another young militia officer, Katja Drdova, investigate the terrorist murders, the Prague Spring subplot continues to unfold in tandem, building an intricate, suspenseful story with a surprising, character-driven ending.

Steinhauer's complex character development factors in the effect of state repression and secrecy on personality and choices. His atmospheric writing also makes liberal use of irony and humor, much of it sardonic. This is a masterful series, which deserves a much larger readership.

-- Portsmouth Herald

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unexpectedly, A Page-turner, July 28, 2009

By	J. Dunn (NYC,) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

That I was so happily surprised reflects badly on me, not the genre. I do not read espionage stories set in the former iron curtain countries because for me it is it is so annoying never to know how any names are pronounced, especially when they are such long names and often with so few vowels. It really slows the pace and I can never remember who is who. Also, everything is always so bleak.

Nevertheless, the reviews made me curious about Steinhauer's last book, 'The Tourist,' and when I finally read it I loved it. BUT--it was set mostly in Paris & the US and other places with easy names like Brooklyn. Back on the horns of the same old dilemma, I took a chance and ordered Liberation movements and now look forward to reading all his books. I do have a little more trouble keeping all the characters straight than most of his fans, I think, but I love a good plot--or two or three--and Steinhauer delivers the goods.