All the Old Knives: A Novel, by Olen Steinhauer
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All the Old Knives: A Novel, by Olen Steinhauer
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Six years ago in Vienna, terrorists took over a hundred hostages, and the rescue attempt went terribly wrong. The CIA's Vienna station was witness to this tragedy, gathering intel from its sources during those tense hours, assimilating facts from the ground and from an agent on the inside. So when it all went wrong, the question had to be asked: Had their agent been compromised, and how two of the CIA's case officers in Vienna, Henry Pelham and Celia Harrison, were lovers at the time, and on the night of the hostage crisis Celia decided she'd had enough. She left the agency, married and had children, and is now living an ordinary life in the idyllic town of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Henry is still a case officer in Vienna, and has traveled to California to see her one more time, to relive the past, maybe, or to put it behind him once and for all.But neither of them can forget that long-ago question: Had their agent been compromised? If so, how? Each also wonders what role tonight's dinner companion might have played in the way the tragedy unfolded six years ago. All the Old Knives is New York Times bestseller Olen Steinhauer's most intimate, most cerebral, and most shocking novel to date.
All the Old Knives: A Novel, by Olen Steinhauer - Amazon Sales Rank: #48024 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-03-10
- Released on: 2015-03-10
- Format: Kindle eBook
All the Old Knives: A Novel, by Olen Steinhauer Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of the Month for March 2015: All the Old Knives has a disarmingly quiet start, but good spy novels are like good spies: they draw you in, earn your trust, and then grab hold with both hands. In Vienna during the mid-2000s Henry and Celia were intelligence agents and lovers who witnessed a terrorist hijacking as it took a shocking turn. Five years later, the two meet over dinner at a restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea where Celia now lives as a civilian, to recall the events of the past. As the remembrances overlap with the present moment, tension mounts and questions of who did what to whom, and why, become increasingly urgent. By the last 100 pages Steinhauer’s hook is firmly embedded and it’s hard not to race to the finish. And the ending? I can sum it up in one word--brilliant. – Seira Wilson
Review
“A sneaky little gem... Steinhauer sustains the difficult balancing act of melding a heart-racing espionage plot with a credible dinner table conversation.” ―The New York Times
“A splendid tour de force...without neglecting the turmoil of the geopolitical landscape, the novel focuses more intensely on the equally treacherous landscapes of the human heart.” ―The Washington Post
“It's not news that Olen Steinhauer is among the best contemporary espionage writers, and All the Old Knives confirms it. If you're a fan of intelligent spy novels that don't need much bang-bang, details about ordnance, or people who save the world single-handedly, this one's for you.” ―Seattle Times
“Most of All the Old Knives revolves around Pelham and Favreau's dinner, and the fact that the book moves so swiftly and alluringly is a testament to Steinhauer's skills as an entertainer. He stretches considerable tension across an entire book, rather than a handful of swift scenes, and it's gratifying to watch him do something so daringly retro and contrary to what we've come to expect in a thriller.” ―The Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Terrific standalone thriller...There's great narrative energy in the thrust and counterthrust of the dinner conversation, as well as in the re-creation of the Viennese events; Steinhauer is a very fine writer and an excellent observer of human nature, shrewd about the pleasures and perils of spying.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Masterfully plotted and suspenseful stand-alone...Steinhauer expertly shifts perspectives between the two spies in both their present and past lives, when Henry was a rough-and-tumble field agent and Celia wielded power behind a desk. It's an understatement to say that nothing is as it seems, but even readers well-versed in espionage fiction will be pleasantly surprised by Steinhauer's plot twists and double backs.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A compelling spy story that takes place at a restaurant table...It delivers intrigue, suspense, and a heart-stopping finale. In his acknowledgments, Steinhauer tells us he wrote it in one month. You'll devour it in one night.” ―Booklist (starred review)
“This genre-bending spy novel takes Hitchcockian suspense to new heights. Over the course of a meal with flashbacks, the eternal questions of trust, loyalty, and authentic love are deftly dissected. Readers drawn to the story of a loving couple trapped in a terrible embrace will be thrilled to follow Henry and Celia's tortured pas de deux.” ―Library Journal (starred review)
About the Author OLEN STEINHAUER, the New York Times bestselling author of nine previous novels, is a Dashiell Hammett Award winner, a two-time Edgar award finalist, and has also been shortlisted for the Anthony, the Macavity, the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and the Barry awards. Raised in Virginia, he lives in New York and Budapest, Hungary.Ari Fliakos is an actor with experience in television, radio, film, theater, and voiceovers. His narration of Seth Patrick’s Reviver won an Audie for paranormal fiction. He has narrated Black Site and Tier One Wild by Dalton Fury, as well as Gangster Squad, The Inquisitor, and Shotgun Lovesongs. On screen, he is best-known for his roles in Law & Order, Pills, and Company K.
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Most helpful customer reviews
74 of 79 people found the following review helpful. 3 1/2 Stars -- Satisfying But Not Special! By Bobbewig I have been a fan of Olen Steinhauer since his first book. Having now finished his newest book, All The Old Knives, my overall feeling is that it is a satisfying, entertaining read but not one I'd recommend you rush out to read. This is because while there was nothing I disliked about it, there was also nothing about it that made me feel that it stands out from other books in the spy novel genre. As a matter of fact, although the two principal characters in All The Old Knives are or were spies, there is nothing about this book that I found to be be particularly thrilling, suspenseful or exciting.Without going into detail about its plot, All The Old Knives is set completely in a restaurant in a Carmel, California in which two ex-lovers meet for dinner. One, Celia, was once a CIA spy and now a wife with a family. The other is Henry, who still works in the world of espionage in Vienna. As they relive their memories (often through flashbacks) of a disastrous terrorist hijacking that took place six years ago, the motive behind their meeting remains obscured -- is it to rekindle their lost romance or to reignite a conspiracy.On the plus side of this plot setting, it enables Steinhauer to once again demonstrate his strong ability to create top-notch fully developed, complex characters who come across as very "real" (albeit not very likable) people. Also, typical of a Steinhauer book, this plot setting allows the author to provide the reader with a very descriptive sense of place, making me feel that I was right there at the dinner table with the Celia and Henry. On the "not so plus" (let's call it "neutral") side , however, the plot setting is also why I ultimately felt that while All The Old Knives is a satisfying book, it had nothing special about it for me to recommend it highly to you. This is because everything in All The Old Knives is revealed through the conversation between the two ex-lovers/spies.There are virtually no actions, thrills or surprises that the reader gets to experience first-hand, and even the twist at the end comes about very passively.I hope this review is helpful in deciding if All The Old Knives is a book you'll want to read.
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful. Disparity Of The Past and Present By prisrob Olen Steinhauer, the author, has been compared to the spymaster novelist John LeCarre, and this novel serves that comparison well. This is the best Spy novel I have read in years. My genre is spy novels/police procedurals/mysteries and in forty years I have read most of them. Olen Steinhauer has aced the match.In the forward, we are told by Steinhauer that while watching the 2010, BBC's, Masterpiece TV show 'The Song of Lunch', the germ for this book emerged. The Song of Lunch written by Christopher Reid, is a narrative poem, telling the story of a publishing editor who has lunch with an old flame in a Soho restaurant. It stars Alan Reichman and Emma Thompson, and I can see those two cast in this novel. This novel would make a superb film.Henry Pelham a CIA Field officer, now stationed behind a European desk has come to Carmel, California, to meet his old flame, Celia Harrison. They were lovers, working as CIA operatives in Vienna, and after a most horrific incident in Vienna, she left him high and dry. Celia was the love of Henry's life, and he could not forget her. Someone from Langley has reopened that forgotten Vienna case, and Henry is here to question Celia about her memories of this case. The story is told in alternating chapters, one by Henry and then Celia. Henry gives most of the behind the scenes work as Celia talks about Vienna. We learn about the people they worked with,and where they are now, five years post Vienna.This is a mesmerizing portrait of two ex-lovers, now come together at cross purposes at times. They lay their lives out for us in small increments. All of this takes place in a restaurant in Carmel, with Henry and Celia and one other patron, the only guests. This is riveting stuff, folks. Every twist and turn reveals a little more, but we are not privy to the entire story until all at once everything comes together. Looking back after the final page, I could uncover the clues more fully as they were laid out. This is the best of a spy novel, to keep us on tenterhooks at all times, and the writing is simply superb. The disparity of the past and present has come home to roost.Highly Recommended. prisrob 12-16-14
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful. Dinner conversation (4.5 stars) By TChris All the Old Knives tells a compelling story. It is a simpler story than the plots found in many spy novels. The central idea is the traditional fare of spy novels -- a mole in the CIA has given information to the enemy and the reader is challenged to discover the mole's identity -- but the focus of this relatively short novel is on just two characters engaged in an intricate dance, probing each other over a quiet dinner. Having cut away the complexity of plot that often attends such stories, Olen Steinhauer is free to focus on the complexity of two primary characters, each of whom is haunted by the past.Information received from a Gitmo prisoner in 2012 suggests that a traitor within the American embassy assisted a terrorist attack at the Vienna airport six years earlier. The improbable accusation sends Henry Pelham scurrying off to interview people who might have relevant information, including Celia Favreau, a former lover who left the CIA and is now married with children. Pelham meets her in Carmel, "a perfect place to live if you want to be someone other than you once were." Pelham is prepared to end her life, if necessary.This sounds like a plot that's been done before but Steinhauer makes it seem fresh. The theme of betrayal is common to books about espionage but the best ones use betrayal to teach a lesson. The lesson here is that betrayal, whether by individuals or governments, will almost always come back around to bite you in the backside. Steinhauer illustrates that lesson in a story that is tight, tense, and convincing. All the Old Knives doesn't have the breadth of the best spy fiction and the ending is a bit weak, but it is nevertheless a worthy read. I would give it 4 1/2 stars if I could.
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