If every generation gets the espionage novel it deserves and needs, then Gen X has found its Le Carre. Olen Steinhauer turns his spy, Milo Weaver, into a killer stand-in for all those loving parents who also guiltily realize they might in fact be their most authentic selves when unhealthily obsessed with their work.

It's a pleasure to see Steinhauer handle the many tricky technical details of his narrative with such casual aplomb. For the story to run properly, Milo needs to be as clueless as the reader and something of a blank slate, yet capable (effortfully) of feats of tradecraft involving duct-tape and guns. Anyone who saw the movie _Munich_ can appreciate how difficult it is to keep the necessary melange of luck, muscle memory, and adrenalized fear on the bubble without tipping over into either superhuman or slapstick.

Almost all of the emotional heft and realness here is carried by female characters ranging from Milo's 7-year old stepdaughter to his compartmentalizing wife to the homeland security agent who chases him. I appreciated how Steinhauer made them subtly resist becoming too adorable and too pat. They surprise you with their prickly individuality, the male characters generally a little less so as they pursue their vices.

It's hard to see how an overt charmer like George Clooney is going to come across as Milo in the movie, and I sort of hope it doesn't happen. It's also hard to see how Milo will figure into another 2 novels in this projected trilogy, but I very much hope it does happen. _The Tourist_ is aces at cranking up the sense of emotional strain in the reader, but at a meta-level it always makes me so happy and optimistic to see a promising writer find the groove of a lifetime.