During the early part of the Cold War, an inexperienced investigator in an unnamed, fictitious Eastern European country is given a case that no one wants solved.

In an impressive, Edgar-nominated debut (Best First Novel), Olen Steinhauer gives us a mystery and a story of Cold War political intrigue, set in a country he describes as "the intersection of Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania." It's part one of a five book series--with each novel featuring different characters--but all revolving around the same Militia office on Yalta Boulevard in that country.

Steinhauer's narrative style is fairly spare, yet the atmosphere and the characters' personalities slowly emerge through each chapter. The mystery and tension are built up slowly, and there isn't much in the way of ridiculous, impossible-to-believe action. The protagonist is made of flesh, and he's one of the few I've read who gets hurt and stays realistically hurt. While there are a few mystery clichés present in the novel, they do relate to the plot and are not always used in the traditional sense (read the novel, you'll know what I mean).

If I were to log a complaint, it would have to be the last three chapters. The climax seemed like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be action or anti-action. Also, there was too much summing up and wrapping up for my taste. If you are a reader who likes a nice summary to explain everything at the end of the novel and have all your questions answered, then you may not be as affected by it as I was. I'd say the last three chapters caused the novel to drop from four stars to three.

Nevertheless, I do recommend this novel to fans of John le Carré, Martin Cruz Smith, Alan Furst, and Philip Kerr. I look forward to reading the next one in the sequence.