Olen Steinhauer

Olen Steinhauer is an American bestselling author of twelve novels. After his studies at multiple American universities (Lock Haven, Austin, Boston), he won a writing scholarship to travel to Romania. Thoroughly moved by his experiences in the country, which was in the throes of a revolution during his time there (1989), upon his return to New York he started writing a quintet of historical crime and espionage novels charting Eastern Europe over the span of the Cold War—beginning with The Bridge of Sighs (2003) and ending with Victory Square (2007), which was listed as Editor’s Choice in the New York Times.

With The Tourist (2009) he focused on international deception in the post-9/11 world, introducing the reluctant spy Milo Weaver, whose story continued in The Nearest Exit (2010) and An American Spy (2012). The series was recently revisited in The Last Tourist (2020), which took Milo from the Western Sahara to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The series has been translated into 25 languages and a New York Times’ bestseller.

Olen Steinhauer’s most recent novels continue to combine political and true-crime thrillers with real-world political events. The Cairo Affair (2014) is a thriller set in the midst of the Arab springs in Egypt and Libya, while All the Old Knives (2015) is a breath-taking behind-the-scenes look at espionage and counter-terrorism action. Olen Steinhauer also wrote the screen adaptation for All the Old Knives, which was directed in 2022 by Danish director Janus Metz Pedersen, with Chris Pine playing the lead role, and was broadcast on Prime Video.

In 2016 Olen also created and wrote 29 of the episodes of the TV series Berlin Station, which was shot in Berlin and ran for three seasons on the American network MGM+.

His 2018 novel, Middleman, tells the story of two FBI agents who are tasked with investigating a number of mysterious disappearances, claimed by an organisation with unclear objectives.

Steinhauer is currently working on a new TV series.

Represented by Stephanie Cabot.