Listening to Olen Steinhauer

I'm more and more curious about Berlin Station and more and more intrigued. 

I've started listening/reading my third Steinhauer book (thank you Audible). I first listened to All the Old Knives and now have started the Yalta Boulevard Sequence:

http://www.olensteinhauer.com/yalta-blvd/#yalta-boulevard-sequence

Though I must apologize to the author because after finishing the first book, The Bridge of Sighs, I've skipped three books to start on Victory Square.  I just had to know what would happen to the lead character, Emil Brod!

But I will come back to the right order, and the next one I'll read or listen to will be The Confession, the second book in the series.

What is the Yalta Sequence/Series?  It takes place in a fictional Eastern European country behind the Iron Curtain from 1948 to 1989.   There's one book per decade.  We experience this world through the lives of homicide detectives and state security officers. We share both their work life and their private life, and how they intersect. We also see a political system developing from the beginning after World War II to the end in 1989. (I spent part of my childhood in a similar political system behind the "Caribbean iron curtain" so the setting piqued my interest.)

As I listen to the books of course I'm thinking about the series we'll see this fall, Berlin Station. I'm wondering about the character of Daniel Miller.  Reading/listening to the books, I can see why Richard Armitage would be perfect for this television series, and also why he would find this character of great interest. And I don't know anything about his Daniel Miller, other than what little we've been told, so I'm basing this on Steinhauer's other characters. We know Daniel is a new CIA field agent undercover in Berlin in the present day. But as I listen/read these books, I can see all the layers that the spies and policemen in these stories have, and I can wonder about Daniel.

Now, I'm not about to write a detailed study of the work of Olen Steinhauer, but just as an average reader, I can admire how he weaves the dark corners of the soul with the dark corners of the world.  His characters whether "good guys" or "bad guys" are all very multi-layered.  He's also a great observer of bureaucracies and how they perpetuate themselves, how they determine what gets resolved or not, how it affects those who work within them, whether in the West (These Old Knives) or in the East (Yalta Sequence).  

There's also love and romance, but maybe the kind that is more realistic, or believable or cynical. Yet, there are loves that endure even amid heartbreak and frustration. Yes, we can love someone, but not always like them. Will there be a romance for Daniel Miller? 

I find interesting that more than one of the love stories are younger men and older women?  Not something you see too much in a US TV show, so will we? 

There's also humor. Dark humor for sure, but humor. I've laughed out loud a few times in my car listening to the books on my way to work. 

One of my favorite scenes in Bridge of Sighs is young detective Emil Brod's first day of work. We've all been there, horrified by sitting alone in our new desk, not knowing what to do. There are great descriptions of Brod's co-workers as he observes them giving him the silent treatment. So much information about each character in just a few sentences. Yet, first impressions can also be quite wrong, can't they?  

One of my favorite shows ever is Spooks (MI5) and I love lovely Lucas North. But I'm sure now that I'm becoming immersed in Olen Steinhauer's work that the new show will be equally excellent, but unique and original. And just by the description we've had so far Lucas and Daniel are different characters. Lucas was an experienced and excellent field agent, who when we meet him has spent eight years in Russian prison being tortured and interrogated. (No, we're not going to discuss Season 9 at all!). Daniel we are told is a cerebral rookie field agent learning on the job. 

I have high hopes for Berlin Station. Truly I think it will be an interesting new adventure for Armitage fans.  I just know Richard must be enjoying being Daniel Miller and making this character his own, as he always does.