My 4th Gabriel Allon/ Daniel Silva novel and 6th in the Allon series, this is just relentless creation and sustenance of suspense in this genre of spy thriller by Daniel Silva. Each book I finish, I keep thinking "how can he better this book". And every time I pick up the next Allon series, I am mesmerised , hooked and completely possessed by the book till I complete it! Hats off to Silva, he is just a master craftsman who can repeat the magic book after book.You have to accept a few authors shenanigans though. For Silva, Israeli intelligence is the best in the world of intelligence. Even the American counterparts come to them for help! Next, Allon would always be pulled into the thick of all the action reluctantly, as he is a part time spy and full time art restorer, both jobs which he is probably the best in the world! For the last 2 novels, the topic has been the Arab or Saudi or Palestinian muslim terrorists who are fanatical about blowing up,wait her the pope or Jews. In both these novels, silva first makes his spy cum assassin Allon make brilliant and elaborate plans to kill the bad guys for almost 80% of the book which turns out to be a wrong move. (But the elaborate plans and nature of steps and detailing is the exciting and interesting part of the book). The last 20%, the damage control mode kicks in, Allon somehow finds the real targets and kills them. I am an optimistic reader who would like to get more elaboration of how he rectifies the first failure of his plan and how he finds his enemies, in other words, the actual killing of the bad people should have at least 40% of the book without a quick end. My thoughts only, though I would not complain, as I get enough adrenalin reading through these novels.in this book, Gabriel goes after a billionaire Saudi, who is finances all terrorist activities with their oil money through a terrorist who is his right hand man and executioner of terror! Gabriel gets involved when they try to take out the Pope who shares a close friendship with Allon. Rest of the story deals with how Allon tracks down the terrorist who is almost a ghost and eventually kills him. The plot does look similar but Silva's prose if fast, so you are totally hooked. Great read and I have now the next 3 Silva/Allon in my hands.
What do You think about The Messenger (2006)?
I generally enjoy Silva's books, and this is one of his best. It's fast-moving easy reading, the plot holds together and the characters are fun. There's nothing like a really disagreeable villain, and the Saudis in this story fit the bill. They kill hundreds of innocents at the Vatican to start things off, then revel in the riches purchased with their petrodollars, capture and threaten to torture a nice American lady (a Dartmouth graduate, no less), and generally misbehave throughout. Silva explains at the end that, while this is a work of fiction, the Saudis really do finance international terrorism! True or not, this gives the reader an excuse to applaud the hero and his friends from "the Office" as they mow down jihadist after jihadist.
—Mike Harper
6th in the Gabriel Allon series.[return][return]Allon s cover has been blown, and he is now working as an art restorer in Israel. But Ari Shamron, Israel s ex-officio overseer of Israeli Intelligence, wants Gabriel to get back into the Service, as director of Special Ops. He shows Gabriel some interesting images taken off the laptop of a Palestinian agent: they are of the Vatican and Pope Paul VII, and are excellent indicators that both are targets for a massive terrorist attack. Monseignor Luigi Donati, the pope s private secretary is at that moment on his way to Jerusalem to meet with Allon to discuss the seriousness of the situation and the steps to be taken.[return][return]Allon goes to Rome, where he participates in the heightened security arrangements and tries to determine how the attack will be carried out. During an outdoor audience in St. Peter s Square, a terrorist attack occurs, which nearly kills the pope and succeeds in blowing a massive hole in the dome of St. Peter s Basilica.[return][return]So begins the story. [return][return]I had a hard time with this book initially because in general I dislike books that have as a central part of the plot an event in modern times that never happened. I can take a different pope not a problem but blowing up St. Peter s? It s not that I think it an unlikely event; it s just that it didn t happen, and I don t like stories that depend on such plot devices. It also seemed to me that Silva s writing was not up to his usual standard.[return][return]But once Allon gets into the field, all of Silva s strengths in plotting and writing such stories come to the fore. The story turned into a typical Silva gripping thriller, a page-turner, where you race through the book, tension at the max, to find out what happens next. Silva is at his best with the action-adventure parts; the characters are good enough to serve his plot purposes.[return][return]While I feel that this is not the best book in the series, it s certainly no slouch, so long as you can overlook fictional events happening to famous landmarks that re crucial to the plot. I found it hard to swallow, but otherwise thought the book was excellent.[return][return]Highly recommended.
—Joyce Lagow
A good book makes me care about a characters, has my heart and breath racing as their fates play out across the pages of the novel. This is the first Allon story that did that.As in all of Silva’s books, this one had too much art information – this time about Vincent Van Gogh – than I care to read. While art as a whole plays a large role in these novels, much of what's here could be cut with no loss (and possibly an improvement) in quality and tautness of the story.Also as in all the earlier books, Silva delivers a climax too early then spends many pages tieing up subplots before resolving the main plot of the story in a few short scenes at the very end. It keeps the reader reading toward a hoped-for high-tension faceoff between Allon and the bad guy(s) he’s been chasing over 300+ pages, but that never happens. Instead, Silva gives us a too neat, too brief ending that leaves the reader (this one anyway) feeling as if it’s rushed, written just to get everything out of the way.Again, Silva delivered a book that was just okay.
—Quillracer
