Daniel Silva’s The Cellist is as up to date as you
can get. You are placed in a world where a US president who has cozied up to
Russia has been defeated, but is still hollering about stolen elections. He is unnamed, as is his successor, who is waiting
to be inaugurated and has promised to both heal his own country and the Western
Alliances. Gabriel Allon, who is still the
head of Israel’s secret service, has hatched a complicated and risky plan to
bankrupt a soviet oligarch and eliminate a major money laundering operation. At
the center of the plot is an attractive talented cellist and money
manipulator. She plays sublimely in
reality and in her head, while all the other participants are play each
other. Every character has multiple
identities and hidden motivations, while the action ping pongs across the world
between England, Holland, Israel, Switzerland,
and Washington DC. If you have read any of Silva’s previous books, you will not
be disappointed in this one.
