Silva, Daniel The
Defector
I am a sucker for Daniel
Silva’s espionage novels. Gabriel Allon is a fascinating character. He is a
killer, no doubt, but has a backstory that includes faith, love, and even
charity. There is also an artistic talent that seems as great as his
assassination skills. Moving on, Silva has a skill in depicting locales. The
streets, the buildings, the weather, the smells, the vehicles, the knowledge of
tradecraft-- all are reproduced with such all-encompassing detail that he seems
like a native of every place he writes about.
In this 2009 offering, Gabriel Allon is restoring art in
Italy when a Russian defector, now living in London and who saved his life in
the past, suddenly disappears. American, Russian, English, and Israeli intelligence
all become involved as Allon vows to solve the mystery—the layers of deception
stretch from London to Switzerland and finally to Russia itself.
When Allon’s wife, Chiara, becomes another kidnapping victim,
the daring plan for her rescue generates a violent and deadly bloodbath.
Although it long and a real page-turner, I did feel that Silva spent more pages
stretching out the ending longer than necessary.
Not his best, but still a solid 4 out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment