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The Book That Began It All

Customer Rating:
Gabriel Allon is, arguably, one of the most fascinating characters devised in works of espionage and this was the initial book in the ongoing series. As with all of the stoties by the writer, the characters are richly developed and the plot is a very complex one with numerous turns existing. The witer is able to handle numerous plotlines in different parts of the world in a most skillful manner. One is able to visualize the characters as real people and empathize with their reasons for reacting as they do. Perhaps the most significant issue raised by the writer deals with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. He is able to verbalize the deep passion that exists on both sides and presents this as a reason that causes problems in a resolution ever coming to the fore. This is a superbly well done book that is a rapid read and that will give the reader meaningful insight as the existing Conflict. Perhaps the only area of weakness concerns the manner in which the writer brings his book to a close. It was a bit too pat for my liking although it did not detract from enjoying his work.

Good intro to a new series

Customer Rating:
I found Daniel Silva on amazon as I find most of the authors that I end up reading; by perusing what other people who are reading the same book as I are reading. Anyway, this was an above-average spy thriller that pitted a retired Israeli agent against a militant Palestinian who was/is bent on destroying the Middle East peace process. Since this book was written almost 8 years ago and there is still no "peace" in the Middle East this book is just as interesting today as it was when it was written.
Recommended - and can't wait to read the next books in the series.

A thriller with a shallow ending

Customer Rating:
I had previously read two of the books in this series so I was familiar with most of the characters. One of those previous books was The Messenger which was a real five star thriller.

Silva does an outstanding job in painting his characters so that it is easy for the reader to feel like he/she knows them. This and his writing style makes for an easy read where you don't have to turn back to earlier pages to relate anything . . . you can just keep reading.

Things really get suspenseful when both the Mossad agents and the terrorists are sure that they had outsmarted the other and both are ready for a far different bloody finish. This is when you have your finger under the edge of the page so that you can turn it as you are reading the last few words. This is no time for a coffee break or anything else except reading!

I did not give this book five stars because there were a few places where a character acted different than he had been portrayed and the ending was not as complete as I would have liked!

Between four and five stars

Customer Rating:
Hello, Gabriel Allon, you've become a welcome addition to my life.

You really need to get married, though. No spy females, please.

Your creator is as smooth as a vodka gimlet made of France's Grey Goose vodka.

I love this review by Christine Cunningham:[...]

Following the standard rule of rounding, four and a half stars becomes five.

And who says we need to forgive the murderers of our son, the maimers of our wife? Gabriel does in Tariq in the end, as it should be.

An exquisite master art restorer living on the sea shore in Cornwall, England, Gabriel Allon, a lone wolf Mossad assassin, learns to live day by day by meticulous work and sailing a sailboat he restored. The spy is spied on by a young, lonely boy named Peel, whose is a narrative piece of thread I wished had been worked on more.

Allon is pulled back by Amri Shamron, a high level apparatchik Mossad operative and rejoins the hunt. Of humans.

He develops a romantic relationship with a closet Jewess, who is improbably a famous model, Jacqueline. Sarah's her real name. She is used to ferret out the most elusive Palestinian spy Tariq, who was responsible for blowing up Allon's wife's car in Vienna, landing her in an asylum and killing his son.

The intricate, chess-like narrative ends in New York City. Guns are involved, as is that odious former human, Yasser Arafat, who's presented almost nobly.

This is a very welcome beginning of the series staring Gabriel Allon. I have spent many enjoyable hours with him.

Thank you, Daniel Silva!

Overwrought, Underwhelming

Customer Rating:
Full of superfluous description, which impedes the flow of the narrative. Dreary and fake.