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“Sometimes it is better to give an opponent a small victory than suffer a devastating defeat yourself.”“The Messenger” is # 6 in Mr. Silva’s Gabriel Allon series, out of 18 (currently) published. Although not as good as #s 4 & 5, it is still a good read and like most books in this series also raises some important issues. Within the first 60 pages Israeli spy (and art restorer) Gabriel Allon is at the Vatican to ward off a terrorist threat, and the novel, kicks into high gear from there.One of t...
The Messenger by Daniel Silva is the sixth novel in the Gabriel Allon series. Allon is an Israeli agent who is more interested in restoring works of art than the world of espionage.When an al Qaeda operative is killed inLondon, some photographs are found on his computer and the Israeli intelligence suspects that the group is planning a big attack aimed directly at theVatican.Israeli agent Gabriel Allon finds himself in a battle of wits against dangerous men which takes him on a h...
I own The Gabriel Allon series for two reasons 1) they are exciting, intricate, well written and sometime heart stopping action regarding the best spy and assasin Israel has (who also happens to be a masterful artist that has forgone painting to restoring great Master's originals) and 2) Daniel Silva EDUCATES me on what is actually going on in the middle east. In the beginning of the series, not so much on the political arena but it starts with the attack on the Israeli athletes in 1972, but as
Didn't read much at all, actually. Maybe if I'd tried the first book in the series it would have worked better? But this was for a book club and I just dove in.The Cold War they're-out-to-kill-us-all mentality of the bad guys (all Muslim, of course) and good guys didn't do it for me. Maybe this makes me no different than the appeasement policy proponents during WWII and I'm horribly, horribly naive. But I really didn't care for all the scare-mongering about Islam. I'm sure that Muslim terrorists...
Gabriel Allon is, in my opinion, the most incredible secret agent since James Bond. He does it mostly without all the gimmicks that 007 has at his disposal, Allon and his colleagues at Israel's spy agency and the C.I.A. are faced with attacks on the Vatican and the Pope in THE MESSENGER by Daniel Silva (ISBN 978-0451221728, paperback, $9.99). Allon, an art restorer of great repute (his cover occupation) and super spy, is called out of semi-retirement as an agent when a laptop computer belonging
Spy novels are meant to explore the moral gray areas that exist when you have state actors performing extralegal deeds which may individually be unethical or inhumane yet, when done in the interest of the safety of one’s country, becomes pseudo-sanctified. The great heroes of these stories are usually flawed because the reader is never completely sure that their actions are just. To me, this crisis of conscience is what makes spy novels fun to read.Apparently, Daniel Silva thinks differently. Go...
Originally posted on Gone With The BooksWhen I started this thriller, I didn´t know that it was part of a series. And when I realized it, I was right in the middle of a tough but well written plot about agent Gabriel Allon, who has to do another dangerous job. The story starts right of with a deadly situation and the more I read, the more it felt kind of scary. Because almost everything that happened in this thriller is today – about ten years later – sad reality. The setting goes from London an...
Play it again Sam....
Even with the abrupt ending, this is an outstanding story. Especially intriguing is the fact the U.S. consorts with the Saudi regime to its detriment for the benefit of oil. 10 of 10 stars
Some reviewers compare Daniel Silva with John LeCarre. That is pure nonsense. In my mind only two currently producing authors can write a spy novel that is more than an adventure story: LeCarre and Alan Furst.That said, "The Messenger" is a very good adventure tale. The story is well plotted, the characters familiar, the pace satisfying, the suspense binding, and the ending blindingly fast and exciting. I had a hard time putting the book down with about 100 pages to go.On the down side, there is...
3.5ish stars. Not as explosive as others but exciting all the same.
I seem to have summer fever. Instead of reading nonfiction with serious content, I have wandered back to lighter fare. Since I am of the firm conviction that even fiction that entertains is not necessarily cheerful and may even encompass some social commentary, my idea of a frivolous summer book may not be the same as yours. I often click on lists of summer reading suggestions that other people love to post online and their choices almost never conform with mine. I had previously read two books
"The man with strawberry-blond hair stood and walked away. It was his first major undertaking as chief of Special Operations, and it had gone very well. He knew at that moment, however, that the killing would not end in Cannes, for the last thing he had seen as he walked away was Nadia al-Bakari, kneeling over the dead body of her father, screaming for revenge." Gabriel Allon is summoned by his friend, Donnati, to the Vatican to inquire into a possible death threat to the Pope himself. But ev
I'd read The Black Widow before this book, but it actually follows the Messenger. That wasn't a problem because the story stands well on its own and some of the names are familiar adding more to the story. Gabriel Allon is supposed to be the Israeli intelligence officer who assassinated the terrorists known as Black September for their killing of Jewish Olympians during the Munich Olympics. The character is also a world renown art restorer. The story is a good old fashioned spy thriller where th...
The Vatican is attacked, and the Israeli secret service develops a very complex plan to track down the terrorist mastermind. Training a young American female to cozy up with the financier of horrible plots to change power in the world took up a good chunk of this book, and I bought into it very easily. It was a great summer read, but unfortunately there are probably horrible people in the world who want to rewrite history for their own stupid desires. Oh - and the Vatican is scheduled to be atta...