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A review by fredmoyer
The English Assassin by Daniel Silva
4.0
Great characters. Interesting plot. Twisty, but rushed, ending.
This is the second book in a series of 20+ books showcasing Israeli intelligence operative Gabriel Allon. The first book, like any first-book-in-a-series, must introduce the reader to the main protagonist (Gabriel Allon) and some of his compatriots; and so the book only provided us with a relatively simple plot. With this second book, few character introductions were necessary; and so we were given a much more complicated and meaty plot. Thus, unlike the first book, with its single antagonist (Palestinian assassin Tariq), in this second book Gabriel Allon is up against a decades-old secretive organization – and even, to some extent, up against an entire country.
Like the first book, the writing is very good, the foreign locations are quite descriptive and the characters are superbly well-drawn. And there are twists. Not everything goes according to plan. Not all characters do what the reader might assume they would. But it seemed the author wanted the ending to have a sense of “justice prevailed” even though it meant a rushed ending with insufficient (or even nonexistent) information to how anyone managed to exact such vengeance.
Bottom line: Sophisticated plot. Really good characters. Rushed, twisty ending.
This is the second book in a series of 20+ books showcasing Israeli intelligence operative Gabriel Allon. The first book, like any first-book-in-a-series, must introduce the reader to the main protagonist (Gabriel Allon) and some of his compatriots; and so the book only provided us with a relatively simple plot. With this second book, few character introductions were necessary; and so we were given a much more complicated and meaty plot. Thus, unlike the first book, with its single antagonist (Palestinian assassin Tariq), in this second book Gabriel Allon is up against a decades-old secretive organization – and even, to some extent, up against an entire country.
Like the first book, the writing is very good, the foreign locations are quite descriptive and the characters are superbly well-drawn. And there are twists. Not everything goes according to plan. Not all characters do what the reader might assume they would. But it seemed the author wanted the ending to have a sense of “justice prevailed” even though it meant a rushed ending with insufficient (or even nonexistent) information to how anyone managed to exact such vengeance.
Bottom line: Sophisticated plot. Really good characters. Rushed, twisty ending.