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A review by topdragon
The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva
4.0
This first book in the Gabriel Allon series is a solid beginning to the best-selling series of international espionage books. I don’t recall reading a spy novel centered on the Israeli intelligence service before so was intrigued. That, combined with the protagonist being a fine art restorer that is called back to duty to assassinate an internationally known terrorist was enough for me to give this book a try.
I had read two previous novels by Daniel Silva (the two Michael Osbourne books) and enjoyed them so felt comfortable giving this series a spin. But I must say this one was a notch better than those two earlier works. I really like Silva’s style, his story-telling technique and appreciate the nuances of his characters. I was happy to see this wasn’t a completely straight-forward spy novel and, in fact, Gabriel Allon himself doesn’t play much of a role in the first quarter of the book. Even through the rest of the book, it’s more about his co-agent, French super-model Jacqueline Delacroix and Gabriel’s boss, Mossad director, Ari Shamron. (Actually the name “Mossad” is never used but instead referred to as the “the Office”. Of course we all know that internally in the Israeli intelligence community Mossad is referred to as HaMisrad, which literally translates into English as, “the Office”. Er…we do all know that, right?)
Overall, I liked the characters, the plot, the pacing, and the settings. Gabriel is an intriguing character with an interesting history that will no doubt be fleshed out over the series. There were a few nice surprises along the way, including a nice one at the end that I did not see coming. A nice read and darn it, I now have yet another series to catch up on.
I had read two previous novels by Daniel Silva (the two Michael Osbourne books) and enjoyed them so felt comfortable giving this series a spin. But I must say this one was a notch better than those two earlier works. I really like Silva’s style, his story-telling technique and appreciate the nuances of his characters. I was happy to see this wasn’t a completely straight-forward spy novel and, in fact, Gabriel Allon himself doesn’t play much of a role in the first quarter of the book. Even through the rest of the book, it’s more about his co-agent, French super-model Jacqueline Delacroix and Gabriel’s boss, Mossad director, Ari Shamron. (Actually the name “Mossad” is never used but instead referred to as the “the Office”. Of course we all know that internally in the Israeli intelligence community Mossad is referred to as HaMisrad, which literally translates into English as, “the Office”. Er…we do all know that, right?)
Overall, I liked the characters, the plot, the pacing, and the settings. Gabriel is an intriguing character with an interesting history that will no doubt be fleshed out over the series. There were a few nice surprises along the way, including a nice one at the end that I did not see coming. A nice read and darn it, I now have yet another series to catch up on.