The Messenger

The Messenger by Daniel Silva  338 pp.

I'm still hooked on the Gabriel Allon series. After a devastating attack on the Vatican which leaves St. Peter's in ruins, the Pope injured, several cardinals dead, and hundreds of others dead and injured and a separate attack on "The Office" head, Ari Shamron, Allon and his team of Mossad agents must try to put a stop to the financing of Al-Qaeda terrorism by wealthy Saudi industrialist, Abdul Aziz al-Bakari aka "Zizi." With the help of the CIA they enlist the help of beautiful, museum curator, Sarah Bancroft, who is given a crash course in the art of espionage. Using an unknown and priceless Van Gogh portrait (on loan from a wealthy Jewish woman) and the beautiful Sarah as bait, they manage to infiltrate Zizi's highly secure world. When their plans go sour they have to find a way to rescue Sarah before she is killed by Zizi's henchmen. In my opinion, this is one of the better novels in this series.