Portrait of a Spy

Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva  455 pp.

What a wonderful way to spend a weekend, sitting on a shaded deck, overlooking a lake, and reading the latest in the Gabriel Allon series. This time, because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Gabriel is pulled out of retirement and away from the Titian he is restoring, into an operation to eliminate the mastermind behind several coordinated terrorist bombings. They manage to enlist the assistance of Nadia al-Bakiri, whose father, "Zizi," was assassinated by Allon in a previous book. Allon and Israeli Intelligence are also at odds with U.S. Homeland Security and the CIA when the Americans insist on running the show after the initial dangerous work had been done. Then, after they have garnered accolades for their success, they once again give the final deadly operation back to the Israelis. Once again, Allon is joined by the cast of characters that have become old friends to the loyal readers of this series: the inimitable Ari Shamron, Uzi Navot, Eli Lavon, Dina, Sarah Bancroft, and Allon's beautiful wife, Chiarra. I enjoy this series because it is meticulously researched and based somewhat on actual events and people. Alas, I must now wait for the next installment. Write faster, Mr. Silva.

Striking Back

Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response by Aaron J. Klein  288 pp.

As it says on the cover, this is the book about the real events that inspired Spielberg's movie Munich. I chose to read it for another reason. As a fan of Daniel Silva's "Gabriel Allon" series of thrillers, I wanted to know more of the real background events that inspired the creation of Silva's character, a Mossad assassin. I was in junior high school when the Black September terrorists attacked the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics occurred. What I remembered was that the athletes and some of the terrorists died at the airport. What I did not know was how all attempts to save them were botched by the German officials and police in such a horrendous way or that one of the athletes might have survived if anyone had bothered to see if any of the athletes in a burning helicopter had survived being shot. He died of smoke inhalation, not gunshot wounds. The book documents "Operation Wrath of God",  Israeli's revenge on the Palestinians for the massacre. This operation was charged with seeking out the Palestinian terrorists responsible for planning and carrying out the massacre and assassinating them. Included is the horribly botched case of mistaken identity in Lillehammer, Norway, where Israeli agents gunned down an innocent man in front of his pregnant wife and then were caught by authorities and tried. In some of the Silva novels references to "we don't another Lillehammer affair" pop up and now I know what they mean. In response to some of the assassinations, there were more terrorists attacks. However, the audacity some of the Mossad attacks led to the mythology that they were unstoppable even when they had done nothing. This book is interesting, horrifying, maddening, and depressing. Who are the good guys in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? I don't think there are any. I'm sure I'll be criticized for saying it, but, in my opinion, both sides are equally to blame.

The Defector

The Defector by Daniel Silva  469 pp.

I have to say this was probably my least favorite of the Gabriel Allon series. It's a continuation of the storyline begun in Moscow Rules. Allon and his bride, Chiara, are back in Umbria where Gabriel is once again restoring a famous painting. His idyllic stay there is interrupted when word that the defector Grigori Bulganov, who helped Allon escape in the previous book, has been abducted. British Intelligence believe that Bulganov has redefected back to Russia. Allon knows that is not possible and he promised Bulganov that he would not "end up in an unmarked grave" and so he sets out to find him. Once again the evil Ivan Kharkov is the force behind the crimes and Chiara is also abducted. Kharkov wants his children (now living in hiding with his ex-wife) returned to him. In return he says he will let Allon have his wife back.

I'm now Allon-less until Silva's new book comes out in July.

A Death in Vienna

A Death of Vienna by Daniel Silva  403 pp.

Another in the Gabriel Allon series that I'm hooked on. This episode is the last of the cycle of novels where Allon is dealing with unfinished business from the Holocaust. The first, The English Assassin, dealt with the Nazi looting of art treasures and the Swiss banks that hid them. The Confessor, is about the role of the Catholic Church in WWII and Pope Pius XII's silence. In this book, Allon investigates a bombing in Vienna that seriously injures his friend and sometime fellow agent, Eli Lavon. In the process he uncovers the existence of a former Nazi SD officer charged with hiding the deaths of millions in the death camps. When Allon comes face to face with Radek the familiarity of the man leads him to discover that Sturmbahnführer Erich Radek had nearly killed Irene Allon, Gabriel's mother, who had survived the Birkenau death march. While Allon searches for a way to get Radek, Radek is trying to eliminate Allon by hiring a the same hired killer that bombed Lavon's office. As the author said in his notes at the end of the book, this was loosely based on actual events, including the fact that the CIA used former Nazis in an anti-USSR intelligence network.

The English Assassin

The English Assassin by Daniel Silva  386 pp.

This book is the second in the series featuring art restorer and Mossad agent & assassin, Gabriel Allon. After being given an art restoration assignment in Switzerland, Allon arrives to find the owner of the painting, Swiss banker named Wolfe, lying dead in a pool of blood. This begins a tale that criss-crosses Europe as Allon investigates connection between Swiss banks and art works stolen by the Nazis, many from Jews who were sent to the gas chamber.  During the course of the investigation, Allon's sources of information are killed off one by one and he is being stalked by a former British military officer turned assassin--an assassin who had been trained by Allon years earlier. Allon also must protect Wolfe's daughter, a concert violinist, who is also on the hit list. In spite of all the beatings, killings, kidnappings, and illegal activity the ones who come off looking bad in this book are the Swiss. Silva did a lot of research into the shady WWII activities of the supposedly neutral country and the Swiss belief that if they did anything wrong it doesn't matter because it was so long ago. 

After reading this book, it makes me glad my husband's Swiss ancestors were farmers who left the country in the early 1800s.    

The Defector by Daniel Silva

The Defector by Daniel Silva, Thriller, 469 pages 10 hours, 58 minutes.
The latest of Silva's thrillers featuring Israeli super-agent Gabriel Allon, this one is, again, filled with frantic action, danger, and hyperbole. Fun and fast paced, but sometimes a little over the top with seemingly unnecessary killing and excessive hand-wringing by the good guys, and thuggish brutality by the bad guys. Decent narration by Phil Gigante.