The English Spy Hardcover – June 30, 2015
Author: Visit ‘s Daniel Silva Page ID: 0062320130
Review
“Simply delicious. If you’re a fan of perennial No. 1 bestselling author Daniel Silva, it’s a must-read. If you’re not a fan, you should be…. Highly recommended.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
“Allon—the legendary spy, assassin and future chief of Israeli intelligence—is an elegant man working in a brutal business….Few authors in the espionage genre handle violent imagery as gracefully as Silva does.” (Fort Worth Telegram)
“A surefire blockbuster….The world needs more men like this Israeli agent. And more authors like Silva.” (Bookreporter.com)
“It is a world like no other told by an author like no other. If you are not yet a Silva/Allon fan then you are missing out on one of the best series in modern literature.” (Huffington Post)
“Silva delivers another involving spy novel as cat-and-mouse game.” (Booklist)
“Silva is a master craftsman, and his ability to keep Allon’s story fresh after so many novels is to be deeply admired. Weaving in information from previous books while maintaining a propulsive pace, Silva has written a novel that longtime fans and first-time readers can enjoy with equal fervor.” (Chris Schluep, Best Book citation)
“Engrossing and riveting.” (Vail Daily)
“This page-turner deepens Allon’s legend and illuminates more of his shadowy world, all while cementing Silva’s place among the top tier of spy thriller writers.” (Kirkus)
From the Back Cover
The target is royal
The game is revenge
Gabriel Allon returns in the summer's hottest thriller, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva.
Stretched topless upon the foredeck, drink in hand, her flawless skin baking in the sun, was the most famous woman in the world. And one deck below, preparing an appetizer of tuna tartare, cucumber, and pineapple, was the man who was going to kill her. . . .
She is an iconic member of the British Royal Family, beloved for her beauty and charitable works, resented by her former husband and his mother, the Queen of England. But when a bomb explodes aboard her holiday yacht, British intelligence turns to one man to track down her killer: legendary spy and assassin Gabriel Allon.
Gabriel's target is Eamon Quinn, a master bomb maker and mercenary of death who sells his services to the highest bidder. Quinn is an elusive man of the shadows—"a whisper in a half-lit chapel, a loose thread at the hem of a discarded garment"—but fortunately Gabriel does not pursue him alone. At his side is Christopher Keller, a British commando turned professional assassin who knows Quinn's murderous handiwork all too well.
The English Spy moves at light speed from the glamorous island of Saint Barthélemy to the mean streets of West Belfast to a cottage atop the cliffs of Cornwall that Gabriel holds dear. And though he does not realize it, he is stalking an old enemy—a cabal of evil that wants nothing more than to see him dead. Gabriel will find it necessary to oblige them, for when a man is out for vengeance, death has its distinct advantages.
Filled with breathtaking twists, The English Spy will hold readers spellbound from its riveting opening passages to its heart-stopping conclusion. It is a timely reminder that there are some men in the world who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. And it proves once again why Daniel Silva is regarded as his generation's finest writer of international thrillers.
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Hardcover: 484 pagesPublisher: Harper; 1st edition (June 30, 2015)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0062320130ISBN-13: 978-0062320131 Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #2,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #37 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime #58 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Spies & Politics > Espionage #74 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery
The English Spy is another multi-layered utterly riveting book from Daniel Silva, who is as knowledgable about his subject matter as he is deft in telling us the story. The English Spy, the fifteenth book in the Gabriel Allon series is set in a potpourri of cities – virtually all the sites of previous adventures – only a few months after the end of "The Heist." the previous Allon adventure. By doing this, the clever and witty Mr. Silva is buying both us and his main character, Gabriel Allon time before he must leave the field and take over The Office. As a result, we see relatively little of the lovely and intriguing Mrs. Allon, Chiara, who is heavily pregnant with twins conceived two books back, but to make up for her absence, we are reunited with an array of characters good and bad from previous stories.
There are twists and turns galore, and with gore, and what you think you are seeing as you read may not be what you’ve got a few pages further in. Yes, the English Spy is Christopher Keller, who has become a reader favorite, but even the title can be interpreted in more ways than one. Even the opening series of events, though sensational and attention grabbing, is somewhat misleading, especially if the reader thinks this book is going to be about an unhappy English princess. It is not, and before jumping to conclusions, we would do well to think of another much loved British Royal who did die in a boat explosion and not in a car crash in a tunnel in Paris.
We also see less of Gabriel’s well meshed "Office" team, and more of some old friends and many dangerous enemies from the first fourteen books, but Allon and Keller are an awesome team for which no evil doer can be a match on a permanent basis.
Once again Daniel Silva has shown us that he is a master of espionage thrillers. This is #15 in the Gabriel Allon series and I am always fascinated how top writers are able to maintain the quality and momentum of a series. Silva has done this in a masterly way by bringing together a collection of characters and events from some of his previous books and built them into a riveting thriller.
Israeli spymaster Gabriel Allon is facing two major hurdles in his life, one he is looking forward to and one he isn’t. Soon he will become a father again – his wife Chiara is carrying twins. Then he will be forced to become head of "The Office" and no longer be called to work in the field. He reflects that "the life of a professional spy is one of constant travel, mind-numbing boredom broken by interludes of sheer terror".
Before either happens he has to hunt down master Irish bombmaker Eamon Quinn who not only killed and maimed hundreds in Northern Ireland but after a spell of training in Libya, has spread his death and destruction around the world, including the Middle East. Quinn’s latest mayhem was a contract for the destruction of a luxury private yacht/cruiser in the Caribbean to assassinate a royal princess (loosely and insensitively modelled on Princess Diana).
On learning that Quinn was the bomber Gabriel sets out find him and find out who he is working for. He recruits Christopher Keller to help him – a former British commando who knows Quinn too well from painful experience in Northern Ireland. The experience was so painful that he has spent the last few years in exile in Corsica working as a professional assassin.
Those who have followed Gabriel Allon’s career since he first appeared in "The Kill Artist" know what to expect from a Daniel Silva novel: 1. It will be long, probably exceeding five hundred pages. 2. Although Gabriel is weary of bloodshed, he will be dragged back into the fray to carry out perilous operations against his enemies. 3. The author will explore themes about the politics of the Middle East and Russia. 4. Allon’s associates from the Office (Israeli intelligence) will appear in supporting roles. 5. There will be allusions to key events that occurred earlier in order to keep new readers in the loop. 6. Most of the action will take place in such European countries as Italy, England, Germany, and France.
"The English Spy" meets most of these expectations, and Silva adds other elements into the mix. Eamon Quinn is a criminal mastermind who was once a member of the IRA. He commits a series of atrocities that propel Allon to team up with former SAS commando Christopher Keller to bring Quinn down. Keller and Allon both have personal reasons for wanting to stop this brutal psychopath in his tracks. In the words of the British prime minister: "Sometimes revenge is good for the soul."
The story is so intricate that a spreadsheet would be useful to keep track of the large cast of characters and their myriad activities. We learn about Ireland’s "Troubles," terrorist training camps, and the many ways in which agents try to gain leverage over their targets. Allon and Keller use every means at their disposal to locate Quinn before he slaughters even more innocent people. Meanwhile, important officials in the Russian, Israeli, and British governments are nervously monitoring developments.
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