What a treat to discover an author with book #18 in a series, and know that not only do you have the seventeen preceding titles, but his prior works, to read!
In an exciting espionage plot that jumps back and forth between a small village in Spain to Vienna, Beirut, London, Washington, Beirut, Moscow and Tel Aviv, and over eight decades of back story to the present day, Gabriel Allon, Silva's invention of an art restorer who is also a master spy, unravels a plot that sounds more plausible than fictional.
What if the infamous Kim Philby, the most renowned traitor of the 20th century, who died in 1988, was still indirectly exerting his influence today on the interworkings of both international spy craft and certain events that are affecting our US domestic situation and world affairs today? This is exactly the scenario that Silva has created.
He does a fine job of exploring not just the international institutional relationships, but the human cost that they exact. Things, and people, as we all know, are not as clearcut and forthright as they may appear on the surface. The ambiguity of it all is what makes them, and this book, all the more interesting.
I'd like to add a few words of praise for the audio book reader, George Guidall, who did such a fine job. He's a master of nuance, and handles the accents, ages and sexes of the various characters with aplomb. As frequent listeners of audio books know, the reader's performance makes all the difference. Guidall has also been the reader for recent titles by Faye Kellerman I have heard and many others – over 1300, according to my research, so I must say "Bravo, George!"
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