The English Assassin [Import] [Hardcover]

Daniel Silva (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: E-Penguin (April 1, 2006)
• ISBN-10: 0141888385
• ISBN-13: 978-0141888385
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (110 customer reviews)

More About the Author

He has been called his generation's finest writer of international intrigue and one of the greatest American spy novelists ever. Compelling, passionate, haunting, brilliant: these are the words that have been used to describe the work of #1 New York Times-bestselling author Daniel Silva.

Silva burst onto the scene in 1997 with his electrifying bestselling debut, The Unlikely Spy, a novel of love and deception set around the Allied invasion of France in World War II. His second and third novels, The Mark of the Assassin and The Marching Season, were also instant New York Times bestsellers and starred two of Silva's most memorable characters: CIA officer Michael Osbourne and international hit man Jean-Paul Delaroche. But it was Silva's fourth novel, The Kill Artist, which would alter the course of his career. The novel featured a character described as one of the most memorable and compelling in contemporary fiction, the art restorer and sometime Israeli secret agent Gabriel Allon, and though Silva did not realize it at the time, Gabriel's adventures had only just begun. Gabriel Allon appears in Silva's next nine novels, each one more successful than the last: The English Assassin, The Confessor, A Death in Vienna, and Prince of Fire, The Messenger, The Secret Servant, Moscow Rules, and The Defector. Silva's forthcoming novel, The Rembrandt Affair, will be published on July 20, 2010.

Silva knew from a very early age that he wanted to become a writer, but his first profession would be journalism. Born in Michigan, raised and educated in California, he was pursuing a master's degree in international relations when he received a temporary job offer from United Press International to help cover the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. Later that year Silva abandoned his studies and joined UPI fulltime, working first in San Francisco, then on the foreign desk in Washington, and finally as Middle East correspondent in Cairo and the Persian Gulf. In 1987, while covering the Iran-Iraq war, he met NBC Today National Correspondent Jamie Gangel and they were married later that year. Silva returned to Washington and went to work for CNN and became Executive Producer of its talk show unit including shows like Crossfire, Capital Gang and Reliable Sources.

In 1995 he confessed to Jamie that his true ambition was to be a novelist. With her support and encouragement he secretly began work on the manuscript that would eventually become the instant bestseller The Unlikely Spy. He left CNN in 1997 after the book's successful publication and began writing full time. Since then all of Silva's books have been New York Times and international bestsellers. His books have been translated in to more than 25 languages and are published around the world. Silva continues to reside in Washington with his wife and teenage twins Lily and Nicholas. When not writing he can usually be found roaming the stacks of the Georgetown University library, where he does much of the research for his books. He is currently at work on a new Gabriel Allon novel and warmly thanks all those friends and loyal readers who have helped to make the series such an amazing success.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Intriguing Historical Journey, August 5, 2002

By 

Newt Gingrich (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
("THE")   

This review is from: The English Assassin (Hardcover)

When I first picked up The English Assassin, I almost did not buy it. I like Silva's earlier novels, but I did not like the level of violence described in the cover leaf. It sounded like a mindless adventure but not in the complex, intricate manner of Silva's earlier works.

I had underestimated Silva, or his publisher had misdescribed him. This is a delightful, deep tale of Swiss abuse of Nazi victims, a generation of Swiss cover-up to keep possession of the stolen goods, the Israeli effort to locate and track down the valuables from pre-World War II European Jews, and the level of violence some people will go to in order to keep what they have even if it was gained illicitly (or maybe even because it was gained illicitly).

Once you have entered the journey of the former Israeli agent turned art restorer and you have encountered the violence and mysteries which surround what should have been a simple trip to look at some art in need of repair, I think you will be as hooked as I was. The larger tale of what happened to Jewish and other goods during the Nazi era will also set you thinking and will put a human face to the stories several years ago of Swiss bank accounts and secrecy about the Second World War period.

This is a fascinating book and fully up to Silva's standards.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the wait was worth it, March 6, 2002

By 

Jeanne (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The English Assassin (Hardcover)

My only problem with Daniel Silva is that he doesn't write books fast enough. The wait for The English Assassin, though, was more than worth it. Silva's a first-rate writer who has taken the well-worn concept of the international thriller and turned it into something compellingly new. The English Assassin is a perfect example of his skill: he throws together the reluctant, tormented spy Gabriel Allon with a tempermental violin virtuoso grappling with her own dark secrets and sends them off to investigate the Swiss collaboration with the Nazis in the theft of priceless art. It is an utterly fascinating story, brought to life with the help of a cast of superbly crafted supporting characters, including a vicious English assassin who is a bit more complex than your usual villain. Along the way Silva masterfully draws us into the worlds of art and music and gives us a tempting tour of some out-of-the-way European locales. I started The English Assassin the other night and finished it in one sitting. My only disappointment? It'll be another year before the new Silva pops up on the shelves.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The English Assassin is another page turner from Silva, March 29, 2002

By 

Timothy J. Kindler (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The English Assassin (Hardcover)

The English Assassin is another fine novel. Daniel Silva provides the reader with his usual blend of action, excitement, intrigue, and plot twists -- all set within the historical context of the secret world of the Swiss banking system from WWII to the present. In a reprise of Gabriel Allon, the art restorer and sometimes Israeli spy from the Kill Artist, Silva spins a tale of a secret Swiss society, long-ago collaboration with Nazi Germany, and a quest to recover art treasures plundered by the Nazi's in WWII. Gabriel is drawn into the plot when he is sent to restore a painting belonging to an elderly Swiss banker. Finding the banker dead, Gabriel is quickly forced to match wits with the mysterious English Assassin and members of the clandestine Swiss organization that seeks to keep the past of Switzerland buried. This book is thoroughly entertaining. A must read for fans of Silva's previous works.