Customer Reviews

The Rembrandt Affair (Gabriel Allon)

5 star:		(159)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

Too few of today's espionage novelists deliver well-drawn characters, rich prose, or depth of philosophical thought. Daniel Silva, like John le Carre or Alan Furst, is an exception to that rule.

The plot follows the search for a lost Rembrandt portrait, a masterpiece with a legacy of bloodshed. But what makes the book special is that Silva uses this straightforward device as a springboard to explore issues ranging from the value of art--both fiscal and emotional--to international financial scams to global politics, all without ever letting the tension lag. The prose is exceptional, the research impeccable, and the characters compelling.

If you like your thrillers relentless and smart, this is one for you.

I am a long-time fan of this series; the quality of Mr. Silva's writing has reached a very high level, and remains there with The Rembrandt Affair. There's a little less action than in some of the recent books, but the read is still quick and spell-binding. I fear that the series will be winding down soon, but I hope it continues for at least another ten books, especially if the quality remains as high as exemplified by The Rembrandt Affair.

Several commenters have given the book a single star rating for issues they have with the pricing of the Kindle edition. I don't think that is fair, since the quality of the writing is so extraordinary. I think the reading value of this book justifies the price. Incidentally, I bought the hardback edition, but I think the Kindle verison is fairly priced too. I use the ratings a great deal, but I use them to judge the quality of the product; pricing you can always evaluate yourself, but that shouldn't be a factor in the rating of the product quality.

Whew. I remember this guy, Daniel Silva. He wrote the most marvelous thrillers -- action plus ideology, art, politics, a strong sense of place, memorable minor characters. Then he took a sabbatical that lasted 3 novels. Three novels in which the hero became a self-involved action figure.

But now he's back. And Gabriel Allon is back in Cornwall, although not yet out to sea or in the studio. He's tracking again, but tracking down a missing Rembrandt, a portrait of the artist's mistress, a never-displayed lost treasure. Julian Isherwood is much in evidence and the watching little boy of the early novels, Peel, is now a young man and back in the picture. The coast is described in general, if not in loving particular, and it looks like Gabriel is taking on an investigation that is personally significant, but not significantly personal.

While Silva -- a former reporter -- is always good at investing his plots with current issues, this meditation on the economics of art in a time of financial distress is particularly shrewd. The gap between rich and poor is exacerbated by those private collectors who buy paintings stolen from museums, only to hang them on the walls of their private galleries. So much more than monetary value is the world's loss to the Museum of the Missing.

Giving his reader non-stop-thrill-ride-nail-biting-OMG action has never been a problem for Silva. (The only problem has been giving so much of it that there's no room for anything else.) Here the background and subject matter of the painting itself are gracefully woven into the fabric of the story so that the reader learns and thinks while also being riveted.

The plot is more like the early books than the last 3: there's more thinking and less blood. Silva's research is both impressive and heart-breaking. He introduces a minor character in Paris who is an activist in post-Holocaust politics and with her he introduced me to the term "memory militant."

In addition to being an outstanding writer, Silva is himself a dedicated memory militant who honors all aspects of that monumental subject.

I'm a Daniel Silva fan - have read all his books, and love Israeli assassin/fine art restorer Gabriel Allon's stoic, focused, and brutal efficiency, as well as the authenticity and passion Silva brings to the genre. As LeCarre drifts further away from the spy craft that made him a near-household name, we are certainly fortunate to have Daniel Silva filling the void. But he does tend to be formulaic: a reluctant Allon is lured from retirement, and after assembling his crack team of brains and brutality, he dispatches the latest threat to Israel's existence with neat technology and clever plot twists worthy of the original "Mission Impossible" stunts. So "The Rembrandt Affair" followed that formula faithfully, but unlike previous installments - which blazed through the journey to a climax still stirring despite knowing the ultimate destination - "Rembrandt" fell flat for me. A more world-weary Allon and a relatively less despicable villain that combined with Silva plugging new names and places into his standard template resulted in a mostly uninspired tale.

This is not to say "The Rembrandt Affair" did not have its moments. This was one of his more poignant efforts - a well told yarn of the suffering of Dutch Jews under Nazi occupation rings as True as Anne Frank. In a recurring Silva theme, the role of the Vatican in the Holocaust is told with unvarnished and unapologetic distain. And Iran's nuclear threat is as current and topical as it is frightening, and as usual, Silva buries some well-researched fact and background into his fiction tightening the credibility while heightening the suspense. So this is still a worthwhile read - even on a bad day Silva can tell a story better than most contemporary writers of spy fiction at their best - but for me this was not the author in top form. Though above all else, let's hope that Silva's conclusion to this episode unfolds in real events with the same accuracy and authenticity in which his spies and their adversaries have been depicted over a decade of entertaining and enlightening espionage fiction.

This is a brilliant story, meticulously researched by a writer at the top of his game. It's hard to do a spy thriller these days that is not formulaic and one dimensional. Silva escapes the usual "bad guys appear, world is put in peril, hero sets things right, rides off into sunset." This story has scope that reaches from a secret buried in WWII to tomorrow's headlines. It's clear that the author has some pretty good inside sources and likely that his story will ring more true a year from now than it does today. A must read!

Art restorer and retired Mossad agent Gabriel Allon and his agent second wife Chiara retreat to Glastonbury, England for some R&R and a return to normalcy after the recent near fatal abduction of her (see The Defector). However, the respite ends when Allon learns a dear colleague was murdered and the Rembrandt painting the victim was restoring was stolen. Unable to hide on the sidelines, Allon investigates.

Allon's inquiry into a theft turned ugly takes him into the underbelly of capitalism as European firms clandestinely and illegally are selling reactor centrifuges to Iran. He realizes all nuclear waste in this case leads to Switzerland. Knowing he cannot go it alone, Allon calls in his former crew mates.

The latest Allon thriller is a terrific tale that has a different feel to the story line. The tale starts off as a mystery, but the clues turn the plot into an action-packed espionage thriller. Fast-paced regardless of genre, The Rembrandt Affair has the hero doing his usual quality job as he comes out of retirement to try to prevent the illegal sales to Iran. The escapades never stop until after the final confrontation; yet the key that refreshes this entry is Allon, who on the surface seems the same as in his previous appearances, but long time fans will notice subtle but fascinating differences.

Harriet Klausner

When I received Mr. Silva's latest book, I was delighted. It would, I thought, provide a week of enjoyable reading during a relatively quiet summer. Not so-I read it straight through. You probably read the review of the publishers so I'll refrain from going over the plot and characters. I think this one of his best-the story of the art thefts and background on the art business intrigued me-I've followed that business for years since my grandfather was an art dealer in NYC. The plot twists made sense. The characters were captivating. What I enjoy the most about Silva's novels is the way he brings history to life. Genocides can't be forgotten; they are about people, not statistics. It isn't always a "happy read"-but I was hooked from chapter one. On another note, my local grocery store charged the same price for cheesecake as the publisher charged for this book-the book was a lot better, and I didn't gain weight reading it.

I have been reading Daniel Silva's books for many years now and he never fails to delight me. His character of Gabriel Allon just sounds like a classy man even though he is an assasin and it makes me think that the author must be too. I have always admired the Mosad and how they always get their man especially after the Munich disaster. I bought the Rembrandt Affair for myself but wound up giving it to my son first as he faced many months of chemotherapy and I thought the book would take his mind off of the pain. It did help him see it thru and now that it is over I had my chance to read the book and enjoyed it so very much. Thank you Mr. Silva for a great read. Dolores Hunt

Since his last assignment, Israeli spy --- make that ex-spy --- Gabriel Allon has retreated to a bucolic retirement on a stretch of peaceful coast in England. But his retirement is interrupted by an old acquaintance, art dealer Julian Isherwood. Julian owns a fashionable gallery in London that those in the art world describe as never boring, and that's in his worst times. Now Julian has a problem, a big and definitely unboring problem. It seems that a newly discovered Rembrandt entrusted to him for restoration has gone missing, leaving him holding the bag for $45 million.

Naturally, at first, Gabriel resists Julian's impassioned pleas for help, but he can't do so for long. While retirement has so far suited Gabriel and his beautiful wife, ex-agent Chiara, the temptation to get back in the game, even for a brief time, is simply too much. Besides, he reasons, this should be a straightforward task, one that need not involve the Office, nor one that should take a whole lot of effort on his part.

However, this particular Rembrandt hides a deadly secret, and Gabriel soon finds out that there are people willing to kill to keep that secret safe. For Gabriel, the introduction of danger into the mix only adds intrigue, for it is something that he always handles extremely well. But when he and Chiara follow a lead to Buenos Aires and barely escape with their lives, they decide it is time to enlist the aid of their fellow agents. What they have uncovered proves much bigger and carries much more widespread risk than anyone could have imagined. In fact, it is blockbuster.

The search for the painting alone would be quest enough for most people, but it quickly becomes obvious that the history surrounding this Rembrandt is explosive and has the potential to devastate some highly influential people. Its background encompasses Swiss banks, Holocaust survivors, philanthropists, even the Vatican. And what Gabriel and his team discover portends a terrifying future if something is not done to head off a disaster of immense proportions with worldwide implications.

With nonstop action bouncing from England to Amsterdam to South America and back, the pacing here is whirlwind. Gabriel and Chiara and, in fact, everyone involved will need a long respite once this affair is over. That is, if they survive it. Then, can Gabriel once again retire, this time forever? Let's hope not.

THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR is Daniel Silva's best thriller to date, and that's saying a lot, for all of the books in the Gabriel Allon series have been stellar. Silva has an uncanny handle on world politics and how they affect the global population, not to mention an entertaining forum for getting his audience to pay attention to current affairs. There couldn't be a much more time-appropriate plot than this one, nor one that can so touch its readers' hearts. This is definitely a novel not to be missed!

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

I'm a big fan of the Gabriel Allon series so I was really hoping to like this book. Unfortunately I came away disappointed. As I see it, there are 3 main problems with this book (NO SPOILERS) --

1. The plot is a direct lift from the far superior Gabriel Allon book "The Messenger".
The circumstances of the missing painting and the Swiss banks are different. But the actual machinations of the story -- unsuspecting attractive woman becomes undercover spy trained by Allon to infiltrate the lair of an evil billionaire industrialist -- are eerily similar. It's pretty much by the numbers. If you've read "The Messenger" you already know how the story plays out here.

2. Gabriel Allon has no role in this book.
Not once does he display why he's a legend in intelligence circles. The lethal assassin with a strong moral code is incidental to this story. He sits in living rooms and listens to other people's stories. He's a passive character. Two-thirds of the way through the book he runs some surveillance, makes a deal, and then disappears. If you're new to the series you'll probably be wondering what all the Allon hype is about. Veteran readers will come away feeling cheated.

3. Nothing goes wrong. There are no twists or mistakes by our protagonists. They do everything right. There's no tension when all your characters are getting along and working together flawlessly. Only at the end does Silva throw in a contrived complication to add some much needed suspense. But the resolution is dull and unsatisfying.

Start with the earlier books if you're a newcomer to the series. While "The Rembrandt Affair" does provide a fascinating insight into the link between the Swiss banking industry and the Nazis during the Holocaust it comes up short as a thriller. What makes it more disappointing is the fact that Silva has created a compelling and complex protagonist in Gabriel Allon. It's a shame he never uses him to his full potential here.