Customer Reviews

The Secret Servant (Gabriel Allon)

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Daniel Silva has yet again written a novel that at the same time will entertain and scare the hell out of you; a novel as well researched and believable as LeCarre in his Cold War glory days, but moving at the pace of Follett or Forsythe at the top of their story-telling skills.

In "The Secret Servant", Gabriel Allon, the avenging angel of Israel's formidable secret service, is back to do battle again with the ever-rising tide of radical Islam terrorism. Sent to Amsterdam on a seemingly routine mission to clean up after an assassinated undercover agent, Allon unwittingly uncovers an Al Qaeda-like plot which leads him to London and Elizabeth Halton, the daughter of the US Ambassador to The United Kingdom. Unable - barely - to thwart Elizabeth's kidnapping, Allon sets out with his familiar cast of "citizens of the night" from Tel Aviv's intelligence service, taking him on what I thought his most challenging and harrowing assignment since the days of his youth when he was summoned to wreck vengeance on the Black September perpetrators of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.

While the main course in "Secret Service" is harrowing suspense and action, told with brutal force and free-flowing blood, the venue here is the very real and very dangerous Islamification of Europe. And while Silva's popularity certainly suffers from blunt talk that may offend the more sensitive or liberal-minded readers, this is a straightforward and intelligent dissection of the threats facing the west today. But it is hardly simple, one-sided, Zionist rhetoric, for while there is no doubt on which side of the conflict Silva falls, he paints a surprisingly balanced picture of the enormity of the issue, wrapping his fiction around radical Islam's rise from the brutal poverty in ghettos in Middle east, fomenting hate fueled by the blunders of the west, and especially of the secular governments in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

In short, gripping fiction with all the right adrenalin charged superlatives. But while the ending may be predictable, and the story is one that you'll recall with each new tale of terrorism in the headlines, "The Secret Servant" falls short on redemption, knowing that while individual acts of terror may be thwarted, the larger war rages on just below the that level of collective conscience we'd prefer not to acknowledge.

I started my last review of a Silva book by noting that whatever else one says about him, he does not sugar coat his message. After finishing his seventh novel involving the Israeli art restorer, assassin and intelligence officer, Gabriel Allon, I can reliably report that nothing has changed.

In the story that unfolds is the very a very grim depiction of what is becoming the "Islamification" of Europe.

In the opening chapter an Israeli asset by the name of Solomon Rosner, a professor of scociology at the University of Amsterdam has caused a bit of a stir by writing a book entitled, "The Islamic Conquest of the West." In the book Rosner argues that Holland is currently under a sustained and systematic attack by jihadist Islam, the goal of which is to turn it into a majority Muslim state. The Dutch press looked upon the warning as "hysterical claptrap" and pronounced that what the situation needed was tolerance and dialogue. The book and the Dutch response to it made Rosner the most vilified and most celebrated man in Holland. An imam instructed his following that "Rosner the Jew must be dealt with harshly."
He was. Murdered on the street.

That murder sets in motion a series of events which involves Allon in trying to thwart the terrorists plans. The story is fast paced, intriguing, inormative and scary. Typical Silva, which means a fine read is in store for those that venture into the world according to this author, which unfortunately is a world we are all slowly coming to recognize.

This is not a bad novel by any means, but readers expecting a fast paced and suspenseful thriller - as I was - may be left feeling disappointed.

The first half of the book was great. It felt realistic, compelling and tense. However the action ground to a halt around the midway mark. (My husband actually gave up on it at this point). It continued in fits and starts, but there's something kind of wrong when you're 70 pages from the end of a thriller and don't feel compelled to see how it's going to finish. The ending dragged on and was underwhelming.

I also felt that the book was let down by the leaden dialogue - people speaking in explanations, saying things like: "you mean the covenant that forbids you from operating on European soil without first obtaining permission from the security service of the country involved" or "Islamic extremism is just the latest virus to thrive in Europe's nurturing environment" - people don't talk like that! On the other hand, Daniel Silva is very good at conveying a sense of location and I felt he nailed the mindset of an Israeli secret service agent.

I should mention that this was the first novel by Silva that I have read. In itself that did not affect my enjoyment of this book, although there did seem to be a lot of conversations between characters referring to action that took place in previous Gabriel Allon outings and if you are new to the series, it would probably be better to start with an earlier novel.

Mr. Silva is one of the most consistent writers today. Even this, another installment of the Gabriel Allon series, is fresh and remains exciting. Although this is a series, the novel stands alone. It is nice to know the players, but you can start with this one and go back to the older ones without a problem.

This time Allon, an Israeli operative, starts in Denmark and ends up in London - or Londonistan as it seems. There are the usual bouts of intrique, sleuthing and thrills as he seeks his quarry. The tension builds to a fever pitch as Allon is knowingly thrown into the brink with little to no support. He is left to go where no government will sanction.

What separates Mr. Silva from the usual writers of the spy novel genre writers is his underlying message. Without beating the reader over the head or proselytizing, he alerts the reader to the state of the world and terrorist threats today. His afterword is a very understated emphasis of the threat of Islamist terrorists in Europe. This novel posits the theory, espoused by many, that Britain is now the primary target for jihadists.

Despite the sobering context, this is an intelligent and exciting spy thriller. Highly recommended.

Once again, a seemingly benign case leads Gabriel Allon, Israeli spy, into a complex plot. This time Islamic extremists capture the American ambassador to England's daughter. Allon is requested to assist in the recover operation. This novel is Silva's best yet. A real page turner. I won't spoil the plot but I am already looking forward to Silva's next. I am afraid he will somehow change the character since it is time for Allon to move up the ranks within his organization to director. Enjoy

I am a Daniel Silva addict and simply can not wait until his books come out. I have read everything that he has written and recommended his books to as many people as I can buttonhole. Although I urge everyone to read the Gabriel Allon series from the beginning, this latest book: The Secret Servant is so monumentally outstanding and such a fabulous read that I urge those readers who have not yet fallen under the Daniel Silva spell to run...not walk...to Amazon's website and scoff this book up. Without a doubt, this is his best book of them all...and that is saying a huge a lot. My advice: get it on a Friday or suffer the consequences of not being able to go to work for a day or two. I will not share any of the plot line here as others can do that better. But...if the summer is fading over the horizon and you need a good book with which to laze about in the sun , THIS HAS TO BE AT THE TOP OF THE LIST. And if you are just getting into his writing, what a marvellous introduction. After you read it, go back to his first Gabriel Allon book and follow them sequentially so you get the full impact.

I like to follow a character through several novels, Jack Ryan, Scott Harvath, Alex Hawke to name a few. I like authors who do the research for what's going on in todays world. Often these plot lines are based on sources inside intelligent services with deferance to security of course. Bottom line, most of this stuff is happening somewhere in the world. This was the first novel by Daniel Silva i have read and I'm hooked, going to buy the rest. Very nicely paced, great action and intrigue. Picked it up on a recomendation on the radio, finished it in 3 days. Buy it.

True to form, Silva delivers a very good super-spy story. The background is good and current. Unfortunately, the story line now reads too much like the past story lines. If you haven't read all of the Gabriel Allon stories, then you will love this one. If you have, then you will still want to read it, but it does follow the tried and true formula for Silva's Allon series.

This story takes place in some new surroundings in Europe and it brings out some very scary current events that will show Daniel Silva's subject knowledge. I would even say that a movie will be made of this one. It reads very quickly because there is more action and less focus on the sting's set up. So if you are interested in the detailed study and crafting of the operation, this book does not measure up to the others in that area.

The writing is crisp and the dialogue is well done. I don't have anything negative to say except that we've seen it before with different plot-lines.

Daniel Silva has created an excellent addition to the Gabriel Allon series that is perhaps the best yet. Get ready for fast paced, edgy, current, and sometimes nail biting entertainment as Gabriel is assigned his latest case. He is dispatched to Holland to investigate the death of an Israeli "asset." From there Gabriel is once again embroiled in a situation that goes from troubling to terrifying within days. One of the things about this series that make it so good is that it is so disturbingly real. You know that you could pick up the newspaper any day and read about a similar incident taking place somewhere in the world. Readers who have followed the series, can especially enjoy the recurring well done secondary characters that appear in this novel. It's the whole package though that makes this series so entertaining; a brave, mysterious, sexy spy and all the contacts that he has come to work with and care for and finally the current day events that make us believe it is all true.

This was the first book by Daniel Silva that I have read. I liked it so much that I ordered all of the rest of his books as soon as I finished it. My wife is now reading it and she can not lay it down.