The English Assassin

A long time ago, when I first discovered Daniel Silva, I started by reading the eighth Gabriel Allon thriller ` Moscow Rules '. Seven books later I decided it would be an excellent idea to go back to the very beginning, read ` The Kill Artist ' and find out how it all started. I wasn't disappointed and `The Kill Artist' easily merited those five stars. `The English Assassin' is the second book in the Gabriel Allon saga but, unfortunately, it fails to live up to the promise of the first book.It starts well and, within a few pages, Gabriel is commissioned to restore an Old Master in Zürich on behalf the client of a London art dealer he's worked with on many occasions. His life quickly become very complicated: the Raphael painting is most definitely there but his erstwhile employer is lying on the floor clearly assassinated.The story takes Gabriel and Israeli intelligence into the murky world of Swiss banking and the search for paintings looted by the Nazis during World War II - paintings that have either vanished or hidden in the vaults of various Swiss private banks. If Daniel Silva had simply developed this theme, including that secretive cabal of Swiss bankers/industrialists determined to protect the historic status of Swiss banking, I'm sure we have ended up with a first-class thriller.But, as we finally meet Otto Gessler, the mastermind banker behind that secretive cabal - plus the English assassin of the title - the story loses continuity and deteriorates sharply. Otto Gessler is completely unbelievable whilst the shadowy English assassin, who plays a major and extremely creditable role in several later Gabriel Allon thrillers, is equally unbelievable and contributes little to the story.`The English Assassin' merits just two stars - plus the hope that ` The Confessor ', the third book of the Gabriel Allon saga, will live up to the earlier promise of `The Kill Artist' - and several of Daniel Silva's later thrillers.

In the second book of the series, art-restorer and former Israeli secret agent Gabriel Allon is hired by a swiss banker to work on an old painting. When he gets to the banker's mansion, he finds him shot in the head and gets arrested by the police. After being released, Gabriel starts investigating the murder with the help of the banker's only daughter, Anna. Both of them find some obscure business deals from the past that a group of powerful people tries to protect at all costs, including hiring a notorious assassin known as the Englishman to stop their investigation permanently.Given the book title, I was surprised by how the Englishman thread turned out to end. It was as surprising as disappointing, because in the end if we took the Englishman chapters off the plot wouldn't suffer a bit. It would be enough to know a hit had been ordered on Gabriel and Anna, and we'd be spared to a superstitious near-mystic assassin figure that turns out to have a strange moral conscience.I also found unsatisfying the way Mr. Silva solved the difficult situation Gabriel was put on near the end. It had happened before in "The Kill Artist" and it happened again here, as the most difficult knots were untied by unlikely actions made by his opponents.Anyway it was a pleasant book to read. The immoral business relations Switzerland had during WWII is a quite interesting theme and the pace keeps us wanting to read the following chapter.+: pace and subject-: the english assassin character is as odd as inconsequent to the plot; incoherent actions have huge implications on how the story ends=: nice thriller story that made me want to read the series' next books

Have come back to this author and have decided to read them in order. Good read, cracks along at a good pace, the characters and plot are good. Always set against good historical and factual backgrounds, so it's almost like learning something without realising it. A good page turner and worth a read.

If Tel Aviv and Israel rocks your boat,meet Gabriel Allon.short in stature,superb in spycraft.Not to be missed.

Great book, excellent read , lots of twists and keeps you guessing .

Good

A masterful storyteller with much background knowledge to add to the gripping realism!

Another great spy thriller featuring Gabriel Allon by Daniel Silva. His books would make an amazing TV series or films.