Portrait of a Spy (Gabriel Allon Book 11)

Each July I look forward to a new Daniel Silva book, and I'm always amazed at his ability to write quality books year after year. Portrait of a Spy is an entertaining, engrossing and timely tale that is his 14th novel and the 11th book in his Gabriel Allon series.Former Mossad assassin and fine art restorer Gabriel Allon is now retired from Israeli Intelligence and living quietly in Cornwall with his wife, Chiara. Allon and Chiara travel to London so that Allon can evaluate a painting. While walking through Covent Garden, Allon spies a possible suicide bomber and tries to take him out. Before he can shoot, he's wrestled to the ground by several members of British Intelligence. The bomb detonates and kills a number of people--the 4th such attack in Europe in a short period of time. Allon finds himself sucked back into the International Intelligence community, trying to find a new terrorist network. Their leader, Rashid Al-Husseini, was handled by the CIA but has now gone rogue. The CIA wants him eliminated to avoid future embarrassment without getting their hands dirty. Allon needs to find someone who can infiltrate the network, although this proves to be risky for all involved.While the plot has similarities to some of Silva's other books in that art work is used to transfer money, the author makes the story fresh by incorporating current events into Portrait of a Spy. Saddam Hussein is dead and Europe is falling to pieces. "After decades of lavish social spending, much of the Continent was teetering on the brink of fiscal and monetary disaster...Greece was sinking slowly into the Aegean, Spain was on life support, and the Irish Miracle had turned out to be nothing more than a mirage. In the smart salons of Brussels, many Eurocrats were daring to say aloud what had once been unthinkable--that the dream of European integration was dying. And in their darker moments, a few of them actually wondered whether Europe as they knew it might be dying, too." Silva also knows his stuff when it comes to intelligence. "There is a truism about terror networks: putting the pieces in place is not as difficult as one might imagine. But once the mastermind pulls the trigger and carries out his first attack, the element of surprise is lost and the network exposes itself."In Portrait of a Spy, Allon's old team is back to assist him including Chiara, Uzi Navot, Dina Sarid, Eli Lavon, Yaakov Rossman, Mikhail Abramov, Rimona Stern, Julian Isherwood and Yossi Gavish. Even Ari Shamron, former head of "The Office" joins in on the job. Outside of the Israelis, Adrian Carter (the CIA), Graham Seymour (MI5), Sarah Brancroft (CIA) and Nadia al-Bakari (daughter of former terrorist financier, Zizi al-Bakari from The Secret Servant) play starring roles. Because of this extensive list of recurring characters, for as much as I enjoyed Portrait of a Spy, I would recommend that a new reader start at the beginning with The Kill Artist.

Osama is dead. The Arab Spring has sprung. The Americans -- from CIA newbies to Obama -- look like naifs or worse and the Brits look spineless. (The SAS doesn't exist in these novels.)Daniel Sliva works his old magic with current events and moral ambiguities. Will the State of Israel let its operatives become a collective cat's paw for the US/UK? Are American hands really clean if we ask someone else to do our killing for us?Silva has never shied away from criticizing the political hypocrisy of Western nations when it comes to dealing with threats. Here he does more than engage with the problem; here he turns the present administration itself into the problem, a much more serious problem than that generated by the Bush years.This, the 11th book, begins with all the force of the great early novels. It's set in London, Paris, and about a zillion other places, but not, I'm happy to see, the Vatican (that was getting old.) And the writing is stellar.Gabriel and the ever-fragrant Chiara stroll toward my favorite London restaurant, but stop strolling when Gabriel sights a "dead man walking" -- a suicide bomber. He _orders_ "Chiara to take shelter in the restaurant" and then follows the bomber, debating whether or not to kill him now or tell the police. But that's really a false dilemma, since he can't take his eyes off the guy's brain stem.Oh wait. Why couldn't Chiara tell the police? call their friend at MI-6? do something useful? She is, after all, a grown-up person who has lived in Jerusalem and worked for Mossad in various roles. So what's all this lone hero/little woman routine? (OK, she does call MI-6, but while staying put, and the narrative keeps this call from the reader for an unconscionable length of time.) OK, OK, OK, I always have trouble with Chiara, who is both too present and not-enough-developed in these books. Well, if it comes to that, none of the characters change much.They just acquire new scars. Shamron's exchanges with Gabriel have become as predictable as the dialogue between Spenser and Susan Silverman.And still, we get some stunning narrative -- a lyrical description of Covent Garden filtered through almost unbearable tension. Yes, Silva has always had a clever turn of phrase -- the "painting entered the room at the midpoint [of the auction], like a pretty girl arriving at a party fashionably late" -- but here he generates page upon page of exquisite prose.And that's what makes Silva the greatest at this game: even when you don't like what his character is doing or saying or thinking, you can't put the book down. (See the Meyer review for some excellent questions about the Arab Spring and character development, both objections set aside because of the writing.)In the genre, this is a 6-star book.

I will admit to an awful lot of bias when it comes to Daniel Silva's books: having been tipped by a bibliophile friend in North Carolina, my wife and I have grown to love his oeuvre, particularly the Gabriel Allon series.For the uninitiated, Allon is a noted art restorer who also works for Israeli intelligence as a spy and sometime assassin. The plot on this one finds Allon relatively late in life, but hardly in the pipe/slippers bracket.Rather against his better judgement, an Islamic suicide bomber leads Allon back into the dangerous world he's trying to detach himself from, and an international hunt for a terror organisation ensues. For me, this was like meeting people I like; although it's not really in a set series, many of the same characters appear, with references to past events I'm familiar with. It's a taught tale that kept me involved from page one, with references to fairly recent world events to make it seem fresh. The book's not one of the most remarkable Kindle bargains, but for under a fiver, it's a good place to start exploring this fine author's skills. It's on both our Kindles, so my advice to my wife on finishing 'Portrait' was to go for it soon. The extensive use of IT in the book, allied to old fashioned analytical skills made this book very plausible and engrossing for me, particularly with its tongue-in-cheek view of the art world. Highly recommended reading, indeed.

it is rare that I do not finish a book even if it is disappointing. Occasionally the narrative is so dreary I have to give up and 25% through this book I did. Stereotyped characters set in a stereotyped anti terrorism story with wooden prose. As usual a special team of extraordinary people as part of a secret unit battle to save us all. They may save the world from terrorism but not boredom.

These are great stories and characters, well written and hugely enjoyable. Start from the beginning and work your way through them, you will not be disappointed.

An excellent read. Well informed and excellent characterisation. Blends the worlds of art and espionage with great skill and subtlety

This just didn't do it for me as it was all build up with no excitement to speak of. Couldn't fault the actual technical aspects of the writing, and the author is clearly highly knowledgeable as regards muslim customs etc. but this doesn't compensate for its weaknesses.