The Secret Servant, Daniel Silva, G P Putnam's Sons, 2007, 380 pp
In Daniel Silva's seventh book of the Gabriel Allon series, the war on terror is in full swing. The first part of the story shows how an Israeli assassin gets involved in said war. Israel, after all, has its own private war on terror doesn't it?
Gabriel had been sent on a routine assignment to Amsterdam, charged with purging the archives of an Israeli intelligence asset who had been murdered while posing as a Dutch terrorism analyst. Gabriel discovers a radical Islamist underground in the city who are planning to kidnap the daughter of the American ambassador to the Netherlands.
As in the last book, The Messenger, Gabriel once more gets involved with the CIA and must also deal with the uncooperative head of MI5 as he searches for the young American woman who was indeed kidnapped. His concern is to find her before she is murdered which would result in many other nasty outcomes.
I don't know how Mr Silva manages to ramp up the tension, danger and entertainment in each succeeding book but he did it once again. I kept telling myself that as there are so far 11 more books in this series, there is no way Allon is going to die, but I was worried for him the whole time nonetheless.
More chilling though is the sense this book gives of the rapidly growing radical Islamist presence in Europe. Reading the news these days, it is obvious as terrorists are either blamed for or claim many violent incidents that seem to occur at least monthly. When Notre Dame caught fire the other day, that was my first thought and probably others wondered the same. Even so, this 2007 novel was sobering.
One extremely tricky plot point in The Secret Servant is a character who claims to have given up any involvement with radical Islam but whose son turns out to be a key member of the terrorist cell holding the American woman. The father contacts Gabriel, offering help.
When I finished this book, I just wanted to pick up the next one.
I'm a bit behind you in reading this series, but I'll get to this one at some point. It sounds like another winner.
ReplyDeleteIt was. I hope I did not give you any spoilers.
DeleteThe series and the book sound very good. Is the fact that this is the seventh book leading to repetitiveness? Is the series becoming routine? I find that Sometimes when a series goes on for too long these issues arise.
ReplyDeleteI am learning so much about Israel and also about world politics in this series. The author has obvious views about Israel and so far I have had no argument with those views. He has managed to keep each book fresh even with the same main character. I started at the beginning and read 2 or 3 books from the series each year.
DeleteWow. This sounds like a fascinating read! I adore the cover.
ReplyDeleteYes, he always has good covers.
DeleteGlad you liked this book! I've listened to a few of Daniel Silva's novels... But I haven't loved them due to the fact that they've either been abridged or had poor narrators... Maybe I should just stick to reading one of his novels instead of listening to them.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear that the audio books are inferior. He is a great writer of thrillers. I can't imagine his stories being abridged.
DeleteWow these books seem as good as candy. They also seem to raise the blood pressure though right? Sometime I'll get to Allon. We love watching various spy series on TV.
ReplyDeleteYou got it right on both points!
DeleteGood thing you don't give many spoilers; I have yet to refine that art.
ReplyDeleteI have been being really careful. Someone on Goodreads slammed me recently for what she considered a spoiler (all I said was some book had a happy ending.) So.
DeleteOf course, a problem with limiting spoilers is that a review may not be interesting or enticing enough for others to pick up the book. I guess that may be my problem as a writer.
ReplyDeleteI know. It is a tough call.
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