The Defector, Daniel Silva, G P Putnam's Sons, 2009, 466 pp
Another great thriller from Mr Silva. The Defector is a bona fide sequel to its predecessor in the series, Moscow Rules. The entire series is best read in sequence I feel, but especially this time.
In order to avoid spoilers I cannot say much about the plot except that the things Israeli assassin Gabriel Allon thought he had fixed in Moscow Rules did not stay fixed so he has to go back to Russia, Putin's Russia. His new wife Chiara has been kidnapped by the villain from the earlier book and Gabriel is determined to rescue her or die trying. I can say he does not die. He can't because the series is still going, but their lives are forever changed.
Seeing as how Russia continues to this day to make trouble for the US, Europe and in the Middle East, Daniel Silva's series continues to give an excellent picture of the past two decades of political turmoil in the Western world.
Last decade, between 2002 and 2005, I read Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. Those ten books were eye-opening for me as to the causes and results of WWI and WWII, including the Cold War and the influences of communism throughout the world. His viewpoint was definitely from a liberal perspective; fine with me because I call myself a Liberal.
I feel like Daniel Silva is carrying on that education for me. Though I don't see much hope or progress for the liberal idea that the arc of history bends toward justice, it eases me somehow to at least have some idea of the causes of injustice.
OK, Mr Silva, nine books read and ten more to go. I hope to finish the series by the time the next book comes out.
The book sounds very good. Russian history is fascinating. That history has often been tragic. It has monumental consequences for the world.
ReplyDeleteIf you have not already read it, for a comprehensive liberal argument for how the world is getting better, I highly recamend Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature.
I had a feeling you might respond to my "liberal" sentence. Thanks for the recommendation, Brian!
Deletewith me, that makes two liberals on the planet... this sounds like an interesting series. i've not heard of the Sinclair series; i'll have to look that up....
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to learn more about Russia and that includes the history so this series might be kinda good for me. I'll look into more!
ReplyDeleteIt's been quite a while since I've read any of Silva's books. I think I'll give up on trying to read them in order - too many books, too little time - but I'll probably dip into the series again at some point. I salute you for making the effort to read them all.
ReplyDeleteI think you could safely do that since you have read some of them.
Deletei typed a comment but i guess it didn't get past the ether? anyway it was about Sinclair's series which i haven't read but really sound interesting and so does this one by Silva (if i type very fast maybe this comment will transit the ogres who lurk in the computeristic medium waiting for juicy verbiage to enter their kingdom haha)
ReplyDeleteSo sorry mudpuddle. I did receive your earlier comment but I have the blog set up so I must approve comments before they are published (to weed out spammers, etc) and I did not get to yours yesterday. So I will just publish this one if that is fine with you. Yes both Sinclair's and Silva's series are good with seemingly honest research behind them, high readability and plots that move. What more could one want?
Deleteoh... i think i'm too old to understand computer stuff... i like blogging but i feel pretty incompetent doing it...
DeleteThis one and Moscow Rules were by far my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI think I remember you mentioning that. I finally got to them!
DeleteAre they best read in order? Or does it matter? I gave my husband the latest one which he read called The New Girl ... and he said I can throw him another one sometime ....
ReplyDeleteI prefer to read a series, any series, in order but he may not mind. I have liked following the history of the relation of Israel to developments across the world and the inside stories on terrorism around the world.
DeleteWe have to believe it bends toward justice, or it would be very hard to survive these coming months, possibly years!
ReplyDeleteI know but sometimes my faith falters.
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