About:
A Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva follows retired Israeli spy, and master art-restorer Gabriel Allon on another globe trotting adventure. This book tells of the dark side of the art world in sponsoring world-wide terrorism networks.
- 464 pages
Publisher : Harper - Language : English
- Print length : 464 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062072188
My rating for A Portrait of a Spy — 5
Buy A Portrait of a Spy from Amazon.com*
The Gabriel Allon book series*
More Books by Daniel Silva*
Thoughts:
This 11th novel in the Gabriel Allon series, really knocks it out of the park with its analysis and depiction of realistic espionage scenarios. While the book was marketed as an action book, the actual action is fast and brief, while most of the espionage is done through analysis and meetings.
A Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva was published in 2011, and incorporates the 2010 money-laundering-for-art in Dubai, as was documented by art experts testimony. Later on, the Pandora Papers revealed the role UAE based firms helped illegal financial activities to take place.
I am enjoying, and recommending, to read the series in order. Each book is a stand-alone, but the enjoyment multiplies if you know the characters and their history. Allon is already famous in the intelligence circles, and doesn’t even try to go deep undercover.
The author doesn’t mince words about European and American foreign policies. In fact, his fictional bureaucrats and analysis are quite brutal. Whether they’re right or not seems to be debatable, but the world certainly seems to be tilting that way a decade later. This is not a book that attempts to justify everything the West is doing, quite the opposite, it does not attempt to excuse their actions towards innocent either.
As always, the incorporation of high-art, albeit fictional, with espionage. The colliding worlds of art and intelligence make a fascinating story and to Mr. Silva’s credit, many books later, it doesn’t get stale.
Synopsis:
Just as Gabriel Allon and his Italian wife Chaira thought they found peace in the English countryside. But after terrible terror attacks in European cities, Allon finds himself being pulled out of retirement by the Israelis, British, and Americans.
The team eyes a Saudi Arabian heiress who’s anti-terrorism and Arab women’s rights issues are close to her heart. The scheme is to lure out a terrorist mastermind with the promise of a lucrative donation. However, people don’t get the title “mastermind” because they’re dumb or naive, quite the opposite.
Buy A Portrait of a Spy from Amazon.com*
The Gabriel Allon book series*
More Books by Daniel Silva*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I bought this book.
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
