“The Confessor” by Daniel Silva (website) is the third installment in the fictional adventures of the reluctant Israeli agent Gabriel Allon.
As I have come to expect from Daniel Silva, this book is well written, well-plotted and the characters are fantastic. Each book occurs in the Silva universe with recurring characters (from other series), have several layers of intricacies and thoughts, as well as smaller stories which the reader has to keep track of in the fast pace at which the book is told.
This novel is also thought-provoking – what was the church’s role during the holocaust?
We know that no action was taken and the Vatican did open its archives several years back to six scholars who found the lack of documentation available astounding (the Vatican vilified the three Jewish scholars without mention of the three Catholic scholars – all of whom came to the same conclusions). There are a few pages at the end where Mr. Silva touches upon this subject which is well worth reading and an excellent addition to the book.
“The Confessor” had me gripped from beginning to end, a fantastic story. The whole plot around the Crux Vera didn’t bog down the book and Silva did well by staying away from conspiracy theories.
Working as art restorer Mario Delvecchio, Allon is called one more time into service to investigate the mysterious murder of his friend Benjamin Stern. As the investigation progresses, Allon discovers that Stern has been working on a book, that once published would cause a scandal in the Vatican and do great harm to the Roman Catholic Church. However, a new era has arrived in the Vatican, a new Pope has been chosen who has set his sights to “clean house” and setting the Church’s WWII record clean by opening the Vatican Secret Archives.
As you can imagine, the powerful forces, especially the secret society known as the Crux Vera, within the Roman Catholic Church are none too happy about the Pope’s initiative and are willing to go to great extremes in order to stop it. Allon is pulled into the internal struggle through his investigation which takes him around Europe, discovering well-hidden secrets of the shameful past.
BOOK BLOGGERS – Have you read “The Confessor”? If so link up your review below:
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Hey Zohar,
First of all, I am so sorry for being MIA for a while. Thank you SO much for checking up on me, I really appreciate your concern and your consideration. I've just been busy with work (new job!), and some family issues that have taken up ALL my time! Have barely had time to blog myself! :S But thank you...for noticing my absence! :D
That being said, THANK YOU for this fantastic review! I read "The Kill Artist" by him, and thoroughly enjoyed it, and with the shining review you've given it, I am definitely going to be reading this one! :D
~Hira~