Friday, July 8, 2011

Portrait of A Spy-Daniel Silva

Portrait of A Spy
Daniel Silva
Harper, Jul 19 2011, $26.99
ISBN: 9780062072184

Art restorer Gabriel Allon and his wife, Chiara look forward to the weekend in London. They will visit St. James's where he will authenticate a potentially phenomenal find, a painting by Titian. Afterward they will enjoy the city.

However, the day is ruined die to suicide bombings on the Champs-Elysees left twenty-eight dead in Paris and in Tivoli Gardens killed thirty-seven in Copenhagen. On alert Allon notices a man acting strange near Covent Garden and wonders if this is another terrorist attack. He goes to intercede, but undercover officers knock him to the ground before he can shoot the suspect and consequently in time for the explosion to affirm what he thought. Despondent Gabriel goes to Cornwall until the CIA asks him to find an American cleric with grandiose schemes to outdo Bin Laden.

Though anti-terrorism field work should be a young man’s game, no one will mind Allon working the cold as he struggles with the deaths of eighteen innocents due to the reaction of the cops after the tragic Menezes fiasco. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Allon spots the suicide bomber and never slows down as he hunts for the cleric. With insight into the competition to reach the minds of potential second generation home grown terrorists, Daniel Silva provides another powerful thriller as readers anticipate a showdown between the cleric and the art restorer.

Harriet Klausner

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