Again, Daniel Silva brings back his enigmatic hero, Gabriel Allon, a 
brilliant Israeli art restorer and a complex, melancholy man: This time to investigate the
Ari Shamron, Gabriel’s old mentor, former head of Israeli intelligence, and the father of Ben Stern, finds Allon in Venice, restoring a Bellini altarpiece. He is able, as usual, to persuade Allon to investigate the murder. As a reviewer of this book, Tim Smith as the amazon.com website, pointed out, The Confessor “is actually speculative historical fiction about the role of the Catholic Church during WW II. Since the Vatican has chosen not to open the Secret Archives, the public (and gifted authors) can only speculate about the role of the Catholic Church and particularly Pope Pius XII as Hitler was devastating Europe and carrying out his Final Solution.”
And this is exactly what Daniel Silva does in The Confessor. And as usual he does a great job. While Allon has problems getting anywhere with his investigation in Munich, he discovers clues to the secrets of his friend’s manuscript. These point to material from top secret Vatican archives that proves Pope Pius XII, and the Church, were directly involved with the Nazis in the implementation of the Holocaust. It also points to a secret Vatican society, the Crux Vera.
Gradually the discoveries involve Gabriel Allon in a deadly conflict with a gunman known as “the Leopard” – an assassin – working for Crux Vera as well as the forces of the Italian secret police. At stake is both the truth about the Church’s involvement, the future of the Church, and the life of the Pope. It becomes a race against time, and with the odds seemingly stacked against Gabriel Allon.
Yet again Daniel Silva has managed to create an exciting, intelligent thriller. However, while the somewhat provocative historical “revelations” keep readers enthralled, the plot in The Confessor in my view sticks a little too close to Silva’s formula. It is a book well worth reading, but still not among Daniel Silva’s best, in my opinion.
Links to The Confessor at amazon US: The Confessor
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