In this age of terrorism, and with no cold war to speak of anymore, the new breed of spy novels that has emerged is one that deals with the fight against terror. And
It starts, as some other missions assigned to Gabriel Allon has, as a routine job – Allon is asked by Ari Shamron, the Israeliold spy grand master, to retrieve some papers and documents left by an asset in Amsterdam. The asset was a Jewish professor who overlooked the Jihadist factions in the city. He had been killed, execution style, in front of a local cafe.
In Amsterdam, Allon is met on the street by an older Egyptian man, a member of the dead professor’s network, who claims to have information for him. That information leads Allon to London and to the Hyde Park, just seconds behind a group of terrorists that that kidnap the American Ambassador’s daughter, Elizabeth Halton. Following this failure, Allon becomes embroiled in efforts to get her back. The case leads him all over Europe and into the heart of fanaticism, on a journey that looks so dark his chances of a return seem very bleak.
The Secret Servant is a tense, well written, very exciting novel. Daniel Silva is very knowledgeable about the Middle East. That serves him well in this book. Sometimes, however, I think he goes a little over the edge with his sympathies for Israel. While I may not disagree too much with him, I think perhaps his authorship would have been better served with a little more moderation.
Gabriel Allon continues to be a complex antihero, a very interesting and intriguing mix of a fierce, somewhat cynical, warrior and an emphatic, contemplative man. He is a man who does what he has to do. But he may not always like it. The story is very realistic. It is a book with great characters and an engaging story.
While you don’t have to have read the earlier books in the series (see reviews of Daniel Silva’s books here), knowing the history of the returning characters adds depth and color to the overall story.
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