#1522 The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva

 

The Kill Artist is Daniel Silva’s first novel in the Gabriel Allon series which now numbers 23 books. I’ve read them all, and without question, he is my favorite author in the thriller, killer, espionage genre. Allon is an art restorer which has given him the cover to travel around the world while doing assassinations on behalf of “The Office,” the name of a secret branch of the Israeli intelligence service. He has already performed many such jobs for The Office starting with the killings of all the survivors of the Palestinian group that slaughtered Israel’s athletic team at the 1976 Olympics in Munich. This book begins after Allon has suffered his own tragedy. In a spy v. spy event, his car was rigged with a bomb which killed his son and permanently damaged his wife both physically and mentally.

 

Allon has been on a long leave from The Office following the bombing incident, but his boss was Ari Sharon, a 65-year-old former spy who has retired from field work. He is a relentless character who is impossible to turn down. When Sharon insisted that Allon come back for one more assignment only he could do, and in the face of several recent failures by the Office staff, Gabriel agreed.

 

Regarding the spy v. spy, Silva contrasted Allon with Tariq, a master terrorist without a conscience. Allon was constantly torn up inside with his assignments, insisting on always doing the right thing, and Tariq who was a brilliant psychopath who was willing to do anything to reach his goal. Tariq was responsible for the bomb that kill Allon’s son and damaged his wife, and more recently, he had killed the Israeli ambassador in the Netherlands. He was bent on upending the recent Israeli and Palestinian peace talks. Tariq figured out that Allon was chasing him and Tariq turned the tables on Allon, they were hunting and chasing each other.

 

Silva brought all the subplots to a convincing conclusion. Please see my review from 9/2014. I chose to listen to this book on tape, and I plan to gather the audiobooks from Silva’s early writing. Such a pleasure, and the reader, George Guidall is a master, as well.

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