The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva on Signet in 2000 is a diverse and surprising spy thriller. Gone are the days of macho American undercover spies who are visible in their clandestine state. This novel starts out with a blast literally with the death of an art restorer's family. That restorer is none other than the central character Gabriel Allon, who used it as his cover while working for the Isreali security service Mossad or as they call it 'The Office' but has since left it. Years later with the 'The Office' in upheaval and under the watch of the old guard Ari Shamron, an Isreali minister and his wife are killed in Paris by a man called Tariq. These opening few chapters are laid out plain and bare for you to understand right away before it gets thick and heavy with the action.
Gabriel is living the solitary life of art restoration, not looking forward to a visit from his old friend. Meanwhile, Tariq is putting plans into motion that will utterly destroy a sought after peace deal between the Palestinian state and the Israelis'. Ari, convinces Gabriel to seek out his old nemesis once and for all. Along with the help of an old flame Gabriel ventures after his enemy.
This novel is completely fresh as far as its release originally in 2000. Mr. Silva makes the novels of old look tame. The nature of plot and tone are centered with out leaning particularly one way or the other in terms of political undertones which a lot of American spy/military thriller novelist venture. I'm okay with it though, I'm just pointing out the difference here and it is totally fresh and engaging. I want to keep reading this series and take in more of the exploits because Gabriel seems like the spy you want to root for a little bit just when you think the going is too tough and there couldn't be any sort of plausible escape.
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