(deliver this message) Silva Hasn't Lost His Edge!!

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	• The Messenger Daniel Silva Putnam Adult, 2006 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 114 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Great Cross

Mr. Silva is a direct cross between John LeCarre (the early) and Lee Child. He has brought action to his cerebral character as if Jack Reacher gave George Smiley some courses in spy field work.

What separates Mr. Silva from almost all the authors of the spy/thriller genre is the genuineness of his characters, particularly Gabriel Allon, his main character. Allon has very real human emotions to go with his spycraft expertise and relationships with other characters, all of whom also have depth. There are no cardboard cut-out characters.

In "The Messenger", Allon is onto the Saudis who bankroll and mastermind anti-western terrorism, espcially anti-Israeli and American. There is an unnerving realism to the scenario that is underscored by the Afterword. After a strike against the Vatican, Allon is on the mission and brings in an amateur to make life even more difficult in the anti-terrorist fight. The plot travels the world, illustrative of the reach of the rich who bankroll the suicide bombers and martyrs.

From the outset, the tension builds. It is a credit to the author that the tension never wanes. It may change shape and venue, but it is always there - what better complimnet for a thriller? One never gets the feeling that everyone will live happily everafter at the end.

This novel can stand alone, although I have some passing familiarity with Allon, having read one or two predecessors. Reading this installment inspires me to go back to the ones I missed. This is as good as this genre can get.

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Read them in order...

... because you'll have to be a fan to get through this one.

The author no longer recounts in detail scenes from earlier stories or extensive character descriptions. This was a welcome change, but it did seem a bit ridiculous to find Gabriel Allon striding into the audience of the Pope without a little back story.

"The Messenger" was a disappointment after the cultural insight and emotional depths reached by Silva's writing in previous installments, "The Prince of Fire" and "A Death in Vienna." It felt like the sort of installment that's just meant to get the characters in position for the next (usually much better) volume.

That said, it did not make me any less likely to read the next volume.

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(deliver this message) Silva Hasn't Lost His Edge!!

Consistency is something that is highly overlooked these days. And if Daniel Silva is anything these days with his work, it is highly consistent. He is consistent in giving us high caliber reads, with great suspense, and he takes it up a level each time! That's what I really enjoy in an author, and he has Gabriel Allon to weave us through each time. "Prince of Fire" was by far his greatest work with Gabriel. But that doesn't mean that "The Messenger" is a bad read. It is nothing short of a GREAT read. If you've thought about doubting Daniel Silva, I've got a message for you. There is an edge that he has that he hasn't lost! That's what makes him great!

Gabriel is needed once again. He had a great showing his last time, so lets make this one even better! Right? And things immediately get crazy. From the pope, to malicious behavior from al-qaeda, this man of Israeli intelligence is on a mission. And he's going to employ the help of Sarah Bancroft, who's already had a hard lesson from the 9/11 attack. A sneaky billionaire is teamed up with a lethal terrorist, and they can't be caught. But with a team led by Gabriel Allon, they just might watch out.

This is spy fiction, and this is great stuff! Daniel Silva walks you through this, he sometimes runs you through this, blow by blow. The suspense is high level. Its so good, you almost hate to see it end when that final page is read.

What can I say? I really like Silva. And I REALLY like his work! That means that I have more books to check out!!

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Grim Thrills

Another efficient but artless offering from Silva. I've read all his novels which once seemed like fun throwbacks to 70s paperbacks. Lately, these humorless exercises with Neo-Con lectures thrown in, are getting harder to enjoy. I'm not asking for Jason Bourne-style self-disgust, but could Gabriel Allon have just one moment's expression of the slightest qualms about ignoring all international laws as he traipses the globe assassinating the enemies of Israel? (Here he even gets props from his old buddy the Pope!)

the messenger by Daniel Silva

This is an incredible book, thrilling and keeps you on the edge till the end.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Gabriel Allon, art restorer and spy, has been widely acclaimed as one of the most fascinating characters in the genre and now he is about to face the greatest challenge of his life.

Allon is recovering from a grueling showdown with a Palestinian master terrorist, when a figure from his past arrives in Jerusalem. Monsignor Luigi Donati is the private secretary to His Holiness Pope Paul VII, and a man as ruthless as he is intelligent. Now, however, he has come to seek Allon's help. A young Swiss guard has been found dead in St. Peter's Basilica, and although Donati has allowed the official inquiry to determine that it is suicide, his instinct tells him that it is murder-and that his master is in grave danger. He has trusted Allon in the past, and he is the only man he trusts now.

Allon reluctantly agrees to get involved, but once he begins to investigate he concludes that Donati has every right to be concerned, as, following the trail from the heart of the Vatican to the valleys of Switzerland and beyond, he slowly unravels a conspiracy of lies and deception. An extraordinary enemy walks among them, with but one goal: the most spectacular assassination ever attempted.

Filled with remarkable characters and breathtaking double and triple turns of plot, The Messenger solidifies Silva's reputation as his generation's finest writer of international thrillers.

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