Silva writes well enough though rather inconsistently. The plot was a bit too much of an Israeli - Palestinian trope, though certainly presents the back history of the traditional occupants of Palestine over the millennia. This is a political situation that overwhelmed the story to a greater extent than needed. The final twist was not very satisfying and as other reviews have stated, the ending was rushed. Unlikely to read another in the Allon series. ( )

Pretty much a bowl of crap. I picked it off a list with other books I like. ( )

This book was recommended to me as both an excellent story with good insight into the state of affairs in the Middle East. I have to agree. I look forward to reading more in the series ( )

First book on the Gabriel Allon series.
Plot to assassinate Arafat by Palestine. Enjoyable, although not as well characterized or plotted as the later books in the series.. ( )

Gabriel Allon is a reclusive high-end art restorer living in Cornwall. He's also a retired assassin for the Israeli counterintelligence security division. When an Israeli diplomat and his wife are killed in Paris, the division chief seeks Gabriel out for one more mission. Jacqueline Delacroix, née Sarah Halévy, is a beautiful French model, who does occasional work for The Office. She and Gabriel had worked on a job in the past, and he calls on her to help him once again. Together they seek to take down a deadly Palestinian terrorist.

I wanted to like this espionage tale more than I did. At first I was turned off by the descriptions of women only by their physical characteristics. Yes, women have breasts. Then it seemed to be setting up the only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian, who is inevitably a terrorist, trope. As the book progressed, it did get into the Nakba or Catastrophe and a slightly more complex picture of the situation, but not enough to satisfy this reader. ( )