Moscow Rules

Gabriel Allon, Book 8

By: Daniel Silva

Narrated by: Phil Gigante

Length: 11 hrs

Publisher's summary

The extraordinary new Gabriel Allon novel from the "gold standard" ( The Dallas Morning New) of thriller writers.

Over the course of ten previous novels, Daniel Silva has established himself as one of the world's finest writers of international intrigue and espionage- "a worthy successor to such legends as Frederick Forsyth and John le Carré" (Chicago Sun-Times)-and Gabriel Allon as "one of the most intriguing heroes of any thriller series" (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He's playing by Moscow rules now.

This is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. A Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ruthlessly silenced. A Moscow where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an empire lost and to challenge the global dominance of its old enemy, the United States.

One such man is Ivan Kharkov, a former KGB colonel who built a global investment empire on the rubble of the Soviet Union. Hidden within that empire, however, is a more lucrative and deadly business: Kharkov is an arms dealer-and he is about to deliver Russia's most sophisticated weapons to al- Qaeda. Unless Allon can learn the time and place of the delivery, the world will see the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11-and the clock is ticking fast.

Filled with rich prose and breathtaking turns of plot, Moscow Rules is at once superior entertainment and a searing cautionary tale about the new threats rising to the East-and Silva's finest novel yet.

©2008 Danie Silva (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Daniel Silva brings new life to the international thriller." ( Newsday)

As a Russian reader

Highly recommend this book as well as the series all-together. Well researched. I did not feel that anything about Russia and its current state was out of line or unsubstantiated. I think that the main character, Gabriel, is well developed and does not fit the stereotype of an assassin, which I find very refreshing.

Good Book

Thank you for changing up the ending. It was a nice surprise. Enjoyed as usual.

Definitely a nail biter.

I’ve been reading the Gabriel Allon books sequentially and this one irritated me at times because of the narrator’s mispronunciation of Russian words. I can understand him having a problem with some of the multisyllabic long names, however, it’s his constant pronunciation of the work “dacha” that felt really irritated me. The word is pronounced exactly as it is written, NOT with a silent “c”. Since the word was used so many times I felt compelled to mention it since it was a significant distraction in listening pleasure.

One of the best

I've read a dozen or so of the Allon series and liked this one more than most.

Pronunciation Rules

A pretty good story, but why, oh why, can't the producer/director or whoever is responsible get a reader who can properly pronounce French, Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian and Italian words, all of which are part of the story? A 'chupah' is not a 'chewpaw', etc., etc. It is most annoying and disrupts the flow of the story. The same problem exists with other readers of some other of his books (not all) -- and it's a shame.

Excellent story

Regardless of what others have said about the narrator, I thought it was well done. The story was intense and reminded me that the cold war was never really over with, just went dormant, and now has erupted......again.

Good but slow to get going.

If you could sum up Moscow Rules in three words, what would they be?

I thought the last 50% of the book was right on, exciting Gabriel Alon. But, the first half, a bit hard to get through.

Moscow Rules

Loved It! Love the whole Gabrielle Allon series.
Daniel Silva is a Master Story Teller. Though some of the plot line is rather predictable, the characters are compelling enough to keep you riveted.
I enjoyed the naration; there were plenty of accents & different character voices that were all done well. i will surely listen to all of the series.

better and better

this series gets better with each book and I continue to look forward to the next

A great series

This is a great series and this book is another great book in the series. Many series by now are falling apart and becoming right wing trope - but not this series. Well worth the listen - make sure you listen in order.