The English Assassin

By: Daniel Silva

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Israeli art restorer and occasional secret agent Gabriel Allon has a problem. A prominent Swiss banker has called him to Switzerland to restore his Raphael. The problem is that Allon finds the banker dead in front of his Raphael, and he's the prime suspect. After some diplomatic intervention, Allon is freed. However, the banker's daughter, wracked by guilt, tells him that her father's cache of French Impressionist paintings, acquired under dubious circumstances during the Second World War, has been stolen by the murderers. Once Allon knows about the banker's wartime misdeeds, he attracts the attention of a secret Swiss organization dedicated to suppressing knowledge of all such crimes, and he is pursued by a shadowy killer known only as "the Englishman."

©2002 Daniel Silva (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.

great storyline. loved the english assassin.

loved this book. I think Christopher Keller should return in a big way. kept me interested the entire length of this novel

Couldn't put it down

Great book and Silva clearly knows his way around Europe and languages. Fantastic spy novel. I read this after reading his latest spy novel "The Other Woman."

excellent and suspenseful

I'm a huge fan of Daniel Silva and this is another of his great works. Only thing is that I had to get through the vampire accents by the narrator. once I realized I wasn't listening to Interview With A Vampire, I enjoyed it immensely. LOL

Narrator is difficult to listen to

It’s difficult to listen to the narrator. He tries too hard to enunciate and his Italian accent is painful.

A master work of intrigue but a slow burn

it's not a dollar coaster spy novel, but more like watching a personal chess match by two renown masters. The spy-craft is not satisfying, but the verisimilitude holds up well.

i like Gabriel Alon stories,

story is pretty good. John Lee is a very good narrator, but the fit to this book is not good.
he makes Israeli accent as if they are all old Russians...

A Brisk and Deft Thriller

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It tells a good yarn that is neither predictable nor implausible. No spoilers here, but there are a couple of reversals in the narrative that keep it from becoming a formulaic struggle between good and evil. I gather some reviews at the time of the novel's first printing found it wanting in descriptive flourish and character development. For my part, I thought Silva did a wonderful job of sketching scenes (often in enticing European locales) and biographical details with just the right degree of emphasis. This is not a probing study of psychology or politics; it is a fast-paced adventure, and it works very well on those terms. I actually think this book is superior on every level to the first book in the Gabriel Elon series, "The Kill Artist."

"The English Assassin" deals with artworks looted by the Nazis and the alleged complicity of Swiss banks in disposing of the plundered goods. I found the indictment of the Swiss government and its citizens both scathing and credible. I wonder how the book has been received in Switzerland.

As a narrator, John Lee is a pleasure to listen to, even though his ability to voice characters is limited. It takes a perverse skill to make a Swiss German and an Israeli sound the same. A technical point: A few sentences in my download of this book were rather garbled, and--weirdly enough--one of the last chapters (Chapter 50?) played twice. These flaws might be associated with a bungled download, but if the problems are in the recording, then shame on Books on Tape (the original producer) or Audible for poor quality control.

ANOTHER JEWISH TRAGEDY IN THE BACKGROUND

The first in the Allon series had as its environment the victory of the Jews of Israel over the Palestinian people, a tragedy for both. The second in the series has the background of the enormous looting of Europe ‘s great art by the Nazis from the Jewish owners Another tragedy. I found the narrative about the role of the Swiss in the looting historical, not part of a fictional spy novel. The spy part is like icing on the cake and quite delicious.

'Beware the gnomes of Zurich'

In case you have not yet familiarized yourself with Daniel Silva's amazing oeuvre, you should know this going in: Silva is an author with a mission and a message. In "The English Assassin," he explores the appalling -- and little-known -- role that supposedly-neutral Switzerland played during WWII, aiding and abetting Nazi Germany. Our hero, Gabriel Allon, moves with mastery in both the art world -- as a world-renowned restorer of Old Masters -- and in the espionage world -- as a master assassin. Sound kind of unlikely? Well, yes; but Daniel Silva writes so well that he makes it work: We can suspend disbelief, because we are enjoying the story so much. Most of the episodes in Silva's Gabriel Allon series utilize both of Allon's skills to mutual advantage. In "The English Assassin," Allon uncovers a dirty little secret that "the Swiss financial oligarchy" tries to keep under wraps: the extent to which Switzerland helped Nazi Germany steal and sequester art works from their Jewish owners. (Probably, Swiss listeners should bypass this audiobook.) The general tone and message of "The English Assassin" is well summarized in the following quote from a character known as "The guilty conscience of Switzerland:"

"When you're dealing with Switzerland, Mr. Allon, it's best to keep one thing in mind: Switzerland is not a real country -- it's a business, and it is run like a business. It is a business that is constantly in a defensive posture. It has been that way for 700 years. ... There are people in Switzerland who stand to lose a great deal if the sins of the past are exposed, and the sewers of the Bahnhofstrasse are given the thorough flushing they so desperately need. These people are an invisible government, and are not to be taken lightly. ... If you choose to pursue this matter, I suggest you watch your back: Beware the gnomes of Zurich."

In "The English Assassin," the invisible government referred to in the above quote calls itself The Council of Rütli, and dedicates itself to guarding the illicitly-garnered treasures stolen from doomed Jews during WWII, and hidden in Swiss banks ever since. Gabriel Allon -- Israeli-born son of Holocaust survivors, master art-restorer, and Mossad assassin -- reluctantly gets himself involved in this nest of vipers, nearly to his own demise. One of the previous reviewers understandably wondered about the title of this audiobook -- "The English Assassin" -- since our hero is Israeli, not English, and the eponymous English assassin, Christopher Keller, appears only intermittently as a secondary character in the book. The answer comes eleven years later, in Gabriel Allon's 13th adventure, "The English Girl," where Keller shows up again, this time teaming up with Allon, rather than opposing him. Apparently, Sliva liked the Keller character enough to dust him off for another outing!

I reluctantly docked a star from my rating of narrator John Lee. While he undeniably has one of the most gorgeous voices in all of audiobookdom, and he enunciates beautifully, he doesn't distinguish the characters from one another very well. To me, the ability to individualize the characters with different voices matters a lot in an audiobook, and signifies a good actor, even if that actor doesn't have such a beautiful voice as John Lee's. However, "The English Assassin" otherwise works well as an audiobook thriller, with an albeit dark, serious agenda. I wouldn't recommend to to anybody searching for light listening, nor to Swiss nationals!

Narrator was poor!!

I really enjoyed the story, however the narrator was driving me crazy. Gabriel Allon is Israeli..not German. Why he was reading Gabriel with a German accent was beyond me. The narrator of Kill Artist hit the accents perfectly. This narrator I would rather he just use no accent at all.