The English Spy

This is my only review of Daniel Silva book since my negative review of Marching Season which was written very early in his career. I am a fan of all 16 of Silva's Gabriel Allon series which started very well and has only gotten better as he matured as a writer. If more than 5 stars were allowed the English Spy would get more. The English Spy brings back one of my favorite Silva characters, the English assassin and ex-spy living on Corsica, and "rehabilitates" him to a British spy agency. Gabriel Allon, now in his 50's, simply gets better with age. He is supposed to take over leadership of the office, an Israeli spy agency, but we;ll have to wait for the next Silva book to see.

Of all of the well read mystery/thriller series Silva's Allon is the most complex and tragic. But with the children born to him and his young wife Chiara at the end of The English Spy there is hope. The tragic Leah remains in the picture.

This book confirms that Daniel Silva is THE master of the mystery/thriller/spy genre if any doubt remained.

George Guidall has one of the easiest to listen to voices of all narrators. He is, as always, excellent.

I was expecting a book like the others in the Gabriel Allon series -- interesting, engaging, hard to put down. Instead, this book is disjointed and hard to follow. It feels like it is three or four different books poorly spliced together.

I'm certainly not going to stop listening to books in the genre, but it may be the last Daniel Silva book I buy.

He's one of my favorite readers. If it hadn't been for him I might not have finished the book.

Too little plot for so many hours. Jumped around and tried to connect every piece of past books into one story which was a stretch.

I enjoyed this addition to the Gabriel Allon series, but much of the text is background and recollections of events earlier books. That is necessary to make the book self-contained, but for those of us who have read/listened to them all, it is redundant. If I were reading, I could skip ahead, but that is hard to do when listening. Allon is as indestructible as ever, but he has aged and matured. By the end of the book, he's ready for a change of life. Does this signal the end to the series or the beginning of a new chapter?

Mixing a rich set of characters, both good and evil, with a fast-moving, intriguing plot, Daniel Silva once again keeps the deeds of Gabriel Allon fresh and interesting.

Moreover, George Guidall's performance makes this Allon adventure an excellent audiobook. Guidall's spoken command of gender, age and accents is superb. As a result, he really brings to life SIlva's knack for great dialogue between key characters.

In my opinion, the English Spy is one of Siva's best Gabriel Allon books!

I'm a big fan of Daniel Silva. I've read/listened to ask of his books. but this one never hooked me. the settings and characters changed too frequently and too quickly. the scenes were truncated and not well chronicled. I found myself regularly rewinding the book to try to catch up with the story, but it just never settled in.

George Guidall is magnificent as always.

An amazing plot line that's brings together England, Rusdia, Ireland Israel and brings the story full circle encompassing many details from previous novels.

he is an amazing narrator and the range of voices and accents he uses in this book were just wonderful. Well done.

yes I couldn't wait for it to be released. I'm a huge fan of Daniel Silva and of of course Gabriel Allon and his team from the office.

as an Irish Jew I was disgusted at the very one sided view of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland. While there were many brutal members of the IRA who were terrorists it is unfair of Daniel Silva to paint the Irish with so broad a brush, even his description of present day Dublin paints a picture of thugs pushing drugs. Unnecessary could have been more even handed.

Too John Wayne for me, English Spy exists in a world were everything is black and white and good and evil are clear cut and without nuance. This is a big turnoff for me as this is not way the world I experience, works. This book is a fantasy for those who think the solution to violence has easy answers... those answers being more violence in all cases. Relatedly, the author makes a deliberate effort to frame things through a right wing world lens. Not really interested in reading his thinly veiled and fearful rants about how the world is spinning out of control and it's all Obama's fault. It's just insipid, boring and predictable. I know LeCarre can be left leaning at times, but at least you're left with something though provoking.
All in all, what your left with here is an ultimately uninteresting spy novel. The reader, George Guidall is always good though.

A story worth telling...

Yes

He did a great job.

First, the protagonist, Gabriel, has gone from someone with depth to a character that seems more like Rambo. He survives too many incidents he should not and it is no longer believable. The story was dull, he is following the same formula over and over again. His past books have had fun plots ... history and current events were mixed in. This book had practically none of that. Just two Rambos running around Europe..committing murder.

Also he takes a few cheap shots at Obama in the book. While it was just a few lines of text, they were not only unnecessary but felt too contrived. This author seems to forget that a president can support the country of Israel without liking the direction of the current leadership. Has financial support lessened for Israel at all during Obama's tenure?

No. The book, like his Obama comments, are rushed and not well thought through... D+. I used to be so excited to read these books.

I enjoy returning to familiar characters yet the story changes. I'm looking forward to the next phase when he will be chief.