The Mark of the Assassin

Michael Osbourne, Book 1

By: Daniel Silva

Narrated by: Christopher Lane

Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

When a commercial airliner is blown out of the sky off the East Coast, the CIA scrambles to find the perpetrators. A body is discovered near the crash site with three bullets to the face: the calling card of a shadowy international assassin. Only agent Michael Osbourne has seen the markings before - on a woman he once loved.

Now, it's personal for Osbourne. Consumed by his dark obsession with the assassin, he's willing to risk his family, his career, and his life - to settle a score...

©2003 Daniel Silva (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The prose is slick, and readers will find themselves racing through these pages as the body count grows and the conclusion nears. The Mark of the Assassin is a worthy effort from a rising star." (Amazon.com review)

interesting

The characters were well formed without being overly detailed. This book is a pretty good spy thriller that is based around terrorism before 9/11. It is Filled with Twist and turns, action and political intrigue, Its a fun read but doesn`t have the background work found in other authors ( Greaney, Horowitz, Clancy)
The narrator didn't work well for me felt a little bit monotone.
Happy Reading...

SURPRISE

Not into spy thrillers,but this is one you can not stop listening to.This was in the top 5 books I have listened to.The only con was sometimes he would get bogged down in superficial details,if it was not for that it would have been a 5

Same as other books

I liked Moscow Rules and the Defector better by Dan Silva. This is very similar. In Moscow Rules and Defector the main character is a painter and carrys a 9mm Berreta. In Mark of the Assassin the Bad guy is the painter who carrys the Berreta.

Come on, mix it up a little. Its not bad though

Good but could be better

The storyline was a bit dated but it was still a good read. The characters were developed well and the storyline is believable. Overall a good book but Silva’s newer novels are more appealing to me.

can't get past the narration

I am struggling to finish. I am a huge fan of Daniel Silva, but this narrator is making it so difficult! between his nagging flamboyant impression when trying to impersonate a female voice and his other extremely exaggerated and annoying impressions, it really detracts from the story.

IS THERE A SEQUEL TO THIS BOOK?

I thought the narrator did an excellent job, and that's about all I can say about this audiobook. Way too many lose ends at the end, felt rushed or incomplete. I couldn't really warm up to the characters either, they were pretty blah. I really enjoy Daniel DaSilva's Gabriel Allon series, but I felt very let down by this story.

OK but not that great

The premise is strong. Above average writing for this type of book, but a couple of logic holes and lame lead personalities downgrade the experience. Book could have/should have been way more interesting. 2.5 stars overall. Narration is alright, but not great.

Not the best from Daniel Silva

What did you like best about The Mark of the Assassin? What did you like least?

I've read/listened to half dozen of Daniel Silva's books and this is my least favorite.
Number 1: it is not in the Gabriel Allon series which is Silva's best works.
Number 2: the story was disjointed & I agree with another reader's review that stated: "story was improbable with a tedious subplot [actually 2 or 3] about lead character & wife's infertility". And I agree with another reader that wrote: Silva also used stereotypical relationships; Spy & his lonely but supportive wife, Spy and his unsupportive superiors that would rather hamper efforts than help, until the end when it's the only choice they have & after they've put him on suspension (yea, that's never happened before). It was hard for me to keep up with all the characters' names and place within story.

I purchased audio-book during summer sale of 2014, so it was worth the price, but it would not be worth a full price purchase. I tend to listen to my audio-books over several sessions over a period of several days, so I will say that if you were to listen to the story in just a couple of sessions you may be able to follow story line more effectively. The Rembrandt Affair, Unlikely Spy are two of his titles that I liked more.

Has The Mark of the Assassin turned you off from other books in this genre?

No.

Which character – as performed by Christopher Lane – was your favorite?

Lead spy, Michael Osbourne

Did The Mark of the Assassin inspire you to do anything?

Not read any more Silva's titles that are not part of the Gabriel Allon series.

Any additional comments?

For Audible.com: Please make is so while browsing in categories we could sort by price as well as release date, relevance, length, etc... that would be so helpful for those of us on a tight budget.

Didn’t want it to end .

I love the way Daniel Silva writes. Page turners are the best. I couldn’t put it down.

Excellent listen

One of the first books from Daniel Silva is still one of the best works of his. A pleasure of the read