The Marching Season

De: Daniel Silva

Narrado por: Frank Muller

Daniel Silva’s novels immediately become New York Times best sellers. A former television producer and journalist who has covered assignments from Washington to the Middle East, Silva fills The Marching Season with the political suspense that churns through present-day Northern Ireland.

In 1998, as the Good Friday peace accords go into effect, world leaders hope for an end to the bloody Irish troubles, but terrorists are moving to shatter that fragile peace through a series of brutal assassinations. CIA Officer Michael Osbourne’s job is to stop October, their deadliest hit man. As Osbourne tracks the elusive October, he begins to realize that an even more powerful organization is using the terrorists.

In this world of espionage and counter-espionage, no place is safe, and no detail is too small to ignore. Frank Muller’s narration swirls the currents of danger and deceit around each scene in Silva’s compelling novel.

©1999 Daniel Silva (P)1999 Recorded Books, LLC

Riveting plot

Would have enjoyed the book more without the 'f bombs' in every conversation Daniel Silva is a favorite and talented he does not need that level of profanity.

Not Gabriel, but worth the listen

The plot was a bit over the top, but well written nevertheless. The hero is not as relatable as Gabriel Allon yet the villain is not as evil as some of Gabriel’s foes and an interesting twist.

horrible reader

What did you like best about The Marching Season? What did you like least?

This is not Silva's best work but was entertaining enough.

What didn’t you like about Frank Muller’s performance?

He was so dramatic, ending each phrase almost on a whisper. I am not sure if I can finish listening to this book. Awful!

Not the best of Silva

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The Narrater needs a different director. His reading is so breathy that it is off putting. I think he has talent, but neets direction.

The story is less captivating than Silva's previous or subsequent books, all of which I have read.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Just okay

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Absolutely

Do you think The Marching Season needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. I've had enough of this content.

Breathless Narration...literally

I enjoy OL's writing, characters, and stories. But the narration was distracting. He repeatedly delivered even the simplest short sense with a breathless whisper. He did an excellent job otherwise, but I will avoid him in the future where possible.

Great story with complex characters

I’ve read all the Daniel Silva books. This one along with Mark of the Assassin are interesting in that Ari Shamron is portrayed as part of an evil society. And rather than the hero, the villain of the story is an artist. Some of the same intelligence figures used by Silva in his Gabriel Allon series were used in this work as well. I was glad to see that several of the plot lines from Mark of the Assassin were resolved in this sequel. Always enjoy Silva’s books.

liked it

i liked this book. It was very well done, I will buy more from this author, entertaining and realistic.

Peters Design Literary Review

Artfully assembled story of a complex group of characters that takes listeners across international boundaries.

Totally unexpected!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely and Have!!!

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Marching Season?

I was so used to Gabriel Allon's stories and world - this was a really big change!
And a Wonderful change. Compared with a friend - we both found we loved this book
as well!

Which character – as performed by Frank Muller – was your favorite?

Difficult to say - While you like the hero - you also begin to "like" the enemy - is he good or bad to the bone?

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely.

Any additional comments?

There should be a warning - perhaps - for those of us who read Daniel Silva that Gabriel is NOT in this book. (Still Excellent!!!)

A middling decent spy novel.

I don't usually enjoy spy novels. They often strain credulity. They tend to be absurdly complicated, so that tracking the plot and the minimal differences between the "good" guys and the "bad" guys becomes utterly impossible. Even the supposedly great ones, like the le Carre books, aren't that pleasurable to read. However, and faithful readers may be tired of my endless praise of Frank Muller, this one is saved by Frank's remarkable bag of tricks. The protagonist, I suppose, is Michael Osborne, a CIA operative (one of those words that I just hate: what is an operative?) who manages to come out on top of a mountain of bloody fights and fatal encounters. His opposite number is a professional assassin known as October. I could go on at great lengths about their feats of derring-do, but I will spare you. The most completely incredible, or shall I say un-credible, group is a sinister (of course it is) cabal (help me, I can't stop) of super-important guys who get paid enormous sums of money to stir up political storms by killing key people all around Europe, the US and the UK. The conflict in Northern Ireland is a perfect place for them to strike. The often confusing fights among the various factions there are full of violence. Decades-old hatreds flourish. So the bad guys enter and murder an important man in the IRA. The money men in this deal are the arms dealers, of course, who profit enormously by selling horrendous weapons that all sides will buy in order to kill as many of their bete-noires as possible.
......Michael's father-in-law is Douglas Cannon, an ex-legislator who has retired but becomes the US ambassador to the Court of St. James, as the UK is known in these fancy circles. That position puts an X on his back. He is thus a target for the Catholics and others who desperately want the UK to exit Northern Ireland and let the Irish run it. Having been there for a month about a decade ago, I can say that the picture of Belfast and Northern Ireland drawn by Daniel Silva is totally credible. The place is a nightmarish city. In the center of it is the Europa Hotel, the most frequently-bombed hotel anywhere. When you cross the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is in fact the UK, you have the highly unusual experience of switching sides of the street. The Brits drive on the left, and the Irish drive on the right, which is to say correct, side. As the book carries on, the corpses pile up and the labyrinthine plots cross back and forth and back again. Double and triple agents work in the area. Bloody beheadings and shootings proliferate. The head of the CIA, Monica Tyler...I won't spoil it for you, but it is a surprise. The scene in which terrorists attempt to murder the Ambassador by assaulting his residence fills up the count of murders in living color, so to speak. The last scene in the book is apt, and I believe that you will remember it for its poignancy and its ambiguity. What better ending? I probably will not read another Daniel Silva book. I hear that his hero is some kind of Israeli art critic, a double agent for the Mossad, or otherwise non-credible spy and agent-provocateur. If you like this stuff, you may love it. Perhaps.