A Death in Vienna

By: Daniel Silva

Narrated by: John Lee

Art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna to authenticate a painting, but the real object of his search becomes something else entirely: to find out the truth about the photograph that has turned his world upside down. It is the face of the unnamed man who brutalized his mother in the last days of World War II, during the Death March from Auschwitz. But is it really the same one? If so, who is he? How did he escape punishment? Where is he now?

Fueled by an intensity he has not felt in years, Allon cautiously begins to investigate, but the more layers he strips away, the greater the evil that is revealed, a web stretching across sixty years and thousands of lives. Soon, the quest for one monster becomes the quest for many. And the monsters are stirring. . . .

Filled with sharply etched characters and prose, and a plot of astonishing intricacy, this is an uncommonly intelligent thriller by one of our very best writers.©2004 Daniel Silva; (P)2004 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Not one for cookie-cutter cheap thrills, Silva’s mastered the art of weaving provocative narrative, espionage and foreign intrigue."—Chicago Sun-Times

"A masterful and compelling tale of evil, treachery and revenge...goes to the top of the list of this year's best."—Rocky Mountain News

"A masterfully constructed tale of memory and revenge. It demonstrates that thrillers can be more than entertainment."—The Miami Herald

"[A] superbly crafted narrative of espionage and foreign intrigue."—Publishers Weekly

"A thriller that’s not content to be just a thriller, as it delves into issues involving the Holocaust and its perpetrators and survivors."—The Kansas City Star

"[A] world-class practitioner of spy fiction… Silva writes with style, economy and a sure command of the historical record…a skillful novelist who does justice to the often heartbreaking material without exploiting it."—The Washington Post Book World

"Reads like an exquisitely suspenseful chess game."—Booklist

No waltz

A well-constructed thriller dealing with harrowing subject matter. The action moves slickly between Austria, Israel, Italy and Argentina, as well as between the present, and the past – the latter being World War 2. The narrator (John Lee) does a great job, with a Sean Connery-like “main” voice which he then adapts rather well to take into account a range of characters with different accents.

Chilling and Moving

This will make a great movie - fast paced, covers a lot of geography, great intrique, detailed history, plus some violence and some beauty.

Part 4 in this spy-detective series

I like the relatively calm atmosphere of the Gabiel Allon novels, and this one does not disappoint. As with the previous novels, there’s gone a lot of research into the story. Not just about all of the different locations, which are described in beautiful detail (the author has actually visited most of them), but also about the holocaust in WWII.
As in all of the Allon stories, there's some action, but not a lot, it's more like a slow unravelling of a mystery. Allon is a spy and has the matching skill set, but in reality he’s more of a detective, ferreting things out that need to be uncovered.

The tone and atmosphere of these stories remind me of the Jesse Stone movies with Tom Selleck, which I love.

I'm a big fan of John Lee as narrator, and as always he does not disappoint!

Will be continuing this audiobook series, especially the titles narrated by John Lee. The rest, I may just read.

this remains a favorite

I have read the hardback and listened to the audio book , it remains a favorite. I do not believe Silva has written a book that is less that excellent however I find myself listening to this one over and over.

great historical glimpses

wonderful narration of an excellent story. many difficult but important lessons from the holocaust. worthwhile.