Moscow Rules

Gabriel Allon, Book 8

By: Daniel Silva

Narrated by: Phil Gigante

Length: 11 hrs

Publisher's summary

The extraordinary new Gabriel Allon novel from the "gold standard" ( The Dallas Morning New) of thriller writers.

Over the course of ten previous novels, Daniel Silva has established himself as one of the world's finest writers of international intrigue and espionage- "a worthy successor to such legends as Frederick Forsyth and John le Carré" (Chicago Sun-Times)-and Gabriel Allon as "one of the most intriguing heroes of any thriller series" (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He's playing by Moscow rules now.

This is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. A Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ruthlessly silenced. A Moscow where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an empire lost and to challenge the global dominance of its old enemy, the United States.

One such man is Ivan Kharkov, a former KGB colonel who built a global investment empire on the rubble of the Soviet Union. Hidden within that empire, however, is a more lucrative and deadly business: Kharkov is an arms dealer-and he is about to deliver Russia's most sophisticated weapons to al- Qaeda. Unless Allon can learn the time and place of the delivery, the world will see the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11-and the clock is ticking fast.

Filled with rich prose and breathtaking turns of plot, Moscow Rules is at once superior entertainment and a searing cautionary tale about the new threats rising to the East-and Silva's finest novel yet.

©2008 Danie Silva (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Daniel Silva brings new life to the international thriller." ( Newsday)

Awesome Thrill Ride

This book was amazing with it's constant twist and turns. Daniel Silva has a great talent of combining the real locations and his fictional ones so well that one would believe that the events of the book actually occurred. Phil Gigante's brilliant performance brought the author's words to life.

Suspenseful

There are aspects of the Ivan Kharkiv character shared by Prigozhin but probably the actual model was the arms dealer Viktoria Bout for whom the American Griner was traded. I was anxious by chapter 58 how Elena would escape Russia. That as many as four Russians fled Russia through the Ukrainian border seemed at first unrealistic to me. But since Feb. 2022 Russia has seen massive defections. At first I doubted that a Colonel in the Russian security service would defect but then remembered Litvinenko. Moscow Rules is not the best tale of the Allon series. The plot is a little thin and silly. But I really enjoyed listening to it.

Predictable

Even comfort reads can be too predictable. I would have given 2.5 stars to the story if it were allowed.

Another great Allon novel

As with every audio book, the narrator makes a big difference. Phil Gigante has narrated several of Daniel Silva's books and aside from some idiomatic/language details, he does a great job. He articulates well, speaks at a good pace and changes his tone appropriately. Please remember, this is not a production, or a radio show. You have to keep paying attention to the plot and who is involved in the conversation.

Daniel Silva keeps things rolling at a good pace and as usual, his descriptions of places, people and events are very detailed. I've been following Gabriel Allon since his first visit to Vienna and have purchased every book since then. I can't wait for the next installment in the series.

Decent narration, bad direction / editing.

The narrator is good in general, but mispronounces several fairly common French and Hebrew words. In a novel that takes place (partly) in France with Israeli characters, this makes the production seem shoddy. This is the director's job to fix, though, not the narrator's.

Narrator Rules

I fully agree with other reviewers about sub-standard narration for this and several other Gabriel Alon books. The faulty pronunciation of French, Russian, Hebrew, and British English detracts from Silva's lovely settings. Makes the whole thing seem kind of mundane. From here on out I'll skip this narrator's renditions.

Nail biting to the end

Another fabulous read with great character development. This author brings you along into the adventure. Gabriel Alon never gets old.

Abysmal narrator

Daniel Silva can be counted on for an entertaining tale of international espionage, provided your expectations aren't set too high. However, the producers of this audiobook made a gigantic blunder in selecting the narrator. The main action in the story unfolds in Italy, Russia and France, and Mr. Silva liberally sprinkles Italian, Russian and French words, phrases and place names throughout his narrative. Phil Gigante has an uncanny knack for horribly mispronouncing nearly EVERYTHING that isn't in English, and it drove me to distraction. I don't know how the audiobook production process works, but it is clear to me that Mr. Silva was not actively involved. Don't get me wrong -- I don't expect a narrator to know Italian, French and Russian. However, I do think it is reasonable to expect that, if the narrator is unsure how to pronounce a word, he should find out. I won't purchase another audiobook narrated by Mr. Gigante.

Great spy-thriller

I enjoyed this book, almost every minute of it. It resembles i Cold War stories of John Le Carre, and this is probably why I liked it. The tension and build up was there all the way. I recommend this book for Le Carre fans as well!
The narrator does a good job, although the heavy Russian accents gets carried away sometimes.

As a Russian reader

Highly recommend this book as well as the series all-together. Well researched. I did not feel that anything about Russia and its current state was out of line or unsubstantiated. I think that the main character, Gabriel, is well developed and does not fit the stereotype of an assassin, which I find very refreshing.