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)

Uncanny Portentous Prophecy

"The Mark of the Assassin," published back in 1998, spookily augured a real event that occurred three years 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧: on 09/11/01. Here, Daniel Silva -- in only his second novel -- is already hitting his stride, showing his potential for excellent writing, plotting, and insight. Fans of his popular Gabriel Allon series will see in "The Mark of the Assassin" the emergence of the future Gabriel Allon character -- in the person of Jean-Paul Delaroche, international assassin and accomplished artist -- as well as several other characters that will appear in the Gabriel Allon series: most notably Ari Shamron (director of Israel's Mosad), Adrian Carter (director of the C.I.A.'s Counter-Terrorism Task Force), and Graham Seymour (England's MI6 spymaster). Fans of the 9/11 conspiracy theory will appreciate Silva's Society for International Development and Cooperation -- consisting of "rogue intelligence officers, politicians, arms merchants, mercenaries, drug lords, international crime organizations, and powerful business moguls" -- who secretly engineer a deadly terrorist attack on American soil to enrich their own agendas. Sound familiar? I don't doubt that such an organization may, in fact, exist on this planet, secretly manipulating events that profoundly affect all of us little people to its own ends. (Bilderberg Group, anyone?)

I have just finished listening to Silva's entire oeuvre in chronological order -- from "The Unlikely Spy" to "The English Girl" -- with great enjoyment, appreciating his evolution as an author along the way. In particular, I admire his growing encyclopedic knowledge of international affairs and behind-the-scenes political machinations. Also -- of interest to female listeners -- I have witnessed a subtle, but noticeable, evolution in Silva's feminist awareness. Whereas in Silva's early works -- including "The Mark of the Assassin" -- you will see the female characters portrayed as unlikeable, irritable, shrill, dependent, possessive harridans, in later novels the female characters begin developing into more admirable women. I also appreciate the fact that, although Silva necessarily includes the obligatory sex scenes in his novels, he makes them mercifully brief and un-explicit, more so with each novel.

Regarding the narrator, Christopher Lane, I subtracted a star from his rating, only because of an odd, overly nonchalant inflection that he adopted for the "bad guys" in this audiobook. Otherwise, I liked his reading of "The Mark of the Assassin." He has a nice voice, and distinguishes the characters from one another pretty well.

In summary, I highly recommend "The Mark of the Assassin" to most thriller lovers; although I admit that it may not suit everybody's tastes. In general, if you like your thrillers with intelligent, complex plots, with a bit of gratuitous cynicism, then I think that you will enjoy all of Daniel Silva's novels. By the way: "The Marching Season" -- the novel which immediately follows "The Mark of the Assassin" -- picks up where its predecessor left off, effectively continuing the story. So, if you end up enjoying "The Mark of the Assassin," I would suggest purchasing "The Marching Season" next, in order to hear the rest of the story.

good political spy thriller

It said copyright 2003 so this SHOULD have been under post 9/11 thought and world events. However many terrorist groups such as the IRA, etc. are mentioned often. Many of these groups, agencies etc. have been out of business or disbanded or remade since the 90s! This book WAS NOT completely written post 9/11 and I normally NEVER read the ones from the 80s or 90s, because so much has changed. Surveillance technology etc. also seems dated as do our enemies. The story is fine as is the narrator.

Daniel Silva??

Not his best! Too...what? I guess I’m too familiar with the Gabriel Alon character. And George Guidall as narrator. Anyway, too predictable and somewhat cheesy in places. And does a main character have to be a painter??? Come on! But I’m sure there will be a sequel only I won’t choose to listen.
Not a fan.

Not one of the better thrillers.

Plot was stale and mostly predictable. Performance, especially of accented voices, was annoying. Chalk it up to weakness in his early work.

Uneven

Obviously a first novel being a little uneven but showing great promise, however still a good read.

Great story but performance off putting

I love Daniel Silva but the gentleman who did this performance drove me crazy with the voices he created for some of the characters. I eventually got used to it, but sometimes the voices just seemed ridiculous. I was very glad that a different actor was used for the sequel, Marching Season.

Not up to the bar of the Gabriel Allon series, but a good read, nonetheless

Christopher Ln is great for the overall story narration, though a few of his characters sound like finger nails on a chalk board. The first 30 minutes to an hour almost cause me to push the ejection button. Made it through though and what was to follow was worth the effort. Pretty cool to meet graham seymour of future head of MI-6. I think Eli Lavon even gets a nod…
It’s unfair to compare this book to later works…after all could you really compare say Tom Brady’s early starts for the patriots to years later some of his playoff/super bowl accomplishments ? Nonetheless, just as no one would have ever cut Tom Brady, neither can you deny the future greatness of Daniel Silva. I also would say that if George Guidall or Eduardo Ballerini had read this book…that first hour would have been a breeze. Is it the first book I would read, No, but if you are up to date on all your other favorites books, this is a good choice rather than listen to something mundane…

Classic Silva

I’ve read all of Gabriel Allon books. I enjoyed this new to me character. Jump right in.

Very disappointing

This was my first, and last, Daniel Silva book. I almost stopped listening several times as I just got bored. I enjoy Tom Wood, Brad Taylor, Brad Thor, Ludlum, David Baldacci, Vince Flynn, Tom Clancy, Mark Greaney, Alex Berenson, CJ Box, and on... Daniel Silva fell far short of any of these in story development or telling.

Silva unusual

Not his usual plotline. Mixes characters from his other books. Ok though. I prefer traditional.