Portrait of an Unknown Woman

A Novel (Gabriel Allon)

By: Daniel Silva

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

In a spellbinding new masterpiece by #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva, Gabriel Allon undertakes a high-stakes search for the greatest art forger who ever lived

Legendary spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon has at long last severed ties with Israeli intelligence and settled quietly in Venice, the only place where he has ever truly known peace. His beautiful wife, Chiara, has taken over the day-to-day management of the Tiepolo Restoration Company, and their two young children are discreetly enrolled in a neighborhood scuola elementare. For his part, Gabriel spends his days wandering the streets and canals of the watery city, bidding farewell to the demons of his tragic, violent past.

But when the eccentric London art dealer Julian Isherwood asks Gabriel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the rediscovery and lucrative sale of a centuries-old painting, he is drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse where nothing is as it seems.

Gabriel soon discovers that the work in question, a portrait of an unidentified woman attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck, is almost certainly a fiendishly clever fake. To find the mysterious figure who painted it—and uncover a multibillion-dollar fraud at the pinnacle of the art world—Gabriel conceives one of the most elaborate deceptions of his career. If it is to succeed, he must become the very mirror image of the man he seeks: the greatest art forger the world has ever known.

Stylish, sophisticated, and ingeniously plotted, Portrait of an Unknown Woman is a wildly entertaining journey through the dark side of the art world—a place where unscrupulous dealers routinely deceive their customers and deep-pocketed investors treat great paintings as though they were just another asset class to be bought and sold at a profit. From its elegant opening to the shocking twists of its climax, the novel is a tour de force of storytelling and one of the finest pieces of heist fiction ever written. And it is still more proof that, when it comes to international intrigue and suspense, Daniel Silva has no equal.

©2022 Daniel Silva (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

not the best one

as much as I loved these author ...last two books are quite disappointing. characters became less interesting

A return to form

Thank goodness we lose the politics and return with a fascinating story. Gabriel is still pulling of some tricks that require a suspension of disbelief but that's expected. It's like when your favorite artist releases a dud album but then comes back with that familiar sound to reel you back in. I can't decide if I really enjoyed it that much or I'm just happy that it didn't suck out loud.

Another Enjoyable Story

Excellent presentation by Ballerini of another captivating adventure of Gabriel Alon. . I never tire of Silvia’s work

It embraces Gabriel’s love expertise in the real world outside of espionage.

The art world business always intrigue. The set up of the story was so believable. Greedy people dealing with greedy people.

Wordy

A bit too much on the descriptive side. Specifically the iterations of canvas sizes, attribution, etc. still it’s Gabriel Allon and you can’t go wrong there!

Among the very best in the series

Silva has done an extraordinary job with the Gabriel Allon series and recent additions have been characteristically solid. But I was pleasantly surprised by this addition to the series because it is among the very best of the entire series and far exceeded my expectations.

With the suspense in Allon's career as a spy, the question of how well the character would transition after retirement was a question Silva had to answer. Portrain of an Unknown Woman answers that question in an emphatec way: Allon is even more interesting and complex than before. The story is powerful and exceedingly well researched. Several characters from the past contribute in interesting and important ways to this novel, and as much as I enjoy the narration of George Guidall I must say Edoardo Ballerini's interpretation and rendering added so much color to the story and the characters.

As already provided in the summary by the publishers, Gabriel is asked to investigate a suspected art forgery. The story ascends from there and enters a world of global crime organizations dealing in high-quality fake paintings that are authenticated as originals and find their places in the world's finest museums. The financial cost of the fraud is staggering, the potential impact of a collapse of faith in authenticated artwork and trusted institutions unnerving, and the ruthless acts taken to protect the interests of the syndicates chilling. Silva has risen to the occasion and answered any doubts concerning his staying power as an author and his ability to sustain the compelling character of Gabriel Allon in his new life as a "retiree."

Portrain of an Unknown Woman is an excellent work and one I highly recommend.

Fun. Thought-provoking

Pure Daniel Silva. The cast of characters is well known but always have a surprise or two for faithful readers.

Nitpicked

Outstanding book with extremely well researched background; a well crafted “who done it” with many surprises.

Writing and Narration Work

Daniel Silva and Edoardo Balleriniseem to click. I can't tell whether it's the writing or the narration, but it works. I'm not picking a preference. They are a dynamic duo...

Worth the credit, as are all of Silvas books.

Great story, fun to listen to, and well paced. The new reader "Ballerini" does demand a little more attention, but he is worth it.