The Confessor

By: Daniel Silva

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Detective Gabriel Allon returns in this stunning thriller of ancient and modern betrayal, long-buried secrets and unthinkable deeds. In Munich, writer Benjamin Stern enters his flat to find a man leafing through his research. When Stern confronts him, the man shoots him, murmurs a few words in Latin, gathers the papers and leaves. In Venice, art restorer and Israeli agent Gabriel Allon reads a message saying that Stern is dead; can he leave immediately? At the Vatican, a priest named Pietro paces in the garden, pondering the discoveries he has made, the enemies he will make, and the journey he must undertake. Silva weaves these three threads into a multilayered mystery peopled with memorable characters and distinguished by rich prose.

©2003 Daniel Silva (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A shrewd, timely thriller that opens the heart of the Vatican.” (Chicago Tribune) 

“Daniel Silva has now indisputably joined the ranks of Graham Greene and John Le Carré.” (The Washingtonian)

"Silva...writes with the atmospheric grace and whiplash tension of le Carre." (Booklist, starred review)  

No Silva Lining in This Cloud

Y'know, I don't demand much from pop lit, especially from genre stuff like spy novels, but Silva's "The Confessor" fails to come up to even my lowest expectations. Sterling prose is not necessary for a good spy thriller, but shouldn't Silva at least know the difference between the words "divisive" and "divided"? His writing is studded with gems like "he knew he was being deceived," (Hey, Silva, if he "knew" it, he wasn't "deceived," now was he?) and numbing cliches such as when a "Machievellian" Catholic Cardinal intones "We have ways... to bring journalists... into line..." (I guess the Church hasn't been using those "ways" too well lately.) And to make matter worse, Silva uses his novel as a pulpit to preach about... oh, who cares? What a stinker! I give it one star (instead of zero stars) only because of narrrator John Lee's brilliant reading.

Great characters

I like spy thrillers but so many of them are populated with unbelieveable characters in weak plots. The confessor had a very interesting story, with people I developed an affection for. It is definitely worth listening to.

Exciting, intriguing

If you like history, ancient cities, espionage, religious corruption and intrigue then this book is for you. The story dabbles a bit in art history and lots in world history, specific world war II and the catholic churches involvement in the holocaust. The Confessor is about two less than specific groups of people directory tied to the the Holy See (Vatican City) who have different points of view on what is right for the Roman Curia and the disposition of their involvement in the events of World War II. It's very exciting and worth a listen, without a doubt.

good story but over rated

I was influenced to listen to this book due to it's raving reviews and high stars. It was an entertaining story but it was not stellar.

It wasn't particuarly the best thriller I've read and the writting style was a bit clumsy.
the reader was excellent and brought what would have been a drab read to life.

Spy thriller

I have only recently begun to enjoy spy thrillers, and this one was among my favorites. John Lee's accent makes a skillful work of art even better. I also really, really enjoyed The Flight of the Tiger Moth, read by John Lee, and became a fan then. I also recommend The Company.

a woman's view

I enjoyed 2 of Silva's previous books "The English Assassin" and "Murder in Vienna". I thought this one was pretty good too until I read the 1st gent's review (forgot his name)and - being only half-way thru this one at that time - noticed he was right about the trite phrases and juvenile plot "twists." (I mean Katherine, come on, I know you guys liked it, but she's a Bond-barbie.)Sadly I gave it 4 stars b/c compared to everything else published, well...John Lee is to die for. Have him record the telephone book, it'd be wonderfullllllllllllllll.

The Confessor (Unabridged)

A truly great book with John Lee doing a fantastic job of narrating. Well written with totally unexpected twists and turns and a story that spans from 1942 to the present that brings together cultures, religions, the inner workings of the Church in Rome, politics, intrigue and mystery. Don't miss this one.

Rewrite history

An insult to those thousands of men and women who worked to save so many lives during the holocaust.
Anti Catholicism in the form of fiction.

Silva's Consistant

Daniel Silva wraps action advenure, mystery and recent history into an entertaining listen. His Israeli Mossad characters expose the horror of the Holocaust using fictional modern day events. The narration is reserved and sets an excellent tone for the theme.

the confessor

This audio book held my attention thru out the entire listening.
The author's depiction of details was amazing.. One felt they were in the Vatican and in Italy. The Narrator was also very fine