The Rembrandt Affair

By: Daniel Silva

Narrated by: Phil Gigante

Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

Determined to sever his ties with the Office, Gabriel Allon has retreated to the windswept cliffs of Cornwall with his beautiful Venetian-born wife, Chiara. But once again his seclusion is interrupted by a visitor from his tangled past: the endearingly eccentric London art dealer Julian Isherwood. As usual, Isherwood has a problem. And it is one only Gabriel can solve.

In the ancient English city of Glastonbury, an art restorer has been brutally murdered and a long-lost portrait by Rembrandt mysteriously stolen. Despite his reluctance, Gabriel is persuaded to use his unique skills to search for the painting and those responsible for the crime. But as he painstakingly follows a trail of clues leading from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires and, finally, to a villa on the graceful shores of Lake Geneva, Gabriel discovers there are deadly secrets connected to the painting. And evil men behind them.

Before he is done, Gabriel will once again be drawn into a world he thought he had left behind forever, and will come face-to-face with a remarkable cast of characters: a glamorous London journalist who is determined to undo the worst mistake of her career, an elusive master art thief who is burdened by a conscience, and a powerful Swiss billionaire who is known for his good deeds but may just be behind one of the greatest threats facing the world.

Filled with remarkable twists and turns of plot, and told with seductive prose, The Rembrandt Affair is more than just summer entertainment of the highest order. It is a timely reminder that there are men in the world who will do anything for money.

©2010 Daniel Silva (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Get Set for an Action Ride

The main requirement for reading The Rembrandt Affair, by Daniel Silva, is not to think too much. It is filled with always beautiful women, always smart and tough men, characters who are savagely beaten only to magically arise and walk away in tact, a villain with an operational support system which would be the envy of any government, government bureaucracies which make decisions quickly and act decisively, and electronic devices that work flawlessly the first time. No glitches permitted. Yet, The Rembrandt Affair is about as good as this international intrigue genre gets. It’s exciting, forward moving, engrossing, and thoroughly entertaining. How does Daniel Silva get the reader to suspend belief? First, he involves the reader in the personality of the protagonist, Gabriel Allon, the reluctant Israeli intelligence operative with multiple talents, a complex person with an admirable core set of values, whose personality has been developed over several books in this series. Add to this, a love affair or two, interesting interpersonal relations between members of various intelligence agencies, and the reader is quickly involved in Allon’s world of intrigue, rooting for him all the way. Another Silva attribute is meticulous and fascinating research so that the book sounds historically grounded and familiar to any reader of the daily newspaper. It has the feel of authenticity. Finally, the plot is so fast moving that the reader has no time nor need to ponder any of its details. Nor does Silva stop along the way to explain motivations, internal musings or conflict resolutions. Any need to understand is provided by the action itself. Any existential angst, which is sometimes hinted at, is tossed aside by the relentless pursuit of evil by the good guys. This is the third book in the Gabriel Allon series that I’ve read, and it is the best. Although the plot neatly resolves itself, the main characters are still very much alive at the end. I'll read the sequel.

14 people found this helpful

I like this guy

I've now read a couple Gabriel Allon stories. Daniel Silva does a great job with the character. The other players are well fleshed out, as well. The story is once again steeped in history, but very current. The plot kept me guessing in a good way.

The book I had finished immediately before this one was a Jack Reached story. The Reacher character is bigger than life in an over-the -top way. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy Reacher, but I savor Gabriel Allon.

This one is read by Dick Hill. When it comes to these kids do of action-mysteries, he and Scott Brick are the best. Hill doesn't disappoint here. He's flawless.

7 people found this helpful

Silva and Gigante -- A Superb Team!!!

I have so thoroughly enjoyed Phil Gigante reading the Gabriel Allon series that I cannot bear to read them myself anymore. I had pre-ordered this book at Amazon, but was afraid they would send me the hardbound addition, so I cancelled it a week before the release date. Then came the long countdown until July 20th followed by an eager audio download, then a few hours of complete pleasure before the novel ended. I could not stop listening. It was that good.

This is perhaps my favorite of all the Allon stories. It depicts Gabriel with the rapid brush strokes of a master at the top of his craft. It enriches with the heartwarming and noble cast of Gabriel's team and a striking and an authentic new female protagonist whom I hope will return in future stories. It contains all the elements that draw me to Silva's work time and again: fabulous settings meticulously drawn, holocaust history sensitively presented, contemporary international intrigue that is both intelligently written and flawlessly paced.

My only wish for this book would have been more of all of the above. But I totally understand the reason for keeping Silva's novels somewhat short, so he can keep them coming. I'm ready for the next one TODAY but now will need to wait another year. Boo-hoo!!!

Bravo, Daniel Silva -- may your success continue for many years to come!

25 people found this helpful

Not very exciting.............

I guess because I've read all of Daniel Silva's novels, I found this book to be much too "padded" with flashbacks and information from his earlier works. It would seem to me that the story should be able to stand alone without rehashing all of what happened in the books that came before. WHY?? - is it just a lazy and easy way to pad a book and get the number of pages one needs for publication?

12 people found this helpful

Cringe-worthy reader

The story is great. The reader's accents are good but pronunciations awful. I'm not talking erudite, but awful.

2 people found this helpful

Not set in Cornwall, not retired just tired

If you think you're going to hear about an interesting couple who have retired to Cornwall to order to put the past behind them, think again. These are old, world weary spies who SHOULD retire and let someone with more enthusiasm do the work. I found the book to be tiresome, especially the worldview that Israel is doing dirty work that must be done and should the mission fail, Israel will be blamed even though America and England are equal players. In fact, one old goat, responds to this observation by saying, with a heavy heart, sadly shaking his weary head, 'Yes, they always do....they always do.' There is a plot. It does involve art theft and art restoration but the heart of the story is the inevitable story of the jewish persecution this time set in Switzerland; what was taken, how it was found, where it had been and how things were put right. There was a twist there in that it wasn't strictly legal but it was probably morally justified. If you love everything Daniel Silva writes you will probably like this one too. I was disappointed.

2 people found this helpful

ahhh. gabriel is back!

i love this series. silva writes with such a sure tone. the characters have gotten richer with each successive book. the plots have gotten more complex and the revenge is sweeter than ever. thank you dan silva.

8 people found this helpful

Good Book

I love Daniel Silva books however 12 or so books in I find that the storyline is predictive. They always have a plan of action which always fails and then saved. It would be nice if this team of Elite spies actually pulled off one of their plans the first go-round instead of always being found out and then finding a way to get out of it.

1 person found this helpful

Terrible accents

I can’t really comment on the story as I was distracted by the narration. His terrible accents were massively annoying. Returned the book

1 person found this helpful

Not as good as other books in this series

This story has a very interesting part about stolen Nazi art. It also has a big fat violent part that isn't believable.
The narrator is melodramatic in his delivery and does very bad English accents.

1 person found this helpful