Portrait of a Spy

Starred review from November 28, 2011
In this latest thriller to feature retired spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon, a new terrorist leader has surfaced in Yemen and it’s up to Allon to neutralize him. To do so, he’ll need the assistance of one of the richest women in the world, Nadia al-Bakari. The problem: years ago, Allon killed her terrorist father and she knows it. Simon Vance turns in a nuanced performance in this audio version. His narration is brisk and engaging, and his talent for creating different accents allows him to switch between Israeli, British, and American characters, almost in the same breath: Allon is cultured and thoughtful; his friend and mentor, Ari Shamron, has a pronounced accent and boisterous personality; London art dealer Julian Isherwood is blustery and British; and CIA chief Adrian Carter speaks with a deep American twang. And for Nadia, Vance provides a voice befitting a wealthy polyglot: refined and confident. Silva fans should be enraptured. A Harper hardcover.

Gabriel Allon, Israeli mastermind and art restorer, is a master of disguises, and his "vocal portrait" has been attempted by numerous narrators. Simon Vance takes on the task here in Allon's eleventh caper as a globe-trotting modern spy. Yet Allon is illusive, and Vance doesn't quite nail it. Could it be that Allon is such a complex changeling that even the highly skilled and perceptive Vance doesn't quite inhabit him? Can anyone? Fans of the series, or newcomers, will mind little as Allon and his compatriots outwit terrorists, and their espionage "partners." Very dull, slightly muffled sound mars Vance's usual crisp speech and makes his subtleties hard to hear. The definitive portrait of this spy is yet unpainted. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

February 1, 2011

While enjoying a day in London with his wife, antiterrorist expert Gabriel Allon spots a man he believes to be a suicide bomber and follows him into Covent Garden. Alas, undercover police knock him down before he can intervene, and carnage ensues. Afterward, the CIA asks Gabriel to track down an American-born cleric now setting himself up as a rival to Osama bin Laden. Just what you'd expect of this New York Times top seller; with a one-day laydown on July 19, plus a 500,000-copy first printing. Buy multiples.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2011
Gabriel Allon can scrape away at all that obscures to uncover reality, whether the shadows are blemishes on a Titian masterpiece or the secrets of a maniacal terrorist. Allon retired from a covert unit of Israel's intelligence service, the Office. He now restores art, a benign profession he practices in England. Accompanied by his wife, Chiara, also an Office veteran, Allon is visiting London to examine a painting in need of his expert touch. On a busy street, the ever-alert Allon notices a man acting suspiciously and attempts to intervene. But the police see Allon draw a weapon and tackle him instead of the terrorist bomber. The deadly explosion is one in a series orchestrated by Rashid al-Husseini, a brilliant propagandist, and Malik al-Zubair, a bloody radical who learned to kill in Iraq. Allon is soon drafted into an effort to neutralize al-Husseini by his former compatriots at the Office. The Israelis are cooperating with the CIA, the agency duped by al-Husseini--think Anwar al-Awlaki--before he slipped into the jihadist movement. Silva's (The Rembrandt Affair, 2010, etc.) narrative is linear, moving from London to Paris to Washington and into the deserts of the Middle East. The most affecting character is Nadia al-Baraki, wealthy daughter of Abdul Aziz al-Baraki, an ally of the House of Saud, and a financier who funneled money to the jihadists. Nadia loved her father deeply, not realizing he supported Wahhabi fundamentalism, the sort of religious extremism that resulted in her closest childhood friend being victim of an "honor killing." Nadia learns that Allon is the agent who assassinated her father, but she decides to enter into the complicated plot to kill Malik al-Zubair and to destroy al-Husseini's movement. Other characters verge on cliché, although they are fittingly intriguing for the genre. Gadgets, back-stabbing machinations and political duplicities lend an aura of realism to the intricate plot. Covert action more le Carré than Ludlum.

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