Moscow Rules (Gabriel Allon) by Daniel Silva
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Book Reviews of Moscow Rules (Gabriel Allon)
Book Review: Allon And On
Summary: 3 Stars
Silva's latest thriller is awfully similar to an earlier entry (was it The Messenger?) where the ruse of selling a painting is used to ensnare an asset and the same cast of characters assemble for the plot here. The books in this series are increasingly repetitive, each with the mysterious unveiling of the hero or action through the eyes of supernumeraries followed by Allon's inevitable briefing with Shamron where they always relate information about each other's past they're both certainly aware of. This entry doesn't even have much action to speak of, though there is a really good final shoot-out.
Thankfully we're spared the Weekly Standard-style neo-con lectures from Allon. When politics intrude on things it's from the mouths of CIA agents who offer laugh-out-loud apologies for the Bush administration.
There also a bit of a double standard in Silva's work. Russian journalists here are justifiably lauded for their heroics in taking on the powerful in their society. Elsewhere in his books however, the third person point of view gets awfully snitty when Israeli or American misinformation is challenged by the press in the tale's aftermath.
Book Review: Very reminiscent of the last book I read...
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is only the second Silva/Allon book I have read. I picked up The Messenger by chance, read it and enjoyed it enough to seek out another. So I start reading Moscow Rules. Now, I guess when you are an Israeli spook and art restorer there are only some many ways you can skin a cat but it seemed to me that this really rehashed a lot of stuff I had just been over.
Of course there were differences and I enjoyed the story but I wonder if all these books are just as similar. I have just started The Secret Servant so I guess we will see.
Book Review: Great writer, not his best book, but still worth reading
Summary: 3 Stars
Silva is an awesome writer, so just about everything he writes is worth reading. However, This one just wasn't great. I love the characters and will certainly continue to read, but I felt the book just took too long to get going.....Book Review: Boilerplate
Summary: 2 Stars
This is the eighth book featuring Gabriel Allon, a part-time art restorer and full-time Israeli Secret Agent. I find this author's books very reminiscent of Robert Ludlum's, i.e. some literary spy-craft, (surveillance techniques are big in Moscow Rules), mixed with some globe-trotting, (usually around recognizable landmarks), and a world threatening plot that needs to be foiled - all loosely tied to the current headlines.
Moscow Rules follows Silva's previous tried and true formula - the book begins by introducing the bad guys committing a crime beyond the capabilities of local authorities to solve. A reluctant Gabriel, busy in some remote but beautiful locale, (in this book he is on his honeymoon in Italy), is then summoned. He pulls together a team of now well known characters and sets up a sting operation to snare the bad guys - usually Arab terrorists. Inevitably the plan falls apart at some critical juncture forcing Gabriel to single-handedly save the day..... and the world..... while providing the reader with a happy ending. The twist in this book is that the bad guys are Russian black market arms dealers supplying Arab terrorists.
I don't mean to sound condescending or as if I'm intellectually thumbing my nose here, I'm just as guilty as the next reader when it comes to enjoying mindless thrillers. This book is perfect for noisy airports during a flight delay, at pool-side or the beach - Exciting enough to keep your attention without taxing your brain.
Book Review: Cliches Unbound
Summary: 1 Stars
Daniel Silva has written a series of mildly entertaining books. Moscow Rules is one in this series. There is not a one original thought in this book. Every character is a cliche taken from someone else's work. The main character is James Bond like. His wife is the same as every wife in every book of this nature. The wife of the gun runner has been in at least ten dozen other books of this nature so has the gun runner, the hired assasin, the spy master, the computer geek, etc. The situation is so mundane as to be unbelievably boring. This book could have been written by a computer that was progarmmed to take plot, characters, scenes and every thing else from other books of the same genre. Mr. Silva give us a break.