House of Spies
Ratings9
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings9
Average rating3.9
A Kirkus Best Book of the Year #1 NYT Bestseller #1 USA Bestseller #1 WSJ Bestseller From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Black Widow comes the thrilling new summer blockbuster featuring legendary spy, assassin and art restorer Gabriel Allon. A heart-stopping tale of suspense, Daniel Silva’s runaway bestseller, The Black Widow, was one of 2016’s biggest novels. Now, in House of Spies, Gabriel Allon is back and out for revenge – determined to hunt down the world’s most dangerous terrorist, a shadowy ISIS mastermind known only as Saladin. Four months after the deadliest attack on the American homeland since 9/11, terrorists leave a trail of carnage through London’s glittering West End. The attack is a brilliant feat of planning and secrecy, but with one loose thread. The thread leads Gabriel Allon and his team of operatives to the south of France and to the gilded doorstep of Jean-Luc Martel and Olivia Watson. A beautiful former British fashion model, Olivia pretends not to know that the true source of Martel’s enormous wealth is drugs. And Martel, likewise, turns a blind eye to the fact he is doing business with a man whose objective is the very destruction of the West. Together, under Gabriel’s skilled hand, they will become an unlikely pair of heroes in the global war on terror. Written in seductive and elegant prose, the story moves swiftly from the glamour of Saint-Tropez to the grit of Casablanca and, finally, to an electrifying climax that will leave readers breathless long after they turn the final page. But House of Spies is more than just riveting entertainment; it is a dazzling tale of avarice and redemption, set against the backdrop of the great conflict of our times. And it proves once again why Daniel Silva is “quite simply the best” (Kansas City Star).
Reviews with the most likes.
Even though it's the 17th outing of Gabriel Allon, the anticipation for this book remains high. It starts off on a promising note – five hundred dead in three separate but coordinated attacks in the West End of London. Adrian Carter is working in conjunction with MI5 to identify the players even though there is no doubt that the mastermind is Saladin – the same one behind the attacks in Washington DC at the end of the previous book. The trail leads to a Moroccan-French drug dealer and here enters Gabriel – the newly minted ramsad of the Office who has to smooth things with French intelligence to figure out where the trail leads to. It ends at a French hotelier billionaire, friends with the Prime Minister but rumored to be a drug dealer.
Here starts the story that readers are all too familiar with – coerce/convince the Frenchman and his girlfriend to cooperate and finally help the team in a clandestine operation leading right to Saladin. The ending is good but quite simplistic too, still enjoyable. The idea that the chief of an intelligence agency would personally shoot and kill a terrorist mastermind is unthinkable in the real world but we can expect nothing less from Gabriel. Even though this series is becoming quite repetitive in the last couple of books, it's still difficult to put down because Gabriel remains the killer with a conscience – the Prince of Fire.
Still the exact same formula as the last several, but somewhat better written.
Excellent book as always by Daniel Silva! Definitely up there as one of my favourite authors!
Featured Series
24 primary booksGabriel Allon is a 24-book series with 24 primary works first released in 2000 with contributions by Daniel Silva.
