Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Act Quickly, Regret in Leisure, But Save the Day in the Meantime, 10 Aug 2007
The Secret Servant lacks the smoothness and tradecraft of The Messenger, but is a fine suspenseful antiterrorist novel.
The story's main theme is that Europe will become the center of Islamic terrorism. Targets will focus inside the UK, and the Islamic friendly policies of countries like the Netherlands will make that task easier. Many elements of the story are loosely based on factual reports. Mr. Silva has a lot of fun pointing out the hypocrisy employed by the politicians as they seek help from any source in private while denying involvement in public.
As the book opens, Professor Solomon Rossner, a low-profile agent for the Israelis in the Netherlands, is killed. Gabriel Allon, an Israeli assassin whose cover is as an art restorer for Italian Old Masters, is asked to clean out Rossner's files so that his agents can be located and kept active while any secrets remain that way. Gabriel is surprised to be approached by Ibrahim Fawaz, who claims to be the source who foiled a terrorist attack on a passenger plane. Fawaz warns that a terrorist cell has recently left for an unnamed target. Fawaz warns, "Find them . . . Otherwise I'm afraid buildings are going to fall."
Gabriel quickly locates a trail that leads him to London. Once there, his warnings fail to avoid the kidnapping of the American ambassador's daughter, Elizabeth Halton, a talented surgeon. Frustrated to lose her, Allon stays on the trail of the terrorists.
The implications of the kidnapping begin to reverberate throughout the Middle East and Europe.
In Gabriel's personal life, he finds too little time to be with his beloved, Chiara, who worries that Gabriel may not survive.
At the same time, the Israelis want Gabriel to pursue a new direction. Will he be willing to make a change?
The book has several weaknesses that keep it from being perfectly satisfying. The Islamic terrorists are stereotyped so much that they don't come across as real people. The plot is also quite predictable in places. The mismatch between the terrorists and the Israelis provides not much challenge to anticipate.
The plot moves along quite nicely though, so you won't be sitting there bored. You just won't get to experience enough suspense.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Return To Form, 4 Sep 2007
After the slight disappointment of Daniel Silva's last Gabriel Allon novel, The Messenger, The Secret Servant is a pleasing return to form.
Following Allon's attempts to rescue the kidnapped daughter of the US Ambassador to Britain, it is a tense and suspenseful tale, but also an intelligently written one. There's little recourse to deus ex-machina or outlandish action. This is a story that whilst undeniably a work of fiction maintains enough realism to remain frighteningly plausible.
The book also marks a return to form for the character of Gabriel Allon. Having drifted in a somewhat purposeless manner for much of The Messenger, seemingly caught in a cul de sac as far as further character development went, here he is given a renewed sense of forward momentum. No longer the lone assassin, he seems far more comfortable as both a leader of men and a human being in The Secret Servant, suggesting that he is finally entering a new and interesting phase of his career.
Of course that doesn't stop Allon from becoming involved in the heart of the action. Supported by a wide array of characters, some of whom recur from previous Silva novels, he is at the forefront of events. As usual Silva provides some wonderfully tense and exciting action sequences to go with the quieter periods, and its quickly apparent that Allon has lost none of his edge when it comes to doing what has to be done to complete his mission.
As always with Silva's novels, there are very definite centre-right & pro-Israeli slants to the book's perspective. This may turn some readers off, depending on their political persuasion, but it should be said that at no point does the book espouse hard views in this respect. Everything is very much based in fact, Silva displays a detailed understanding of the politics of Europe, the US and the Middle East and he tries where possible to maintain balance in his portrayal of difference religious and political groups.
Still, this is a book written by an American during the war on terror so the bad guys are Islamists and if the book has a weak point it is their portrayal. To a man they remain very much one-dimensional, (in some cases literally) faceless, emotionless killers, which is a shame considering the complexities Silva includes elsewhere. I can understand that he would not wish to give any suggestion of support for the Islamist cause or its methods, but to give even those willing to commit inhuman, monstrous acts, be they fanatics of not, some slight hint of humanity would have given the book even greater depth and porbably made it all the better.
Still, despite this The Secret Servant is one of Silva's best novels to date and I would recommend it to anyone wanting an intelligent contemporary thriller. I would however, also recommend reading the previous Gabriel Allon novels first. Its not vital to do so, but readers will gain far greater enjoyment if they understand where this complex and fascinating character has come from.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling, 21 Jan 2009
I've read the previous Allon novels and I think has to be by far the best.
Originally intrigued by the idea of an Israeli art restorer turned assassin and the problems Jews face abroad, Silva's Allon novels began to be a bit predictable. However, this one is enough of a variation on previous outings to make it that much more enjoyable (a new story with a favourite character is always a pleasure, especially when they take a few unexpected turns).
Personally I found it never let up from start to finish, dealing with the kidnap of a US amabassador's daughter in London to the break neck close.
I give it five stars but I share the disappointment with other reviewers in the stereotype Arab portrayal. To read a thriller from a Palestinian point of view, try Matt Rees's Omar Yussef novels.
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