The Messenger (Gabriel Allon) Paperback – July 3, 2007

"The Messenger" is Daniel Silva's sixth novel in the Gabriel Allon series. I just finished this spellbinding, "edge of your seat," thriller and am amazed that the author's characters, plots and writing just seem to get stronger with each novel. A major source of strength emanates from protagonist Gabriel Allon, a brilliant Israeli art restorer, "perhaps one of the three or four most sought after restorers in the world." A complex, melancholy man who leads a double life, he has worked for years as an Israeli intelligence agent and assassin. Allon lost his wife and young son to violence, years ago, as a consequence of his own violent lifestyle. Recruited by spymaster Ari Shamron in 1972, after the Munich Olympic Games massacre, he might have been one of his generation's greatest painters had he not answered his country's call.Shamron receives credible evidence that the Vatican is targeted by Saudi Muslim fundamentalists of the Wahabist sect. Although he has been longing to retire, Allon is sent to the Holy See, ASAP, to do whatever it takes. This is not the first time he has been asked to protect the Pope. Fortunately, Gabriel does save the Pope's life. Unfortunately, a packed St. Peter's Square is bombed, and the terrorists succeed in killing hundreds of pilgrims and in destroying the Basilica.Both Allon and Shamron agree, based on the latest evidence, that the strike was planned and executed by the terrorist group Brotherhood of Allah. Their leader is Ahmed bin Shafiq, a former employee of the General Intelligence Department, Saudi's intelligence service. The Mossad and the CIA ask Gabriel to assemble a team to penetrate an organization, AAB Holdings, which appears to have taken the fanatic terrorist leader under its wing. The initials for A.B.B. belong to world renowned Saudi businessman Abdul Aziz al-Bakari, "Zizi" to his friends. He is a multi-billionaire and virtually untouchable. "Zizi" is "friendly" with a large number of the world's heads of state. His visibility and power make the team's job all the more difficult. The name of the game is "petrodollars." The Israelis and Americans select a beautiful art curator, Sarah Bancroft, to work with them and infiltrate AAB and Zizi's inner circle. She had applied, some time ago, for a position with the CIA and after an intense training period she is prepared to act as bait."The Saudi family has lots of friends in Washington - the kind of friends only money can buy. Zizi has friends as well. He's endowed academic chairs and filled them with associates and supporters. He's underwritten the creation of Arab studies departments at half a dozen major American universities. He almost single-handedly financed a major renovation of the Kennedy Center. He gives to the pet charitable projects of influential senators and invests in the business ventures of their friends and relatives." Etc. The picture should be clear.Author Daniel Silva is a man with a message and the above quotation about Zizi's, influence, as well as the influence of others like him, is part of that message. Silva spent a lot of time in the Middle East where he worked as a television news correspondent. He states in his Author's Note that "The Messenger" is inspired by truth & that Saudi Arabia's financial and doctrinal support for global Islamic terrorism is a documented fact."The Messenger" is a real page turner, filled with action and intrigue. The pace is fast and the writing excellent, as always. While one can read this novel as a stand alone, I would recommend reading at least one previous Gabriel Allon thriller first to get a full understanding of this book. Highly recommended.Jana PerskieMoscow RulesThe Kill ArtistThe English Assassin

The plot, no matter how fantastical it may seem, feels pretty close to reality. The characters are so real and human that they almost feel like friends. And I personally really love the connection with art.

I have read all of the Gabriel Allon novels in order up to The Messenger. If you like other Allon novels, you will like this one. It's tightly plotted with lots of exciting action and we revisit some favorite recurring characters and meet a few new ones. Some of the narrative is copied directly out of previous novels in the series - the descriptions of people and some of the history. The ninth time around, I'm tired of reading it. Certain element of the plots are repetitive as well. I'm sure it's difficult to keep a long running series fresh, but in some respects it doesn't seem as though Silva is trying. It's more like he found a successful formula and is sticking with it.The heroine of The Messenger is a thirty something American woman who goes undercover for the Israelis. It says a lot about this series that when she was introduced, my first reaction was, "Ugh, another woman lovesick for Gabirel." Fortunately, that didn't happen but it highlight the main weakness in this series - it's reading more and more like a middle aged man's fantasy novel. Allon was late forties in the first book and must be mid - fifties by now, yet he's surrounded by gorgeous young women who are maybe in their early thirties, and they all fall in love with him. Despite his age he does field work, gets his ass kicked regularly, and generally is treated like a man 25 years younger. At the beginning of the story it seemed like Allon was going to be appointed as the director of operations for the office, which would make a lot of sense given his age and breadth of experience. It didn't happen and Allon is out in the field.On the personal side, the whole Chiara plot bothers me. We're told she is gorgeous and in the first novel in which she appeared she was brave and intelligent and resourceful. She's also literally young enough to be Allon's daughter, which is kind of creepy. Allon is a contempory of her father's. After becoming Allon's girlfriend, Chiara has been reduced to a prop for Gabriel. There's nothing about her life or her work. She waits for Gabriel to come home, she has sex with Gabriel, and in the previous book she nags Gabriel to divorce his mentally and physically tortured wife (because of Gabriel) to marry her. Silva has made her character shallow and somewhat unlikeable.At the beginning of The Messenger Gabriel tells his wife, Leah, he is in love with someone else but gave her up for her. Leah's response - "why would you do that, there's nothing left of me." Also, the pope plays matchmaker for Gabriel and Chiara which is bizarre given the Catholic church's views on divorce. Finally, he tells Leah he wants to marry Chiara and she accepts it calmly and then drifts conveniently back into the past. The whole thing is unbelievable, overly contrived and pulled me completely out of the story. I enjoyed the first 8 in the series, but now is a good time for me to stop.

The pace is fast, the characters tough, the action violent. This time Israeli agent and Italian restorer of early paintings, Gabriel Allon, must search out an assassin funded by Saudi Arabia. An Arab, he has attempted to kill the Pope, he hase been chased by Israel and the US, but has disappeared. Gabriel gathers together a band of Israelis and a beautiful American art expert. The bait is a lost Van Gogh painting which the American offers to Zizi, close friend of the assassin. The intrigue is believable, the bodies pile up, and in the end Gabriel finds him and then loses him. The stakes are high, the assassin has the the US President and the Pope in his sights. The resolution is seen on aTVs around the world. Can Gabriel continue his undercover work. We have to wait for the next book in the unforgettable series.