AN INSIDE JOB

5 stars out of 5

I enjoyed this, the 25th installment of the series featuring my all-time favorite male character in a book series more, I believe, than any of the 24 that came before it - and as far as I know, I haven't missed a single one. I'll admit I read it following a book that had so many grammatical and content errors that I can't believe it got past publishing house editors, and perhaps that did influence my appreciation of this one a bit. In any event, the contrast really underscored how wonderful it is to read a story that's well-written, engrossing and entertaining. And for sure this one is all that and more.

Even though the star of the show, Gabriel Allon, no longer officially plies his trade as a well-known and successful Mossad spy, his legend continues. These days, he practices his unmatched talent as a restorer of art (not only does he "fix" damaged artwork by the old masters, he can copy their style so well that experts can't tell his painting isn't an original). As he and his beautiful wife Chiara and their twins Raphael and Irene live the good life, he's been working on the restoration of a very important one. That work gets rudely interrupted, however, with his discovery of a dead woman in the waters of the Venetian Lagoon. That, in turn, leads him inside the walls of the Vatican, where a painting thought to be a lost DaVinci - which could be worth many millions of dollars - somehow disappeared.

Soon it's clear that the painting could not have gone missing without help from the inside. Since Gabriel is good friends with the Pope (he played an instrumental role in his election, in fact), the two meet up quite often. Mind you, I'm not Catholic, but I loved the late Pope Francis and the current Pope Leo XIV). Gabriel's good buddy, though, turns out to be an absolute delight - every interaction between the two brought a smile to my face (despite concern that either or both will make it out of the book alive).

The rest of the story, of course, serves up details on how they plan to get the painting back, what really happened to the dead woman and who the bad guys and gals are. It's the usual suspense and action, but also to my great delight it brings together several familiar characters from previous books and puts a bit brighter spotlight on Gabriel's delightful 9-year-olds.

All good things must come to an end, of course, and already I'm chomping at the bit for the next adventure. After all these years, Gabriel may be getting a little long in the tooth and tries his best to avoid the kind of dangerous cloak-and-dagger situations that earned him his stellar reputation as a spy. But he certainly hasn't lost his edge - if anything, he's become all the more interesting. 

An Inside Job by Daniel Silva (Harper, July 2025); 415 pp.

PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN WOMAN

5 stars out of 5

Sometimes, you just have to throw caution to the wind and go your own way, even if you have to override good judgment in the process. Such was the case with this book; the main character, art restorer and former Israeli intelligence chief Gabriel Allon sits at the top of my all-time favorite "hero" list. So when I got my hands on a copy of this latest book - No. 22 - I set aside my stack of for-review books despite their too-fast-approaching deadlines and went for it. And although Gabriel's journey isn't quite as nail-bitingly dangerous as many of the past installments with respect to his survival and that of his beautiful wife Ciara or any of the other characters I've come to know and love from previous books, the story was deliciously detailed as usual and solidified Gabriel's top-of-the-list standing.

As Gabriel and Ciara ready their home in Venice, where Gabriel will begin restoration work for his wife's company, his longtime friend and art dealer Julian Isherwood tells him a woman who sent him a letter asking to meet regarding an important painting never showed - with good reason; she's dead. More investigation suggests Julian may have bought and sold a fake painting; if true, it would discredit him and bring down his entire operation. Just for that reason alone, Gabriel wants to help; and he puts his monumental talents as a spy, art restorer and painter to work as he gathers those familiar friends to get down to business.

And for sure, the business that's going down isn't pretty; but it's quite lucrative for those who ply the forgery trade. In fact, the financial ramifications, particularly with regard to the provenance of a 17th-century masterpiece, runs into the millions. Getting to the truth means Gabriel and friends will need to insert themselves square in the middle of the action, weaving a net that's sure to snare the "bad guys" and save Julian's reputation. To be sure, it's a complex one, filled with knotholes and twists plus the usual rich and enticing descriptions of people, places and things that make this author's books a real treat to read. Of course, I can't reveal any of the fine points of the action (and fine points they are) without giving too much away, so I'll just say it's another one well done and I'm glad I made the time to read it. Kudos!

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Daniel Silva (Harper, July 2022); 446 pp.

THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

4 stars out of 5


In 2015, one of the 123 books I read was Mrs. John Doe, the first in a series featuring Nora Baron, wife of CIA operative Jeff Baron, actress and drama teacher at Stony Brook University on Long Island, N.Y. (where, for the record, our son earned his master's degree). I enjoyed that one, so when I got the chance to request an advance review copy of this second installment, I didn't hesitate for a second.

Nora's actions in that first adventure apparently impressed her husband's boss at the CIA so much that he picked her to lead the mission here. That seemed a bit of a stretch - I've heard how insular those CIA folks are, after all - until I learned that this job would require Nora to pose as a TV news host. All rightee then, I said - she may not have a lot of journalistic chops, but she certainly should be a shoe-in for portraying her assigned character.

The script goes something like this: A beautiful and talented Russian theater star, Galina Rostova, has contacted the CIA to seek asylum in the United States in exchange for information she claims is critical to U.S. security. Getting her to the States, though, won't be a walk in Central Park; Nora and her team must travel to Venice - where Galina is starring in a stage production of Chekhov's The Seagull - ostensibly to do a profile of the actress. At some point during the fake interviews, Galina is to be whisked away to a plane that will take her to freedom - far from the Russian general (and lover) she insists is a dangerous man who will stop at nothing to stop her from leaving him.

Not surprisingly, that old best-laid plans thing rears its head early on, most notably in the form of a snowstorm that effectively shuts down the entire city, its airport and waterways - and nearly drops the curtain on the escape plan. Meanwhile, Russian agents, who possibly suspect that a defection is in the works, begin to pop up stage right and left and anywhere else they're not wanted. Even though he's working primarily behind the scenes, Nora's husband Jeff gets involved as well, taking cues from his wife and doing what he can to keep Galina and everyone on the CIA team alive and the mission on pace.

All of that is complicated by a few twists that suggest some of the situations may not be as described and characters not as honest as they claim, so it's touch-and-go as to who will make it to the final bows. I'll never tell, though, so you'll just have to read it and find out for yourself.

The Woman Who Knew Too Much by Tom Savage (Alibi, March 2017); 242 pp.