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.

THE COLLECTOR

4 stars out of 5

Mind you, I'm not offended when an author incorporates his or her personal opinions into a plot. But for the sake of potential readers, I must say that at times it felt as if the plot was written to showcase political viewpoints rather than a story that called for explanations of political implications now and again. That said, it's still an exciting, fast-paced story and I remain a dedicated fan of both the author and his multi-skilled, intriguing character, former Israeli spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon. This is, for the record, the 23rd book in the series, and I doubt I've missed a single one.

Now living out of the Office with his beautiful wife Ciara and their twins and working - essentially for Chiara - at the profession he loves, Gabriel is less than thrilled with an official "request" to go to Amalfi to authenticate a stolen Van Gogh painting that's been recovered. Turns out that was only the tip of the request iceberg; a wealthy man has been brutally murdered at his ostentatious home, where it seems what may be the world's most expensive painting has disappeared. The only clue is that he had dinner earlier in the evening with a beautiful woman - one believed to be the art thief and possibly the killer.

Gabriel enlists the help of a friend to help find the woman - one of the enjoyable aspects of this book is, in fact, that Gabriel gets to interact, albeit sometimes unwillingly, with some of the memorable characters from previous books. Anyway, the plan is that once the woman is found, Gabriel will get to return to his wife, kids and a relatively normal life. Well, cue Michael Corleone's famous line in The Godfather: Part III ("Just when I thought I was out...")

That's because learning who and where she is isn't an end, but rather the beginning of awareness of a top-secret plan that could mean nothing less than the end of the United States and a reordering of world dominance. Can Gabriel and his team save the day? Of course, I won't tell, but since most readers including me expect (hope for) another book with Gabriel in it down the road, figuring that he, at least, makes it out alive won't exactly be a surprise. But the devil is in the details - of which there is an abundance in this never-a-dull-moment book. Go get it. It's good.

The Collector by Daniel Silva (Harper, July 2023); 414 pp.

NEXT IN LINE

4 stars out of 5

This is the second book I've read - and thoroughly enjoyed - in this series (this is the fifth), and the same thing happened both times: I found them difficult to "get into" for the first several chapters. They're very well written, so it must be that I'm just not used to the style (and the number of characters to keep straight). But when the lightbulb of understanding finally turns on, from that point in both books I didn't want to put them down.

One of the themes of this one, as it turns out, is kind of sad because it focuses on England's Royal Family, more specifically the late Princess Diana (it's set around 1988, when she was one of the most recognized and loved women on earth). Needless to say, her life must be protected at all times; but the detail of officers charged with that responsibility are thought to be corrupt. Enter Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector William Warwick and his capable team - most notably Inspector Ross Hogan - who get assigned to the protection detail not only to do that job but unearth the illegal activities of the existing detail. It gets quite exciting, but I daresay the real Royal Family may not be too fond of the details (nope, can't explain - you'll just have to read it for yourself).

There's a concurrent theme as well, this one set in the art world; Warwick's wife, Beth, works in a prominent art gallery. But a prisoner they've put in jail has a duplicitous attorney, Booth Watson (who for whatever reason is always referred to by both his first and last name) more intent on stealing his client's money than defending him and an ex-wife, Christina, who doesn't care about the money but wants the artwork he's accumulated over the years. She's also friends with Beth - or so she's trying to make Beth believe. This one's not a case of determining which one is the "bad guy," but rather which one will end up outfoxing the others.

Both plots are quite complex, woven with detail and, on occasion, a bit of humor. As always, an interesting, entertaining read that makes me eager for the next installment. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with a pre-release copy to read and review. Excellent!

Next in Line by Jeffrey Archer (HarperCollins, September 2022); 385 pp.