Prince of Fire

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The prince of fire is back in this intriguing story from Daniel Silva. Gabriel Allon is living in Venice, doing his art restoration work, and planning to marry the beautiful Chiara. His old friend and mentor from the Israeli secret service, Ari Shamron, recruits him once again to do a job for the Office--investigate the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Rome. Gabriel reluctantly agrees to return to Israel and be re-employed by the Office. Gabriel and his team soon learn the guy behind the bombing is the son and grandson of two notorious Arab terrorists. Khaled was allegedly taken in by Yassir Arafat when his father was murdered and is now believed to be carrying on the family's tradition of terror. Gabriel sets out to find Khaled and, of course, runs into major troubles. The story is involved and I won't go into any great details here or spoil it for you. It's a somewhat sad, somewhat happy time for Gabriel and we may read more about him in the future. Suffice it to say, this is a great story and good history lesson (much of it is based on fact). Don't miss this one! Especially if you've read the previous Allon stories.

An absolutely fabulous story and without a doubt the most enjoyable book I have read in a long time. Daniel Silva has proven once again that he is a gifted storyteller and one of the best at international espionage and intrigue. This fascinating Silva book is another in the Gabriel Allon series. For those of you who don't know, Allon is the physically underwhelming yet world renowned art restorer, who lives a double life in the Israeli Intelligence Service. Once "activated" Allon has no peer as the secret protector of Israeli security. Allon finds the really bad guys, the ones that nobody else wants to track. Allon goes where all others fear to tread and brings the bad guys to justice, whether that means the justice of the court, the justice of some form of imprisonment, or the justice of the assassin's bullet. In this book Allon reluctantly abandons his precious work in Vienna, at the Chapel of San Giavanni Crisostomo, where he has spent months on the restoration of a famous Bellini altarpiece. His mission is a search for the terrorist mastermind behind a recent horrific and deadly bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Rome. All indications are that there is much more death and destruction to follow, so Gabriel is in a rush to find this terrorist before he strikes again. Along the way he learns that the life of his target and his own life are inextricably interwoven. The chase, which does not disappoint, covers a lot of ground and takes the reader from Rome, to Venice, Cairo, London, Paris and Jerusalem, and along the way Silva gives a factual history lesson from 1910 to the present, on the struggles between the Palestinians and the Israelis. This history lesson alone is almost worth of the price of the book! I have read the comparisons others have made to Silva's writing and I will add a comparison of my own. In Silva I see an early Ludlum. I certainly feel the same sort of thrill reading Silva that I did more than 25 years ago reading Ludlum. Silva's books are every bit as exciting, the plots are equal to or better than Ludlum when he was at his best. Silva has my unqualified recommendation; you simply can not go wrong reading one of his books!

What lens do we use to examine the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Usually, it's the evening news or morning newspaper. Boom. Bang. Bleed. After a while, all of the killing seems to blend together into an enormous, sad gray cloud of suffering. Reprisals follow upon reprisals until it all seems like a pointless exercise in tribal violence. As Gandhi said: "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." What we really need is a new method of understanding -- a new lens -- that will enable us to see this conflict in its deeper hues. Something that will connect the past with the present in a way that is not transparently self-righteous. That's what Daniel Silva has achieved in his remarkable new novel -- "Prince of Fire." He has taken a somewhat worn-out literary genre (the spy novel) and turned it into a powerful new lens for understanding the current conflict. Anyone who cares about the future of Israel and the hope for a Palestinian state should read this extremely well-written and sophisticated novel. (If you need a quick plot summary, read one of the other reviews on this page.) Now, anew, we can see how the history of Zionism intersects with the Shoah and the subsequent founding of Israel. Now, anew, we can see how the suffering of the Palestinian people has been exploited by Arab leaders for cynical political purposes. Now, finally, we can see that there is no single "black and white" solution -- or source of blame. Not even Arafat. While Silva is clearly a defender of Israel and the Jewish people, he is not without doubt and empathy for the other side. His reluctant spy-hero, Gabriel Allon, continually challenges his own assumptions and refuses to accept easy explanations. One of the Palestinian characters in Prince of Fire, an older man who has seen too much, says: "Always living in the past -- this is our disease." Read this book to understand why the past still has a strangle hold on so many people today.

If you are looking for intelligent action/adventure novel, then this 4th novel featuring the art restorer, Gabriel Allon is it. Those familiar with the earlier books will find this another satisfying read, and those new to it should check it out! This time out Allon is called back into action by the Israeli intelligence - his old employer. The Israeli Embassy in Rome has been destroyed by a massive truck bomb, innocent people gunned down as they tried to flee. Over 50 brutally murdered! The Israelis obtain a computer disk from a terrorist in Milan, it has on information about Allon, his real Identity, Photos of him and his lover, and info about killings of Black September Members! The story takes off from here and I don't want to ruin any of the surprises or twists and turns! The novel does include many characters from past novels, but I do not think it will prevent a new comer from enjoying this novel as a stand alone. In spite of the complexity of the subject matter, the writer has a clean narrative style that keeps the story easy to read and the suspense level high. Which is especially amazing considering all the sub plots! It is also interesting because the writer gives plenty of historical context to the history of the middle east conflict.

Daniel Silva has followed up his terrific trilogy with another outstanding novel. "Prince of Fire" brings back Gabriel Allon, a gifted art restorer and master spy who has settled down in Venice with the lovely Chiara, whom he hopes to marry. After a tempestuous life filled with tragedy and violence, Allon is trying to find the peace of mind that has thus far eluded him. A huge bomb destroys the Israeli embassy in Rome and sinks any hope that Allon can live a placid life free of bloodshed. Ari Shamron, who is now seventy-five, was once the head of Israel's secret service and Gabriel's mentor. He is now a special advisor to Israel's prime minister. Shamron visits Gabriel in Italy and informs him that Palestinian terrorists have uncovered Gabriel's true identity and may be targeting him for assassination. He urges Gabriel to come out of retirement and lead a team that will hunt down a Palestinian mastermind named Khaled al-Khalifa. This man is believed to be responsible not only for the attack in Rome, but also for two earlier blasts in Buenos Aires and Istanbul that killed over one hundred Jews. "Prince of Fire" is intricate, fast-paced, and absorbing. Without sermonizing or pontificating, Silva explores the politics of hatred in the Middle East. He skillfully traces the trail of terror that has left this region in a constant state of fear and mourning for so many years. As we have come to expect from Silva, he writes exciting, suspenseful, and unpredictable action sequences that contain fascinating details about how spies operate. All of Silva's characters are well drawn, but Gabriel Allon is in a class by himself. He has suffered great personal losses from which he can never completely recover. Although he has repeatedly hunted down and slaughtered the enemies of his people, Gabriel remains a compassionate man who values human life. In this book, he is confronted with a terrifying moral dilemma, and one particular scene in which he must make a split-second, life or death decision is simply electrifying. "Prince of Fire" proves, once again, that Daniel Silva has mastered the art of writing espionage thrillers with intelligence, depth, and heart.