The Kill Artist

Great characterizations and explicit details of the setting took me to the various locales. Excellent writing and character development that whet my appetite for the next Gabriel Allon book.

Another Silva thriller.......like the history and culture in his work.

I listened to the The Kill Artist on tape. Totally enjoyed it. Loved the book. The author's brilliant writing style comes through clearly even when listened to, rather than read. The plot is not totally original but the characterization is so excellent and the writing style so clear and engaging that the same old spy vs spy story rings fresh and true. There is also a very intriguing twist at the end. I am looking forward to reading or listening to the other works in this series.

It isn't embarrassing for me to admit that this wasn't my first Gabriel Allon read by Silva. Probably like a lot of others, I started somewhere in the middle. So, when I read "The Confessor", I had to fill in a few blanks for myself. I left some of my questions unanswered until I got to find out where it all began, and here it is... THE KILL ARTIST! I wondered if Silva would have really made it interesting for those who thought they knew about Gabriel Allon and Ari Shamron. I had some stuff to learn, and what I never knew was some life restored for me! So you learn some background about Gabriel Allon. You realize he is a world class art restorer. He has his regrets, and he has his reasons, some pretty good. Oh, but he gets the challenge, and Ari Shamron pays him a visit. Hey, Allon's working on a masterful Vecellio, so why the heck would he want to go back into the game for? Maybe for a man named Tariq? Oh yes, that just might prick the ears and enlighten him just a bit. But he's also put with a beautiful agent, and that makes the stakes just a bit higher. Put a man named Yusef in the picture, and boy do you have a deadly kiss of chaos, but the lips just might be worth the kiss! And while you're at it you'll eavesdrop on meetings in Paris, and you just may taste the cold steel of a Beretta. You may even care to crave a Tunisian date with Yasir Arafat, but you'll wonder if you dare take a bite. It all comes together in the end. This is where we meet the great Prince of Fire! There's a lot of hostility built up in this, emotions pumped for the greatest of revenge. Yet at the same time you find such a human element that you can't put it down, because you know you'll miss something great. I still have some catching up to do with "The English Assassin", and I can't wait! I'm here to tell you that Silva paints quite carefully, bringing with him to the canvas an advanced palette. The brush strokes are ever so careful and delicate, yet the finished work might be a sight for sore eyes. That combined with good wine, and great fury. Daniel Silva isn't a man to be missed with his work. If you do, you're missing the best!

This book is chronologically the first in the Gabriel Allon series. Chronological Order: 1. The Kill Artist 2. The English Assassin 3. The Confessor 4. Death in Venice 5. Prince of Fire 6. The Messenger In this book, Gabriel, a former assassin for Israel's foreign intelligence service, the Mossad (which translates into English as "The Institution") retired after the murders of his wife and son to lead a quiet life as an art restorer, one who fixes the wounded past. Gabriel's ex-boss, Ari Shamron, an Israeli spymaster a la George Smiley but more treacherous, convinces Gabriel to leave his sheltered hermitage to hunt down Tariq, the assassin who killed Gabriel's family, before he can kill again. In an exquisitely wrought plot of treachery and counter-treachery, Silva explores the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from many, many angles. I don't read spy fiction as a genre. I don't read anything as a genre. I read great writers, pretty much no matter what they write. I've read a lot of John Le Carre, and one of the few criticisms that I have of his work is that his spies play a gentleman's game. However, Le Carre's spies are deeply human and British. Silva's spies are not gentlemen, and this is no gentlemen's game. This is hard and dirty intelligence work by one of the hardest and dirtiest intelligence services on the planet. The Mossad is charged with keeping tiny Israel's formidable opponents at bay, and you don't do that by playing fair. Gabriel's Mossad plays entirely unfairly, as it must, as it does in real life. In this book, Jacqueline/Sarah is used as a "honey trap," and Silva lightly explores what it does to a woman to prostitute oneself for a good cause. Silva does exaggerate some of the Mossad's successes, which he does not need to do because the Mossad is very successful without Silva's burnishing. Silva's plotting is as intricate as a chess game, albeit a game where each of the chess pieces has a deeply felt personality, background, and damaged psyche such that they refuse to move where the gamester wants them to and take on a life of their own. Another thing that I like about Silva's work is that, while Gabriel is the central character and our guide, each of Silva's characters has his/her own agenda and life and is capable of growing, changing direction, and surprising the reader. One feels when reading Silva's books that the book is built to elucidate several characters, not merely one central character. TK Kenyon Author of Rabid: A Novel and Callous: A Novel

In Daniel Silva's latest thriller, The Kill Artist, he not only continues the suspense created in The Mark Of The Assasin, he exceeds it. This book can't miss being a sure-fire smash with all readers who like international espionage thrillers; and it will keep you glued to the edge of your seat. Silva's writing style is so "grabbing" it will make you feel that you're personally there in the middle of the action. The action is non-stop, the plot is excitng and includes several surprises, and the characters are so fully developed, you'll think you really know them. If you're looking for a book in which you can fully "get lost", get yourself a copy of The Kill Artist as soon as you can.

This was a very entertaining novel. The characters were interesting, and the twists keep you wondering what next. Gabriel Allon is the quintessential "good" guy. A definitely good read.