In an isolated village in the mountains of Peninsular Spain, a mysterious Frenchwoman begins work on a dangerous memoir. It is the story of a man she once loved in the Beirut of old, and a child taken from her in treason’s name. The woman is the keeper of the Kremlin’s most closely guarded secret.
Long ago, the KGB inserted a mole into the heart of the West—a mole who has reached the highest echelons of Britain’s MI6. Gabriel Allon, the legendary art restorer and assassin who serves as the chief of Israel’s secret intelligence service, is lured into the hunt for the traitor after his most important asset inside Russian intelligence is brutally assassinated while trying to defect. His quest for the truth will lead him backward in time, to the twentieth century’s greatest act of treason, and, finally, to a spellbinding climax along the banks of the Potomac River outside Washington, D.C.
I’ve always been fascinated by the treachery of double agent Harold “Kim” Philby, who defected to Moscow in 1963. Philby was a member of the famous spy ring known as The Cambridge Five that divulged British secrets during World War II and the early stages of the Cold War. Silva does an excellent job of weaving historical details with contemporary events. His novels never disappoint. I’ve read eighteen of them now and am eager to continue. The electric plots and vivid characters have me turning pages as though I were in a race to the finish, although I must admit I sometimes have trouble keeping the characters straight. I learn something new about the world’s political intricacies with each book in the series… be sure to read the author’s notes at the end. 4 stars.
Published Date: July 2018
Genre: Spy fiction, thrillers, mystery
Read-alikes: Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams, The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré, Red War by Vince Flynn.