"House of Spies" by Daniel Silva
Above: "House of Spies," Daniel Silva. 550 pages.
This book centers around Allon's second attempt to end Salidin's career of terror.
I completed reading this book today.
With Israeli super spy Gabriel Allon as his focal point, Silva writes another thriller on the theme of preventing anticipated acts of Islamic terror in contemporary times.
Setting is as usual.... London, Washington, DC, Jerusalem, south of France with a new twist this time; the central mastermind of terror activities, Saladin, is holed up, not in Syria, not in Iraq, but in Morocco.
In his previous novel, Allon hand managed to infiltrate a female agent into Saladan's camp in Syria. The agent, a doctor, saved Saladin's life. As her reward, and as a continuing test of her loyalty, Saladin engaged the agent as a suicide bomber in a massive attack in Washington, D.C. The female agent had been given a dud bomb, so she escaped the attack, but, Washington D.C. did not.
The female agent appears in this book too. Her unexpected re encounter with Saladin, sparks the denouement of this novel.
This book centers around Allon's second attempt to end Salidin's career of terror. How does an Israeli spy, now head of Israel's intelligence service, become the key focal point for an effort seemingly better coordinated by the CIA or MI6? Allon's former associate, a former British SAS man, Keller, was enlisted into MI6 to return to his former Corsican employer (subject in another Allon novel) to seek out information on gun runners believed to have provided fire arms for Saladin's most recent attack in London.
The Corsican connection develops important information... guns and drugs coming into Europe from Morocco are financing the terrorism. On the European end is a well known businessman who fronts legitimate businesses as distractions to his real business, being the central supplier of European drug distribution. He launders his money, among others, through the art gallery of his common law wife.
With the approbation of the CIA, MI6 and French Intelligence, Allon and his former protege Keller work a plan to penetrate the French businessman's organization to, step by step, get closer to the source of the drugs in Morocco, and the terrorist orchestrator.
The book features the usual Silva scenes of Gabriel Allon's downtime with his Jewish/Italian wife Chiara and their two children. There are two or three sections of the book where Allon seeks solace and advice from his mentor, and former Israeli intelligence leader, Ari Shamron.
No need to take my description further. The rest of the book is the race to capture the perp and includes the usual tense "could go this way... could go that way" suspense.
Allon is a solitary type.. contemplative. He's a walker. Not in this book, but in others, he calms himself by solitary walks. In that, he has been an inspiration to me. Walking. Exercise brings about peace of mind in addition to physical fitness.
This book is a bit longer than other Silva/Allon books I have read. Silva captures many of the themes of contemporary terrorism and shows great insight in describing how western and Israeli authorities work together to prevent it.
If you're a Silva fan, you won't want to miss this. I wouldn't start with this book, though, if you haven't read Silva before. The Allon character is better understood and appreciated if you start with the first book.