"The Other Woman" - Daniel Silva

Above: "The Other Woman." Daniel Silva. 476 pages.

For me the novel was unconvincing as to its premise that tension between Russia and the West represents the type of existential problem on which the safety of the free world turns.

I completed reading this book today.

Gabriel Allon is the same man as in Silva's other Allon series novels (I've read most of them): the reluctant spy, who was forced to give up his first passion of art restoration to save the free world from evil doer states or terrorists.

There are things I like about Allon. He's a solitary walker. As he walks, he reflects... he shuts out the worries of the world... he unwinds. He's a family man. He adores his wife Chiara and his children. He strengthens mentally under pressure. He doesn't wilt and cower in the face of a challenge. Allon cuts corners. He's a risk taker. If "by the book" doesn't get the job done, Allon finds another way. For example, Allon will leap into danger, alone, without his body guards attending, if the situation demands.

Silva's formula is not unlike Lee Child's with Jack Reacher. Both novel series revolve around a character whose effectiveness grows in the face of life threatening challenge. With both the Silva and Child series, you remember more about the character than you do about the plots and its entanglements... which, for me, blur quickly after reading any given Silva or Child novel.

In "The Other Woman," Allon is now well ensconsed in his role as head of "The Office," the Israeli spy organization. The term "Mossad" is not used in the novel's parlance, though CIA, MI6, and SVR are used to describe the equivalent American, British and Russian spy organizations.

Most of Allon's past challenges have involved Islamic terrorist threats to Israel and "the free world." In this novel, Russia is the antagonist. Russia's leader, called the Tsar, in the novel, is always in the background. "Tsar," of course, causes the reader to think of Putin, despite Silva's claim at the end of the book:

"'The Other Woman' is a work of entertainment and should be read as nothing more."

The novel's theme: There is a mole, currently heading MI6's Washington station. The mole's Moscow handler, Sasha, is an old school former KBG (now SVR) spymaster. Think Kim Philby squared, recast for today's geopolitical situation.

The concern of a mole in MI6 is really a British one, but it is "The Office" which unearth's the mole's existence. And, the mole has a provenance so sensitive that his/her outing could bring down MI6, if not the current British government. So collaboration begins between current MI6 leader Graham Seymour and Allon, both of whom have worked together successfully in past novels.... even to the point of developing a strong friendship.

But, what if the mole is actually Seymour's designated MI6 replacement and trusted protege? Will Seymour be on the up and up as the mole is exposed? Or, will he work to undermine the mole's outing with the ultimate objective of facilitating his/her escape back to Moscow through an SVR "bolthole" in Washington? After all, that's the way the Brit's got rid of the Philby problem sixty years previously ie. turn the other way as Philby spirits his way to Moscow, saving the country from the embarrassment of a long drawn out trial. Can Seymour's and Allon's chummy relationship survive under the attendant tension? Read the novel to find out.

Like Silva's other Allon novels, its a pager turner. short chapters, with the action moving from venue to venue....this time, Geneva, now London, now Moscow, now Jerusalem, now Washington D.C and surrounding 'burbs. The series still keeps my interest, where I am tiring of Child's Jack Reacher series. Series novelists must do something bigger and better... more outrageous each offering. Child has run out of gas. Silva, I feel, still has a bit of fuel remaining in his tank.
Silva's characters don't just carry "guns." They carry Hechler and Koch P30 SK's, or Sig Sauer, P365's, or IWI Jericho 941's. Forget guns so mundane and boring as Colts, Rugers, Springfields, Smith and Wessons, or Glocks.

For me the novel was unconvincing as to its premise... that tension between Russia and the West represents the type of existential problem on which the safety of the free world turns.

Russia and the West share the problem of Islamic terror. The need for the US and Russia to work together on this threat outweigh cyber sparing and putative election manipulation. Russia doesn't pose an existential threat to the United States or the UK, as it did, say, during the cold war.

The Chinese militarization of the Western Pacific and South China Sea and the ongoing threat of Islamic terror represent greater threats to world peace and would be more credible targets of Allon's spy mastery than Russia.

Russia is top of mind with Silva's anti Trump readers, though. I guess its a measure of my cynicism that his plot this time is designed more to sell books to Trump haters than to realistically outline geopolitical truth.