The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva

September 8, 2010 First Reading:
Gabriel Allon is a complex soul. He revels in restoration of broken art. His public occupation is a restoration artist. He painstakingly restores old masters. His private occupation is assassin. He kills to protect the state of Israel. The book details his great loss, his healing and his redemption. He confronts his oldest and most implacable foe. The book is both poignant and reflective.

An opinionated but lovable 3 star Air Force General acquaintance recommended Daniel Silva and suggested that his work often accurately portrays some confidential events in a fictional manner.

Silva portrays a tortured soul in Gabriel’s character. Gabriel’s frustration with his hidden work is clearly expressed. Silva paints his characters methodically and in detail. The story has a lot of action and a fair amount of pontificating. I read the English Assassin first. That was his second book. I saw a lot of improvement in the English Assassin. I though it moved much better than this book. I do recommend reading this book first though.

I recommend the book.

July 3, 2015 Second Reading:

This is the first book in the series on Gabriel Allon. In a typical Daniel Silva fashion he slowly gets into the story. We meet many of the characters that we will see in later Silva stories that feature Gabriel.

This is a story primarily on revenge but not necessarily based on the Revenge of the main character.  When  developing his characters he gives you a lot of insight into what motivates them.

Gabriel is the consummate spy/assassin and he works for the Israeli government so the stories and particularly this one deal with the Palestinian peace process. you meet people like Yasser Arafat and the Prime Minister of Israel and a fake president of the United States.

I enjoyed the book again as this is the second time I have read it but I am starting the whole series again and trying to read them in order. there is a great deal of violence and mayhem and rather intricate plot one of the most interesting things about the Daniel Silva books are the complexity of his plots.

Web Site:

Drawing in the Dust by Zoe Klein

An archaeologist on a dig in Israel is approached by an Arab couple and asked to come to their home to see their ghosts. The archaeologist makes a surprising discovery that appears to virally spread a world wide message of love.

I was particularly taken by the interplay of the various factions in Israel. The conflict just isn’t as clear cut as the media often portrays. Klein shows disparate groups showing surprising concern for both each other and a possible unifying artifact. The image of the mindless, blood thirsty suicide bomber is contrasted with the compassion of Arab friendships. The marriage of a Israeli girl and an Arab boy underlines the fact that the people in the region are more similar than dissimilar. The pettiness of bureaucracy and the willingness of a single individual to defy convention and odds to pursue a perceived righteous calling was inspiring. There were times I found my self drifting and others where I found myself riveted to the book. Klein did an excellent job in defining Page Brookstone, her goals, fears and aspirations. The painting of a country that is confused about it’s own identity and in constant turmoil was masterful.

I recommend the book, it isn’t a quick, easy read, you will want to take some time and ponder what you are reading.

Body of work of Zoe Klein

Review: http://themysterygazette.blogspot.com/2009/05/drawing-in-dust-zoe-klein.html


Web site: http://www.zoeklein.com/