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.

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King and Maxwell by David Baldacci

Baldacci has such enormous talent that one tends to forget how compelling his work is.  This rendition brings back Sean King and Michele Maxwell, the former Secret Service agents, who are now private detectives.  They unwittingly fall into the rabbit hole dug by a man bent on revenge.

Baldacci has a way of portraying his characters that you can almost reach out and pat them on the back.   They are believable.   They grab your attention and sate your appetite for thoughtful action.   Wack jobs exist and Baldacci paints them with meticulous detail and coats them with a veneer of reality. 

This was an excellent mystery, it started with nearly a bang and ended with a bang.   This is vintage Baldacci and I could not put it down!

I highly recommend it.

Web Site: http://www.davidbaldacci.com/web/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

The Innocent by David Baldacci

Baldacci has another new hero, this one is an assassin.   This is a typical never boring cliff hanging, throat grabbing thriller.

Will Robie does his job without a lot of soul searching.   He believes in his government and assumes that the people he is assigned to assassinate deserve it, that they are a threat to national security.  

When Will is thrust into a situation that doesn’t fit his personal mission parameters he is faced with hard choices.   This novel is centered on the ramifications and repercussions of his choices.

The impact of big money on ordinary people and how it changes them is a recurring theme in Baldacci books.    Human interaction under pressure is another Baldacci characteristic.    Showcasing the ability of man overcoming complacency or base nature is one of the things I enjoy about Baldacci’s books. 

Once again Baldacci paints such a vivid picture.  He sets his stage with clarity and depth.   His characters are both larger than life and realistically human forcing you to read long beyond your appointed bed time.

I highly recommend it.

Body of  work of <a type="amzn" > David Baldacci </a>

Web Site: http://www.davidbaldacci.com/web/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Zero Day by David Baldacci

Baldacci has a new hero, a new ethos and another, never boring cliff hanging, throat grabbing thriller.

John Puller takes over for John Carr without a Camel Club or a gang of cronies.  Although Puller is dedicated Army, he runs without a safety net throughout the book.   The Army is his life and his passion is it’s Criminal Investigative Division.  He is an elite Army cop and he is thrown into a situation involving mass mayhem.  Every time he turns around there is another murder.  

Puller ends up partnering with Sam Cole and the two of them bond through their mutual desire to find the perpetrators’ of mayhem in an impoverished coal mining community in West Virginia.

Once again Baldacci paints such a vivid picture.  He sets his stage with clarity and depth.   His characters are both larger than life and realistically human.  

I worked in an impoverished Appalachian coal community years ago.  Baldacci accurately captures the poverty and despair that often results from long term un or under employment. 

One can only hope that we see more of John Puller.  He was a complex, likeable character.

I highly recommend it.

Body of  work of David Baldacci </a>

Web Site: http://www.davidbaldacci.com/web/

Hell’s Corner by David Baldacci

Baldacci has the ability to grab your interest by the throat and hold on until you pass out. This is another Camel Club book with a complicated and convoluted conspiracy.
John Carr aka Oliver Stone is comfortable in his graveyard abode when conspiracy finds him again. The primrose path or the yellow brick road, neither leads in the direction that Carr expects. The usual suspects are here sans Milton Farb. The President invites John Carr’s involvement in the war on drugs which soon turns into so much more. Once again Baldacci touts personal relationships over bureaucratic authority.

The inter-agency friction posed by Baldacci is truly frightening in this age of global terrorism. If congress’s inability to develop any bi-partisan agreements is indicative of the state of Washington’s overall bureaucratic climate, it is a wonder any of us are still alive. Baldacci’s stories always entertain but in addition they make you think.

I highly recommend it.

Body of work of David Baldacci

Web Site: http://www.davidbaldacci.com/web/

Foreign Influence by Brad Thor

Scot Harvath is back and in action. An Al-Quaida group is planning world wide attacks on Americans and a finale in the United States. This former Seal uses his considerable talent for violence in addressing this threat to his country.

I continue to enjoy the Scot Harvath character. He does not revel in being a hardcase but he does what he feels is necessary. His antipathy toward violonce and kids is laudable. If you are not able to stomach rather graphic violence you may want to plan on skipping parts of the book.

I mentioned in my review of “The Last Patriot” that once I find an author that is impossible to put down, I want to read him until one of us drops. As the first Thor book I read, this was a sobering look at the changed world we live in. I can’t say that I enjoyed the glimpse of a possible future. As a story this book was captivating and intense, one can only hope it is not predictive.

I highly recommend the book.

Body of work of Brad Thor

Site: http://www.bradthor.com/

The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

International intrigue at it’s best. Scot Harvath is contemplating retirement. Apparently events in a previous book have led to a desire to settle down with his lovely Tracy. A rogue CIA assassin inadvertently draws Scot into his demented Islamic conversion debacle. The resultant train wreck violence provides a charging read.

I enjoyed the Scot Harvath character. I enjoyed it enough that I got online and ordered four of his last six books. I am going to have to track down the last two. Once I find an author that is impossible to put down, I want to read him until one of us drops. Considering the state of today’s terrorist environment one has to wonder if the author’s suggestion of a Presidential assassin shouldn’t be a realistic option. It is so depressing to see the fanatics so frequently succeed in their terroristic acts. Perhaps if they realized that terror could be visited upon them as well, they might reconsider their zeal. This was a good book with lots of action and stood alone satisfactorily. My ordering the prequels is because I want to know what led to many of the incidents in the book. Scot Harvath is an acceptable hero, strong beliefs with a realistic fallibility.

I highly recommend the book.

Body of work of Brad Thor

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Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci

Monsters are all the rage. Baldacci shows us that supernatural monsters aren’t really the scariest ones. This book tracks monster hunters. Two different groups of monster hunters run into each other while chasing the same mass murderer.

Baldacci is a master of character development. He does a superb job in depth colorizing of his protagonists. Shaw and Reggie play for different teams but have very similar goals. The discovery process in their relationship is tenuous but grows as the book progresses. Typically Baldacii has plenty of violence and action and this book is not stranger to either. My only complaint was what I saw as a breakdown of characterization on a specific protagonist late in the book. That character went into action without the forethought that was exhibited by the same character earlier in the book. Sometimes writing these things without spoiling the plot is difficult. You may not even notice what bothered me.

I recommend the book .
Body of work of David Baldacci

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Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep

Spider’s bite is truly fatal. Cross this girl and you may end up stoned or flat out dead. An assassin with magical talent, Gin is a rock solid protagonist with very flexible morals. Dark, gritty urban fantasy at it’s best.

You don’t have to read many of my reviews to discover I favor the strong female protagonist. This strong female is more than a bit scary. A ruthless approach to life, you would be hard pressed to find elemental magic more diametrically different than Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental Masters. Two dramatically different styles and yet I really enjoyed both. This book may defy you to put it down and if you are smart you will read it in one sitting, otherwise you are going to be living a disrupted life until you finish it.

I recommend the book.

Body of work of Jennifer Estep

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Divine Justice by David Baldacci

The Camel Club is back! Back with a vengeance and the action is non-stop. Oliver Stone, on the run, finds himself unable to extradite himself out of other folks problems. His friends in the Camel Club pull through and back him up.

Once again, Baldacci ROCKS! In case you are not familiar with that accolade, David Baldacci is a story teller of tremendous magnitude who engages the imagination and enflames the passions while rending the heart with honesty, loyalty and steadfastness. Once again I was walking while reading, running into walls and reading while eating and other unmentionable activities. I couldn’t put the darn book down. John Carr is successfully portrayed as a razor sharp weapon combined with humility and all the noble characteristics. The plot doesn’t move, it charges! There are other characters in the book who develop long buried traits due to the example of Oliver Stone.

I recommend the book and am truly dismayed that it looks like the demise of the camel club.

Body of work of David Baldacci

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