The Cellist: The next action-packed tale of espionage and intrigue from the bestselling author of THE COLLECTOR, THE NEW GIRL and PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN WOMAN
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4.1 • 43 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Master of international intrigue Daniel Silva, the #1 New York Times bestselling author, comes an explosive thriller featuring art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon.
The most beautiful music hides the deadliest secrets ...
Once Russia's richest man, Victor Orlov now resides in exile in London, waging a crusade against the kleptocrats in the Kremlin. His mansion is protected by armed bodyguards. Yet somehow, on a rainy summer evening, in the midst of a global pandemic, Russia's vengeful president finally manages to cross Orlov's name off his kill list.
Before him was the receiver from his landline telephone, a half-drunk glass of red wine, and a stack of documents ...
The documents, contaminated with a deadly nerve agent, were delivered by a prominent investigative reporter. And when the reporter vanishes hours after the killing, MI6 concludes she is a Moscow Center assassin who penetrated the billionaire's formidable defenses.
But Gabriel Allon believes his friends in British intelligence are dangerously mistaken. His search for the truth will take him to Geneva, where a private intelligence service is plotting an act of violence that will plunge an already divided America into chaos. Only Allon, with the help of a brilliant young woman employed by the world's dirtiest bank, can stop it ...
Praise for Daniel Silva:
'Fascinating, suspenseful and bated-breath exciting'Publishers Weekly
'One of the greatest spy novelists the genre has ever known' CrimeReads
'Daniel Silva is that rarity of rarities, a writer whose stories just keep getting better' Huffington Post
'If you like Jason Bourne and Jack Reacher, get to know Gabriel Allon' Australian Women's Weekly
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this fast-paced instalment of Daniel Silva’s long-running Gabriel Allon series, the death of a Russian oligarch sets off a global crisis. When Viktor Orlov is found dead in London, Israeli-spy-chief-turned-art-restorer Allon has no choice but to get involved. After all, Viktor once saved Gabriel’s life—and the local police seem all too willing to accept the obvious frame job which casts suspicion on an innocent journalist. Silva zips us from Israel to Amsterdam to Zurich as his hero races to uncover a money-laundering plot that could destabilise the world. He also weaves in a bunch of contemporary big issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, making the story all the more gripping for being terrifyingly plausible. The Cellist dives beneath the headlines to deliver thrills, chills and (just maybe) hope.
Customer Reviews
Dry, lacking in tension. Improved near the end
This, my first foray into a Daniel Silva work, started well then rapidly became tedious. Populated by intriguing characters their characterisation was nevertheless flat. Not helpful was that the plentiful dialogue throughout its pages sounded generally as if uttered by the same person.
However, the last part of the book was at least interesting, although it failed to provide much in the way of suspense.
However, I am prepared to believe the author deserves his high acclaim. Jumping into a series already so far along means one lacks a lot of enlivening history and colour from its previous instalments. Hints and gestures speak volumes to readers who already know characters well. There may be many nuances I have missed.
Moreover, the excellent - five star! - author’s note may well explain my reaction to this novel. A sharp change of direction to incorporate unprecedented political events happening as the author was writing perhaps makes this work as much a historical document as a work of suspense. The intrusion of a good deal of fact and fact-based surmise and necessary fact checking into the narrative structure, all done rather quickly, may go a long way to explain my experience of it as ‘dry’ and lacking ‘colour’.
The fairest thing I can think to do is to read at least the first one or two of this series…