Terrorists

Previously, there have been horrific bombings in Paris and Washington, D.C. At the beginning of this book another bombing happens in the West End of London with hundreds of theater goers and people eating out in restaurants killed. Gabriel Allon has just taken over as spy chief in Israel at the Office. Christopher Keller, Alias Peter Marlowe, is recruited by MI6 to go after the latest threat, Saladin. At his meeting with the French head of Alpha Group, the headquarters is bombed and Gabriel is injured again. Gabriel goes about creating his usual elaborate and expensive cover story for his plants, Mikael Abramov and Natalia, posing as husband and wife in a huge chateau in Saint Tropez, France. Next he begins turning people to the cause of finding and eliminating Saladin, and Iraqi terrorist. ( )

These books are amazing. They hold my interest and don't make previous characters do or say things that they wouldn't. Also, new characters are introduced in a completely plausible way. ( )

A more accurate rating would be 3.75, minus 0.25 for how Christopher Keller mysteriously ended up working for MI6 and how Silva conveniently got Don Orsati to look for the Scorpion. A little bit of elucidation would have satisfied the uncontented me (I don't think I missed anything in the plot that would have explained both). Other than this, I do like this Allon book. Not so heavy on Allon's feelings and hence a tighter plot with fast unraveling action. I also like that there is finally a good ending and Silva accounted for the rehabilitation of Natalie. How brave she was facing Saladin, staying calm and not flinching at all. ( )

Allon and his usual allies try to kill the man responsible for a deadly terrorist attack in London. The connection between drug trafficking and terrorism is pointed out. A beautiful young woman who has done bad things has a chance for redemption. There is hint of a possible romance for a recurring character. ( )

Another great Silva novel in the Gabriel Allon series. What else is there to say? ( )

When Daniel Silva's House of Spies opens, Gabriel Allon has just assumed leadership of Israel's intelligence agency. Foremost of his concerns is his latest enemy, Saladin, the ISIS leader responsible for "...the worst terrorist attack on the American homeland since 9/11." Soon, Allon's concerns are borne out. Saldin's operatives carry out massive armed suicide bomb attacks in London's famed theater district killing hundreds. (Silva took many of the details from an actual attack in Paris, November 15, 2015. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2015_Paris_attacks)
Allon hopes to get to the enigmatic Saladin through the source of much of his funding, Jean-Luc Martel, business magnate and drug lord. Martel uses his wife's art gallery to launder his illegal wealth. Allon sees this as an opening.
The novel reprises many characters from the earlier novels: Adrian Carter, whose career at the CIA hangs on an thread; Graham Seymour, director general of MI6, who "had warned the prime minister repeatedly that an ISIS attack on the United Kingdom was imminent,.. but was unable to prevent it; Amanda Wallace director general of MI5, who has been held directly responsible for failing to prevent the attack; Paul Rousseu, head of France's response to terrorist attacks, the Alpha Group whose "agents operated with impunity;" Christopher Keller, professional assassin turned MI6 agent; Natalie Mizrahi, the black widow of the previous novel; Ari Shamron, former head of Mossad; Don Anton Orsati, who finds "the Scorpion;" and "...whose ancient family of Corsican bandits specialized in murder for hire;" the signadora, who warns Christopher, " 'In the castle by the sea, in the land of Druids and sorcerers. There was a man there with the name of a bird. Beware of him...' " andJulian Isherwood, an art dealer "sayan" to the Mossad who is surprised to find himself a hero in the midst of the terror.

Even though it’s the 17th outing of Gabriel Allon, the anticipation for this book remains high. It starts off on a promising note – five hundred dead in three separate but coordinated attacks in the West End of London. Adrian Carter is working in conjunction with MI5 to identify the players even though there is no doubt that the mastermind is Saladin – the same one behind the attacks in Washington DC at the end of the previous book. The trail leads to a Moroccan-French drug dealer and here enters Gabriel – the newly minted ramsad of the Office who has to smooth things with French intelligence to figure out where the trail leads to. It ends at a French hotelier billionaire, friends with the Prime Minister but rumored to be a drug dealer.

Here starts the story that readers are all too familiar with – coerce/convince the Frenchman and his girlfriend to cooperate and finally help the team in a clandestine operation leading right to Saladin. The ending is good but quite simplistic too, still enjoyable. The idea that the chief of an intelligence agency would personally shoot and kill a terrorist mastermind is unthinkable in the real world but we can expect nothing less from Gabriel. Even though this series is becoming quite repetitive in the last couple of books, it’s still difficult to put down because Gabriel remains the killer with a conscience – the Prince of Fire. ( )

Always fun! Could have used a bit tightening up but still great vacation read. ( )

Israeli spy and now chief of its intelligence service, Gabriel Allon, enlists the help of ex-SAS , ex-Mafioso assassin Christopher Keller in an elaborate plot to hunt down the man known as Saladin, an Iraqi who is responsible for planning and funding terrorist attacks in the U.S, and Europe. Really, a continuation of Book #17, Black Widow. Of course, Allon cannot remove himself from the action: planning and execution [sic]. Silva has the usual Israeli team involved. I did not think there was much character development of the old crew, but enjoyed the French restauranteur/hotelier and his girlfriend/art gallery owner and the Morrocan setting. ( )

My favorite thing about July is a new Gabriel Allon book by Daniel Silva. House of Spies, the seventeenth book in the series, picks up shortly after events that occurred in The Black Widow. Saladin, the ISIS mastermind who terrorized the West is still on the loose where he continues to plan terrorist attacks. The whole world seems focused on finding and stopping him, but he remains elusive. When a single clue presents itself, Gabriel and his team begin the difficult process of once again getting close to the world’s most dangerous terrorist.

As usual, many of the characters we have met before are together again in this book, including art-dealer Julian Isherwood and our newest team member, Natalie. Christopher Keller, whom we know from previous stories, has given up being a paid assassin in order to help the British government. The main character, Gabriel Allon, may be the boss now but he's still the perfect spy. He's resourceful, fearless, and has just enough integrity and conscience to make him someone we can relate to.

House of Spies is a complex espionage tale but for me it was still a a page turner. Daniel Silva is very knowledgeable about ISIS, and the whole subject is terribly relevant. His Gabriel Allon books are one of the best series I have ever read. I did feel like this book was more of a continuation of The Black Widow which was a definite five star read and my favorite book of 2016. This one gets bogged down in a few places but is still a must read for any fan of the series. I highly recommend starting one of the earlier books of the series to get to know the characters. If you prefer to start the series at a later book, I highly recommend The Black Widow ahead of this one. I don't like to wish my life away but I can hardly wait to pick up his next book in July 2018. ( )

The 17th book in the Gabriel Allon series, House of Spies now has Gabriel Allon, a former spy and artwork restorer, as the Israeli Intelligence director. But despite his elevated position, Allon can't help himself for engaging in field work. This story has him tracking down an ISIS theorist who’s responsible for bombings and deaths in every major western country. Finding this killer requires Allon and his US, British, and French allies to develop human assets in order to maximize the return on the multiple small leads that bring him closer to his quarry.

The book has plenty of action and dirty tricks; the kind that excite spy mystery readers. I've read several books in this series over the years and never hesitate to pick up the next book addition when it becomes available. ( )

Good descriptions of the social/governmental context of the story; ‘sense-of-place’. Story line was a bit overly complicated; (he could get by with 2-3 fewer nefarious characters!) An ok book... too dependent on the shoot-em-up denouement! ( )

A reliable addition to the series.Silva's villain is Saladin, a shrewd strategist who believes that, by wreaking havoc in the west, he will unite his followers in a new Islamic caliphate. A good researcher, provides alarming information about how Morocco's role in the drug trade helps bankroll ISIS while obtaining a dirty bomb for use against the west. A collaboration of many western agents fight Saladin, which makes a 6 hour book into twice that. Unrealistically, Gabriel, in his new role as the director of "the office" is unrealistically allowed on an op. Yep, staff work is boring. ( )

Schon wieder ein Anschlag des IS auf britischem Boden, hunderte Tote und Verletzte, das Westend in Schutt und Asche. Drahtzieher ist offenkundig Saladin, der Islamist, den es nicht gelungen war zu eliminieren nach dem Angriff auf das Weinberg Center in Paris. Gabriel Allon, inzwischen Chef des israelischen Geheimdienstes, will ihn endlich unschädlich machen und stellt eine nie gesehene internationale Koalition zusammen: MI5 und MI6 aus England, der französische Geheimdienst und sogar die USA, selbst Opfer Saladins geworden, erklären sich zur Zusammenarbeit bereit, um dem größten Feind des Westens mit vereinten Kräften zu begegnen. Die Spuren führen nach Marseille, Einfallsort für die Drogenversorgung Europas. Als Lockvögel werden der beste Spion der Briten und alter Bekannter Allons, sowie Natalie, die Saladin bereits schon einmal sehr nah kam und ihm damals das Leben rettete, auf den Kontaktmann angesetzt. Dann ist Warten angesagt, bis sich die Chance ergeben wird.

Band 17 der Gabriel Allon Reihe setzt nahtlos da an, wo der Vorgänger aufhörte. Immer noch ist der Islamist Saladin das Ziel des Israelis. Auslöser für alle Aktivität ist wieder einmal ein Attentat in Europa, dem die westlichen Sicherheitskräfte nichts entgegensetzen konnten.

Insgesamt legt „Der Drahtzieher“ über weite Strecken ein recht gemächliches Tempo an den Tag. Der Fokus liegt dieses Mal ganz entschieden auf der Arbeit der Geheimdienste, was jedoch kein bisschen an Spannung einbüßt. Anwerbung, Ausbildung, Kontrolle im Hintergrund – detailliert schildert Silva, wie eine große Operation geplant und umgesetzt wird, was dazu erforderlich ist und was offenkundig so alles bewegt werden kann. Ebenso interessant sind natürlich die Befindlichkeiten der einzelnen Länder, wie jeder den großen Sieg einfahren möchte, wie alte Animositäten fast die ganze Aktion gefährden. Hier bewegt sich Silva tatsächlich im klassischen Spionage-Milieu und kann an einen John LeCarré heranreichen.

So interessant dies alles ist, führt es jedoch unweigerlich auch dazu, dass die Handlung langsamer verläuft als man das von Silva gewöhnt ist. So manche Länge bleibt ebenfalls nicht aus. Auch Gabriel Allon bleibt dieses Mal im Hintergrund, die tragenden Figuren sind die Agenten und ihre Zielpersonen. Diese sind überzeugend gezeichnet und auch lebendig in ihrem Handeln. Allerdings habe ich mich doch gefragt, ob sich zwielichtige Personen tatsächlich so leicht anwerben lassen und uneigennützig kooperieren würden. Auch der finale Showdown in Marokko war zwar rasant und einem Thriller würdig, aber hatte doch mehr Hollywood Potential als Überzeugungskraft.

Insgesamt eine solide Fortsetzung mit großem Unterhaltungswert, die die Erwartungen an die Reihe voll erfüllt. ( )

The House of Spies, Daniel Silva, author; George Guidall, narrator
Daniel Silva writes great spy novels filled with suspense and tension. He creates excitement with ease, and this book is no exception. At times, though, it is too wordy. In addition, there are an awful lot of characters to keep track of, and some have similar names which adds to the confusion that is sometimes created. Although the subject of the novel is not funny, the dialogue between the characters often contains humor which diffuses the tension created by the story. Gabriel Allon, the head of Israeli Intelligence, is one of my favorite characters in a novel. This is the 17th in this series, and I am not bored yet.
After a series of terrorist attacks in varied worldwide locations, Gabriel Allon has identified the mastermind behind them, and he is determined to find and eliminate him. He secretly engages the help of Great Britain and France to track the terrorist down. Saladin must be stopped from causing further violence. He is evil. Allon devises a scheme using false identities, subterfuge and betrayal. The elaborate plan that is hatched involves role playing and great danger. The world becomes the stage for the search to find the terrorist.
Isis is buying drugs from a big dealer who masquerades as a legitimate entrepreneur. They are then sold and the money raised is used to fund the purchase of weapons for the terrorist group. That is not the goal for the mastermind, however. He wants to wreak as much havoc and destruction as possible. He wants no ordinary weapons. He wants to bring about the Caliphate and will do anything necessary to accomplish his evil plans. He wants material for a dirty bomb. He must be stopped and so must his plot. Can the violence be prevented before more deaths occur, before a city is rendered uninhabitable? Will Allon and his allies be successful? ( )

Yes another excellent story of international intrigue.
Gabriel and Keller (and every other western intelligence services hunt for team with plan to destroy the west. ( )

After the last novel in the series, where our hero Allon saved the life of the terrorist leader and facilitated a string of major terrorist attacks, I was curious where Silva would take him next. Needless to say, Allon has been promoted! He's now head of Israel's intelligence agency. (I guess terrorist attacks on America are a good thing, because they discredit Obama; Silva's Trumpist political leanings are a bit insane.) We are treated to a rollicking story of an unplanned Osama bin Laden-takeout-style special forces raid, led of course by Allon himself. The story goes too quickly, so Silva tacks on a pointless dirty bomb scenario to add a few pages, then tacks on another four or five chapters of empty denouement after that. (Not entirely empty; Silva can't help talking politics more. And I loved the story of how Allon spent the billions of dollars his agents stole from Assad: $50 million Allon gives to a drug dealer [because she's pretty?], $10 million to an Israeli art program, and a few million for Syrian refugee assistance [because Allon is such a saint].) There's very little art or atmosphere here, and that aspect is disappointing. ( )

At first I thought the plot set-up was overdone but then I realized this is how the best writing happens, draws you in, makes you hold your breath, makes you hands sweat, makes you keep reading and it is 2AM an now it is approaching dawn and you realize that not only have you read an amazing piece of historical fiction but Daniel Silva is brilliant and prescient. ( )

Don't know why I was disappointed. Not a lot of surprises in the search for Saladin. ( )

Still the best spy book. ( )

. In this 17th book of the series, Gabriel Allon is back and out for revenge. Silva gives us another chilling glimpse inside global terror networks of ISIS- like carnage through London and Paris. Allon is determined to hunt down Saladin, the world’s most dangerous terrorist. He remains as compelling as ever. Your anticipation will be rewarded once again with this latest entry.
Reminder: The library is open all summer. Please come and find your next exciting new book to enjoy. New picture books and middle grade readers are available for your kids too! Just sign the card in the back of the book and leave it in the red box on the librarian’s desk.

'House of Spies' may be the first of Daniel Silva's novels that I didn't devour from beginning to end in a sitting or two. Too long, too outlandish a plot, and too many holes in the story were my major complaints.

Gabriel Allon, a favorite character for me in the spy novel genre, has ascended to the top of the Israeli intelligence service. A terrorist attack takes place in London with weapons that lead back to Allon's bete noire, the super-elusive Saladin. Intelligence groups from various western powers see the situation as an opportunity to finally bring Saladin to justice, if they can only find him. Enter Allon, who has a powerful incentive to locate the terror mastermind (see 'The Black Widow').

The plot (I won't go into details) bogs down in the middle. Intelligence leads the good guys to a rich Frenchman who has wittingly been helping Saladin through drug transactions and washing the money via an art gallery owned by his beautiful female partner. The spies determine that'll be the path they'll take to smoke out Saladin. They eventually do so. At a high level, the plot sounds pretty interesting, but along the way there are far too many unrealistic details, implausible situations, and activities that just don't pass the smell test.

Silva's writing is fine although the dialogue is sometimes a bit off. His descriptions have always been very detailed but have often seemed a little on the melodramatic side (I can see the phrase 'rich Corinthian leather' showing up in one of his novels at some point....). All in all, House of Spies is a decent spy thriller with one of the great characters of the genre, just not at the level of Silva's prior efforts. ( )

I've followed Daniel Siva books featuring super agent Gabriel Allon for nearly quarter of a century, all the way back to the Unlikely Spy. There is a reason this series has survived all these years. Silva does his research, creates great characters, and educates while he spins a fantastic yarn. He keeps things relatively fresh by continuing to expand the universe of Gabriel.

That said, the books have become a bit formalistic over the last several years. The first 300 pages are focused on building the back story. The next 100 involve the execution of the master plan which ends up going awry.. The last 100 involve Gabriel utilizing his unique skill set to save the failed operation. House of Spies pretty much adheres to this structure.

Despite being formalistic, House of Spies is a damn fine read. Allen's new counter balance ex-SSA officer/Mob assign Keller is a competing character who's role grows. The rest of the gang is back and therefore the book serves as conduit for a reunion of fictional friends.

Much of the formula remains hidden to those that have not read all of these books and Silva is such a skilled author that he never fails to catch you up in the action. Whether you are in old reader or just getting introduced to the legend of the Avenging Angel you'll like this one and won't regret the time spent among friends. If you are not careful, you also might learn something. ( )

Daniel Silva’s HOUSE OF SPIES is a suspenseful story of espionage, terrorism, assassination and secrecy.
It features the familiar spy, assassin, artist and art restorer, Gabriel Allon. He is Head of ‘The Office’ now (Head of Israeli Intelligence) and is hunting Saladin, an ISIS mastermind.
I like all the familiar characters, but Christopher Keller stands out in this particular title.
Very fast-paced, suspenseful with complex plots; interesting and powerful images and characters - I never tire of Mr. Silva’s writing. ( )