Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #641352 in Books
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 433 pages

Customer Reviews

Moscow Rule: "Death solves all problems. No man, no problem."
(4.5 stars) In his eighth Gabriel Allon espionage thriller, Daniel Silva moves from investigating the historical crimes of the past, often related to the Holocaust, and their effects on the present, to crimes of the present and their possibly catastrophic effects on the future. In this intense and absorbing novel about uncontrolled arms sales, the biggest threat to the future comes from Russian arms dealers, aided by Russia's president and former KGB operatives who are now unimaginably wealthy independent brokers and contractors. These arms merchants operate with impunity, selling all manner of weapons to terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East and Africa.

Gabriel Allon, formerly with the Israeli Mossad, is on his honeymoon in Italy when he is contacted by Ari Shamron, the grand old man of Israeli security. Allon, a trained art restorer, has been working for the Pope, but the recent assassination of a Russian journalist who may have had information he wanted to reveal to the West brings him out of retirement and back into action. When the murdered man's Russian editor-in-chief is also murdered, Allon travels to Russia, where he learns the name of a Russian arms dealer, Ivan Kharkov, who has been supplying Hezbollah, and who now appears close to selling sophisticated weapons to al-Quaeda.

Kharkov and his wife are collectors of Mary Cassatt paintings, and the fascinating art world which has added so much life to other Gabriel Allon thrillers in the past is also a major aspect of this novel. Art dealers, down-in-their-luck gentry who own prized artwork, and, in the case, of Allon, restorers, all play unexpectedly major roles in this effort to prevent Kharkov from selling advanced weapons to al-Quaeda. As the high-stakes plotting by the conjoined security services of England, the US, Italy, and France builds to a crescendo, Allon follows the action through various countries leaving multiple murders, beatings, car crashes, and betrayals in his wake. Always, the fine hand of the Russian mafia is pulling the strings, purportedly with the aid of the Russian president.

Silva keeps the action moving briskly, and his ability to convey the atmosphere of disparate locations adds depth and drama to the plot. The characterThe Marching Season: A Novels, even the minor ones, are paradigms of the countries they represent, imbued with the cultures of their homelands, rather than mere stereotypes. His major characters are complex and carefully drawn, and the action and underlying themes of the novel are intelligent and thought-provoking. As always, Silva creates a complex and exciting story, but this time the focus is on contemporary politics, rather than on the past. Providing evidence that future catastrophes are shockingly easy to inspire, given the venal nature of unscrupulous international arms dealers, Silva employs his formidable talents to create a terrifying picture of a cynical world--and a warning for the future. Mary Whipple

A Good Opening In Search Of An Ending
Daniel Silva is an undeniably talented writer of intelligent, contemporary thrillers. I might not always agree with his politics (he's a bit too far to the right for me) but his books are usually exciting yet retain an air of realism that sets them apart from more overblown adventures. For the first three quarters of its length Moscow Rules continues this trend.

Featuring Silva's long time hero, Israeli agent Gabriel Allon, along with his usual colleagues and allies, Moscow Rules takes as its central themes the politics of modern Russia and specifically the activities of the oligarchs and former KGB agents who have risen to prominence in the former Soviet Union. When Allon and his crew come across evidence that one of the most powerful men in Russia poses a threat to Israel and the West they are forced to make unpalatable choices in order to bring him down.

As is usual a Silva thriller, the events that unfold in Moscow Rules do so without resorting to flashy, OTT action or gadgets. You get the feeling that were any of the events portrayed real, they would occur as Silva describes them. He also takes time give his characters real depth. Some, like Allon and other recurring figures, already have that, but even those who are new to Gabriel's world and may not last the length of the book are given qualities and traits that make them more than plot devices or ciphers. Silva also manages to deftly avoid falling back on cliches. The Russian millionaire bad-guy has been done before, but in Silva's book he's not some snarling bad guy with plans for world domination; he just a very dangerous crook who exudes menace from the page without resorting to histrionics.

All these factors, combined with some tense, taught plotting, serve to make Moscow Rules an enjoyable, if slightly humourless, read for the first three quarters of its length. The final quarter however, is a different matter.

Most of Silva's strengths are still on display as the book reaches its conclusion, but what seems to desert him almost entirely is his skill with compelling plotting. Put simply Moscow Mules lacks any sort of satisfying ending and left me feeling let down.

Rather than finish on a high note, the story that the author has spent so long establishing and crafting simply peters out ten or so pages before the end, leaving the fates of some key characters open or at worst unknown. After so much build up and tension this lack of a pay off is very disappointing. Moreover Silva relies on a totally unexpected shift in loyalty by one minor character to save Allon from a potentially fatal situation and provide what little resolution is on offer. This volt-face, which comes with no warning, overt or otherwise, just feels like lazy plotting on the author's part and adds to the general sense of disappointment.

Overall you walk away from Moscow Rules with a sense that what could have been a great spy thriller was let down by an author who, having set up his story, either didn't know where to take it or wanted to leave to much open ended with an eye to the next novel in the series. For this reason alone I cannot give Moscow Rules more than three stars, even if for most of its length it deserves four or possibly five.

Once again, Gabriel saves the world as we know it
In MOSCOW RULES, Israeli secret agent extraordinaire Gabriel Allon is minding his own business at an Italian villa restoring one of the Vatican's old painting masterpieces when his former boss at the Office, grouchy Ari Shamron, persuades him to drop his brushes and make contact with a Russian journalist who ostensibly has vital information to share regarding yet another threat to the West and Israel. In short order, Allon finds himself pitted against the Russian Federation's most unscrupulous arm dealer, Ivan Kharkov. (Ivan Kharkov? Is there a book that authors, just as expectant parents, consult to get unimaginative ideas for naming a new creation?)

The first half of this pot boiler fabricates the plot at a pedestrian pace to set up the second half, during which the novel becomes an engrossing nail-biter worth the reader's time. Indeed, I finished off the final two-hundred-plus pages in a single marathon session that left my wife feeling ignored. That's what you risk when marrying a bibliophile.

As Allon's ticklish maneuvering to neutralize Ivan's scheming played out, I was reminded of Smiley's operation to bring down Karla, his Soviet nemesis, in SMILEY'S PEOPLE (the novel, Smiley's People, and the film series, Smiley's People : Complete BBC Series [1982]) as well as Phelps' elaborately staged ploys in Mission: Impossible - Series 1. (Mind you, I don't mean to suggest that author Daniel Silva is yet in the same league as Smiley's creator, John Le Carre. But he's definitely on a par with or better than the MI screenwriters.)

In the opinions of some, MOSCOW RULES is arguably five-star entertainment. The reason I'm giving four is that, after five decades of reading examples of the espionage genre, it's too formulaic. I suspect that the undercover victories against the bad guys at the world's frayed edges are much messier and not so clear-cut. That's why I prefer the thrillers by Gerald Seymour, which, if you want to do yourself a favor, you should check out.