Happy Reading

Toni's bookshelf: read

The Godfather of Kathmandu (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #4)
Ape House
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Operation Napoleon
Walking Dead
The Sentimentalists
The Heretic Queen
The Midnight House
Cross Fire
Peony in Love
Absurdistan
Nefertiti
Finding Nouf: A Novel
City of Veils: A Novel
First Daughter
A Place of Hiding
Amagansett
Peter Pan


Toni Osborne's favorite books »
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

"The Defector", by Daniel Silva


Book 9 in the Gabriel Allon series

Daniel Silva provides once more an exciting and captivating tale that will keep the readers focused in an endless need to see what will come next, the series is very addictive. The 9th instalment is an edge of the seat thriller, able to compete with the best for the reader's attention. Although "The Defector" is a sequel to "Moscow Rules, there is just the right amount of background given so this novel can fly on its own, no doubt it will hook many new readers. Who knows it may pique their interest enough to read past novels.

The tale picks up 6 months after the dramatic conclusion of "Moscow Rules". Once again Gabriel is thrown into turmoil with the shocking news from London that defector Colonel Grigori Bulganov has disappeared without a trace. Colonel G.B., a known double agent, is now suspected of being a turn coat once again but Gabriel has another theory. Colonel G.B. had betrayed Kharkov, a billionaire arms dealer, on many levels and Gabriel suspects the time to get even has arrived. Many things have changed in Russia but punishment for treason remains the same. With this fact in mind, Gabriel realizes his team of operatives have a very small window to prove his theory.

At the pinnacle of the investigation, Gabriel's ability to multi task is put to the test with news of his wife's abduction. Could this be payback for his past history with Kharkov and his present theory, is there a link between the two abductions? The reader is quickly drawn into the escalating war between the two adversaries.....Did I use the adjectives addicted and hooked before??? :)...

Mr. Silva knows how to capture the reader's attention; intense and exciting action and scenes that are gut-wrenching and gruesome at times are all part of his plot and sub-plots. He uses a touch of romance along the route to soften the tone. The story although a little far-fetched is highly entertaining, all the characters have been well developed and have progressed beautifully with time. Mr. Silva has definitely created and adopted a style that works but I find Gabriel's character is on the verge of becoming one-dimensional and too predictable.

This novel is a page turner hard to put down.

2 comments:

Belgie said...

A year is too long to wait! Thank you for posting a sneak preview on your website! The first chapter is fabulous! Thank you for writing another Gabriel Allon book! How can I wait until July for the rest? For those of you who have never had the pleasure, I have posted a few links to some of Daniel Silva's books here. I read them over and over and you are in for a special treat. No one writes like this. Smart and entertaining. You will be up all night.

Toni Osborne said...

Thank you for dropping in and for your comment. The Gabriel Allon series is quite entertaining. I think you will also enjoy its sequel "The Rembrandt Affair". I yet to read the next one after " Portrait of a Spy", hard to keep up with everything on my TBR list.