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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780451208187
ISBN number: 0451208188
Label: Signet
Manufacturer: Signet
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 416
Printing Date: February 25, 2003
Publishing house: Signet
Release Date: February 25, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 13193
Studio: Signet
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
A master writer of espionage' (Cincinnati Enquirer), Daniel Silva makes his Signet debut with his most acclaimed novel to date...
Framed for the murder of a millionaire banker, Israeli spy by trade and art restorer by preference, Gabriel Allon, will have to fight for his life-against an assassin he himself helped train.
Amazon.com Review:
The English Assassin brings back Gabriel Allon, the appealingly melancholy art restorer with a double life as an Israeli secret agent, very first introduced in 2000's The Kill Artist. Gabriel is sent to Zurich under a pseudonym to restore a Raphael belonging to a prominent Swiss banker and art collector, Augustus Rolfe, but upon arriving he finds Rolfe lying in a pool of blood. When Gabriel tries to leave Zurich, the Swiss police capture him immediately--and moreover, they know his real identity. He's released through some diplomatic string-pulling, but he soon discovers that Rolfe had requested a meeting with Israeli intelligence, for reasons unknown, just before his death.
Rolfe's daughter, Anna, is a world-class violinist attempting to rebuild her career after an accident that nearly destroyed one of her hands. But her physical scars are nothing compared to those on her psyche, left by her mother's suicide when Anna was a teenager. Temperamental and mistrustful, she nevertheless believes Gabriel's story, and reveals that Rolfe owned a secret collection of priceless French Impressionist paintings, apparently stolen by his murderers.
As Gabriel begins to put together the pieces of the puzzle, he faces two adversaries: a powerful group of men who would do anything to bury the past forever, and a hired killer who's planning a spectacular murder. Like The Kill Artist, The English Assassin balances fascinating characters, authentic-sounding historical detail, and plenty of glamorous international intrigue on the edge of a knife-keen plot. --Barrie Trinkle
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Rated by buyers 
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Daniel Silva's "The English Assassin" is a pleasant enough read, but comparing him to David Cornwall (Le Carre) or Graham Greene is ......overwrought. Greene had theological subtly and Divine and Eternal punishment behind his thrillers, while Le Carre confronts the deepest questions of the cold war, its animating ideologies, and the underlying betrayal to those loyal to those ideologies by fallible human actors. Silva's weltanschauung is a neo-Con fantasy world of an invincible and pre-justified Israeli Secret Service, Zionist finality, and the shadow of Eli Weisel's ever present memory so painfully spelled out in "Night." But if there is a theological question anywhere in Silva's works deeper than a knish, I haven't found it.
Which is not to say that this is not a ripping good yarn, with powerful imagery, exotic locations, brilliant and believable character construction, and a whole lot of fun. But the Swiss "bad guys" who were collaborators with Nat-zees got a little FuManChu for my taste. The Calvinist Gnomes of Zurich are far too passive aggressive in their patient stone fortresses to be much of a foil for an action team. And this is an action thriller. Aged bankers hiding in their basements in the mountains sounds more like storming an old folks home than an international shoot-'em-up.
Other reviews have outlined the plot, but basically art restorer/assassin Gabriel Allon is lured into a plot of redemption and revenge by a reclusive Swiss banker, who turns up murdered and his prizes looted. His dazzling daughter, a brilliant musician, is the key to uncovering the puzzle that was her father's riddle house. Meanwhile, a dark conspiracy is racing to thwart Allon's detective work and will stop at nothing to keep their secrets safe, including murder! To keep their hands clean they hire a mysterious English Assassin straight out of "Day of the Jackal."
Comparisons with Harlan Coben would be more fair.
Rated by buyers -
Good beginning and was somewhat interesting until the last 70 pages, then it went downhill and stayed there all the way thru the last page. If you like an ending where you can close the book and smile, then this is not the book for you. This was one of his earlier books written in 2002 and I guess he had not yet developed his ability to put it all together as he did in The Messenger written in 2006. It seemed like he was pressed for time and just decided to end it. Certainly not one of his best thrillers, just a mundane spy story.
Rated by buyers 
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This is one of my favorite Silva thrillers, primarily because of the subterfuge, chase, revelation, and respect between Silva's hero Gabriel Allon and the antagonist of this book, the English Assassin, who seems to serve as Allon's alter ego. The Englishman is a former British-government trained special ops soldier, now turned mercenary. The back-and-forth in scene and plot when Allon's and the Englishman's paths crisscross as they pursue their mutual targets reminded me of the chivalric rivalries between knights of disparate standards. You still get the same dependable, richly drawn Allon, but you have an added bonus of the Englishman's character, who draws on the reader's empathy as well.
As always, we are witness to fabulous settings and Allon's deep cultural angst leading to integrity and heroism. Don't pass this one by.
A Genie in the House of Saud: Zubis Rises
Rated by buyers -
KF Zuzulo is the author of A Genie in the House of Saud: Zubis Rises
This is one of my favorite Silva thrillers, primarily because of the subterfuge, chase, revelation, and respect between Silva's hero Gabriel Allon and the antagonist of this book, the English Assassin, who seems to serve as Allon's alter ego. The Englishman is a former British-government trained special ops soldier, now turned mercenary. The back-and-forth in scene and plot when Allon's and the Englishman's paths crisscross as they pursue their mutual targets reminded me of the chivalric rivalries between knights of disparate standards. You still get the same dependable, richly drawn Allon, but you have an added bonus of the Englishman's character, who draws on the reader's empathy as well.
As always, we are witness to fabulous settings and Allon's deep cultural angst leading to integrity and heroism. Don't pass this one by.
Rated by buyers -
Silva's Gabriel Allon books are a surefire success, but not as good as some of his other books. Not because the Allon books are bad; but because the other books are usually a little better. In any case, this worthy thriller takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of Europe with Allon seeking to right the massive wrong of art thefts from Jews during WWII. In so doing, Silva takes a big swipe at the role of Switzerland in fencing the stolen by the Nazis. It's an interesting foray into a world that few people knew about till recent years -- at least the extent to which the Swiss may or may not have been culpable. So, in addition to getting a history lesson, the reader gets a competent thriller involving a fairly well defined hero in Gabriel Allon. In my estimation, any book by Silva is a winner, and this neatly meets that standard.
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