Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 400
Printing Date: January 31, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 372426
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna to discover the truth behind a bombing which killed an old friend - a Nazi hunter. While there he encounters something that turns his whole life upside down. Each fact he uncovers only leads to more questions until finally a picture emerges which is more terrible than he could have ever imagined - a portrait of evil stretching across 60 years and thousands of lives into his own personal nightmares.
Amazon.com Review:
Gabriel Allon hasn't been back to Vienna since his wife and child died there in a terrorist bombing. But when his mentor in the Israeli intelligence agency dispatches him to the Austrian capitol to investigate a murderous explosion at the Wartime Claims and Inquiry Office, his presence alerts the attention of police officials who have reasons to stand in the way of his investigation. When a concentration camp survivor is killed who could link the father of Austria's subsequent chancellour to Nazi atrocities and an ongoing coverup by the Catholic Church, Allon discovers another connection to the conspiracy, this one closer to his own past than he could ever have imagined. This is the third of Silva's thrillers featuring Allon, the art restorer who's also a spy (The Confessor and The English Assassin are the very first two). In an endnote, the author calls them a 'completed cycle dealing with the unfinished business of the Holocaust.' Allon is such a compelling hero that one hopes Silva, a skilled craftsman and a terrific story-teller, will bring him back in another series. --Jane Adams
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
Of the six books that I have read by Silva, this is the very first three stars; the others were either four or five. This book was the third in the Gabriel Allon series and it became tiresome to read many details over for the third time. It is okay to keep some of the main characters from book to book, but to keep repeating so many details is robbing a reader's time and is boring to say the least. In addition to this it was a slow moving story and in many places was unbelievable.
Everywhere Gabriel went some person picked up the phone after he left and told the bad guys where he was, what he was doing and in some cases where he was going. This is the very first book that I have read where the bad guys had an informer that just happened to work in every hotel, restaurant, etc. where Gabriel showed his face; this occurred in multiple cities in different countries. In some cases it was true in reverse; when Gabriel is in trouble suddenly an associate pops up from nowhere just when he about to be eliminated. In one case an assassin has targeted Allon in a cemetery but does he try a shot from cover? No he is out in the open walking towards Allon. Why was this? Was it so that Allon's friend that he didn't even know was in the country would have time to suddenly appear on a motorcycle in a graveyard and shoot the assassin.
I love surprises in a novel but they have to be based on a reasonable sequence that is in character for what you have been let to believe. Of the many thriller books that I have read the most consistent writer is John J, Nance which has many five stars for my reviews.
Rated by buyers 
-
I have gained a an ever increasing respect for Holocaust survivors. I do not believe anyone can ever really begin to imagine the horrors of this period in history. Gabriel Allon learned of this very first hand upon reading a manuscript, written by his mother, who was a physical survivor. The monstor who stripped her of everything except her moral courage is alive and Gabriel must bring him to justice.
Another great read from Daniel Silva. 5 stars.
Rated by buyers 
-
The book's hero is a former Israeli assassin presented by the author (pp. 269-70) as having led the Mossad operation to murder the Palestinian leader Khalil al-Wazir (nom de guerre Abu Jihad), which transpired in the country of Tunisia on April 16, 1988, in the presence of his wife and children. I wonder how many people reading the book assume this was a fictional event, part of the background story of the obviously fictional protagonist. Gabriel, our hero, seems to have completed that assignment with the usual Israeli efficiency - except for one thing. He stopped for a few seconds to "console" the wife and children of the man he had just murdered. I doubt the average reader will trouble his imagination by questioning how such a murder of a Palestinian could be justified. For Gabriel is seen as a "good" assassin. He condescended to console the wife and children. I was reminded for some reason of Golda Meir's statement ""I can forgive you [i.e. Arabs] for killing my boys, but I can never forgive you for making our boys kill yours." What a terrible tragedy for the Israelis, that despite all their natural goodness, they are forced, just forced, to murder Palestinians. Look, their assassin stopped to console the Palestinian's wife and children!
I read `A Death in Vienna' because a friend had recommended the author Daniel Silva. I chose this particular title randomly from several sitting on the shelf. My friend told me the hero's name is Gabriel Allon, and that he is an art restorer. Rather early in the book, I was tempted to stop reading. After a bombing in Vienna, the hero's Mossad superior refers to statements claiming responsibility as "the usual drivel about the plight of the Palestinians and the destruction of the Zionist entity" (p.22). But I didn't stop reading; I soldiered on to the end.
Is this book for you, or not for you? If you are among those willing to regard the plight of the Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis' as so much "drivel", then this book may be right up your alley. There's plenty of good times to be had, watching as the former Nazi is captured and brought back to Israel for punishment. It's true that the action is plodding and the suspense non-existent, but as one gentile reviewer said here on Amazon, "So sad, so sad. While reading this book, I cried and prayed for the Jewish people - 5 stars". Precisely one of the author's goals, I am quite sure.
If on the other hand, you are one who is aware of and disturbed by the plight of the Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis, then you may find the novel's glorification of the Mossad hit man to be, well, not something you can easily warm up to.
Rated by buyers -
Daniel Silva is a wonderful author. His books are hard to put down once you start reading one. His characters are full and extremely human-showing the best and the worst of humanity. Many of his books have the same characters but he makes it very easy to understand how they all fit together-in the past and in the time of the book. His assassins are even somewhat likeable because he gives the background showing why they became assassins. His books would make terrific movies. He better write another one fast because I only have a couple of his older ones to read before I will need more.
Rated by buyers -
Daniel Silva's Michner like ability to weave fact and fiction truly amazes me. The research he puts into his efforts combined with the twists and turns in his plots and his character development are all woven together to make for one hell of a fine read. Now that the holacost trilogy is finished, I can't wait to see what his future offering(s) will bring.
Find other books like this one:
