Over the course of ten previous novels, Daniel Silva has established himself as one of the world’s finest writers of international intrigue and espionage—“a worthy successor to such legends as Frederick Forsyth and John le Carré” (Chicago Sun-Times)—and Gabriel Allon as “one of the most intriguing heroes of any thriller series” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He’s playing by Moscow rules now.
It is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. A Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ruthlessly silenced. A Moscow where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an empire lost and to challenge the global dominance of its old enemy, the United States.
One such man is Ivan Kharkov, a former KGB colonel who built a global investment empire on the rubble of the Soviet Union. Hidden within that empire, however, is a more lucrative and deadly business. Kharkov is an arms dealer—and he is about to deliver Russia’s most sophisticated weapons to al-Qaeda. Unless Allon can learn the time and place of the delivery, the world will see the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11—and the clock is ticking fast.
Filled with rich prose and breathtaking turns of plot, Moscow Rules is at once superior entertainment and a searing cautionary tale about the new threats rising to the East—and Silva’s finest novel yet.
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"A top notch thriller that I have come to expect from Daniel Silva. As in all of his spy novels featuring the assassin/spy Gabriel Allon, it starts off with Mr. Allon in some far off land restoring art, which is his side line. Allon, an assassin and spy for the Office in Israel, is asked to do a small favor of meeting with a Russian journalist, who has information. Somehow the journalist ends up dead, leading Allon to take up the case of what information the journalist had, which leads Allon to Olga, another Russian reporter. That lead ends with Allon beaten and leads him to Elena Kharkov, wife of the notorious Ivan Kharkov, arms dealer to the world. The plot moves swiftly along as Allon tries to obtain information From Olga, at first, and then Elena. Forged paintings, old flames, the CIA, British Secret Service, gun fire, murder, and a bold extraction in hostile Moscow all play a part. The action is fast moving, the plot is nimble and the story is all I have come to expect from Silva.
If I had a quibble with the novel, it would be the ending. All are saved by an author ploy of using some new character to save the day. It basically comees down to the author having no other way to save his guy.
Still in all, the book is very fine."
—
Jeffrey (5 out of 5 stars)