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)
“Standard spy fare, but spiked with truly exciting scenes and spiced with Allon’s art expertise.”
— Booklist“Reader Phil Gigante does an excellent job with the dialog-heavy text, effectively using different accents to bring the international cast of characters to life.”
— School Library Journal (starred review)“Paul Gigante…resumes his outstanding rendering of Gabriel Allon and his crew of Israeli counterterrorism experts. Once again, Gigante highlights Allon’s strange blend of artist and assassin by giving him a quiet yet thoroughly persuasive voice. Gigante also deftly handles Silva’s large, polyglot cast of arms dealers, terrorists, art dealers, wives, mistresses, and even children…Gigante’s quick pace and narrative skill will keep listeners enthralled.”
— Publishers Weekly" The books in this series are really good. I love the main character of Gabriel. Gabriel is an art restorer who also occasionally works for the Israeli Government. He gets into strife each book but manages to get out of it - usually not without some injuries. Highly recommend this book and others by this author. "
— Tracy, 12/8/2024" I really enjoyed this book. I love this style of writting where you are engaged a good fast paced story but you are also learning. Daniel Silva did a great job researching this plot. "
— Jennystephenson, 2/3/2014" Gabriel Allon makes my vacations great. Perfect escape thriller. Moscow Rules is more of the same famous-art-restorer-but-actually-secret-Israeli-agent-formula, and what can I say other than it works?! "
— Lynne, 1/19/2014" Gave up about half way through. Had read all the 'Allon' series but noticed with the last one that Silva's writing style had become formalistic - a problem compounded in 'Moscow Rules' "
— Edmund, 1/18/2014" 4.5 of 5 Stars "
— Sue, 1/4/2014" I confess to having listened to the Silva series on CD, but I enjoyed both the writing and the reader. Well defined characters caught in highly charged circumstances on locations from Israel and Russia to U.S. and France. Highly recommend. "
— Carolyn, 1/1/2014" Slow start but is a great spy thriller! "
— Ronaulbach, 12/15/2013Daniel Silva is the acclaimed author of more than two dozen fiction thrillers that have been #1 New York Times bestsellers and Barry Award winners. He is best known for his long-running series starring spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon. His books are critically acclaimed bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than thirty languages.
Phil Gigante has narrated more than two hundred audiobooks, earning ten AudioFile Earphones Awards and three of the prestigious Audie Awards for best narration. An actor, director, and producer with over twenty years of experience in theater, film, television, and radio, he is currently the artistic director of Gigantic Productions and Little Giant Children’s Theatre.