Fallen Angel (Silva) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Daniel Silva’s The Fallen Angel soars with authenticity….The Fallen Angel delivers the goods….Riveting espionage adventures that have timely, real-world relevance.
Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram


The Fallen Angel is a first-class spy mystery painted on a grand scale, appropriate because its protagonist, Gabriel Allon, is an expert art restorer; sometime friend of the Vatican; on-again, off-again intelligence agent for the Israeli government — and occasional assassin. If the novel has flaws, they lie in Silva’s intensive, relentless attention to detail. He made himself an expert on religion (Roman Catholic and Jewish), international espionage, European and Middle Eastern history and geography as well as other subjects. The details sometimes add excess baggage to the storytelling.Meticulously researched....The Fallen Angel is a first-class spy mystery painted on a grand scale.
Columbus Dispatch


The Fallen Angel is no conventional murder mystery; the plot's ramifications stretch back to Europe and the Middle East in shocking and violent ways. Silva is no purveyor of minimalism; his books have active plots and bold, dramatic themes. They cover a staggeringly wide range of subjects. In addition to murder and art restoration, "The Fallen Angel" dabbles in the antiquities trafficking trade, Vatican politics, organized crime, religious mythologies and histories, political realities and, of course, the growing threat of radical Islamic fundamentalism and its desire for the destruction of Israel.
Tulsa World


His past 12 books, all featuring enigmatic spy/art restorer Gabriel Allon, have kept Silva’s name high in the ranks; the latest, the Vatican-set The Fallen Angel, seems unlikely to reverse the trend.
Arizona Republic


It’s become almost obligatory for lovers of high level thrillers to read each new Daniel Silva novel as soon as it appears. With his by now trademark character, Gabriel Allon...Silva just about guarantees a couple of days of terrific entertainment.
NPR, All Things Considered


Another heart-pounding escapade of art restorer and Israeli intelligence legend Gabriel Allon gets masterful treatment.
AudioFile Magazine


Fast-paced action thriller from old hand Silva (Portrait of a Spy, 2001, etc.), whose hero Gabriel Allon returns in fine form. As Silva's legion of fans—including, it seems, every policy wonk inside the Beltway and Acela Corridor—knows, Gabriel is not just your ordinary spy. He's a capable assassin, for one thing, and a noted art restorer for another, which means that his adventures often find him in the presence of immortal works of art and bad guys who would put them to bad use. This newest whodunit is no exception: Gabriel's in the Vatican, working away at a Caravaggio, when he gets caught up in an anomalous scene—as a friendly Jesuit puts it with considerable understatement, "We have a problem." The problem is that another Vatican insider has gone splat on the mosaic floor, having fallen some distance from the dome. Did she jump, or was she pushed? Either way, as the victim's next of kin puts it, again with considerable understatement, "I'm afraid my sister left quite a mess." She did indeed, and straightening it up requires Gabriel to grapple with baddies in far-flung places around Europe and the Middle East. It would be spoiling things to go too deep into what he finds, but suffice it to say that things have been going missing from the Vatican's collections to fund a variety of nefarious activities directly and indirectly, including some ugly terrorism out Jerusalem way. But set Gabriel to scaling flights of Herodian stairs, and the mysteries fall into place—not least of them the location of a certain structure built for a certain deity by a certain biblical fellow. The plot's a hoot, but a believable one; think a confection by Umberto Eco as starring Jonathan Hemlock, or a Dan Brown yarn intelligently plotted and written, and you'll have a sense of what Silva is up to here. It's a grand entertainment to watch Silva putting Gabriel Allon's skills to work, whether shedding blood or daubing varnish—a top-notch thriller.
Kirkus Reviews