|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
The plot details of THE BLACK WIDOW, Daniel Silva’s latest thriller starring Israeli assassin/art restorer Gabriel Allon, seem ripped from today’s headlines. In a brief Forward, Silva writes that he had conceived the story before the horrific attacks of the past year in Paris and Brussels. It is hard, however, not to feel his prescience as one reads of the home-grown terrorists in the communities like Molenbeek that have been in the news lately.
When a bomb kills a woman in Paris who has been his friend and helper in past endeavors, Gabriel Allon knows he must find the perpetrators. But his physical involvement in the anti-terrorist plot is more peripheral than has been true in the past. Rather than being on the front lines of the actions, he is more the puppet master, manipulating and controlling events but not directly taking part. This change of role may be due in part to the fact that he is near the time when he will take over as head of The Office, as they refer to the headquarters of the Israeli secret intelligence agency, and he is no longer a young man. Because of certain events in a previous novel, much of the world believes him to be dead. But the heads of various international spy agencies, including Jordan, Britain and America, know he is alive, respect him, and become a part of his plan.
The terrorist mastermind behind the series of European attacks is someone with the pseudonym Saladin. No one knows who he really is, but Gabriel Allon sets out to entrap him before he can strike again. To this end, he recruits an Israeli doctor, Natalie Mizrahi, to pose as a "black widow," a radicalized Muslim woman whose husband has been killed by the non-believers and who is willing to do anything for revenge. Natalie had been born and trained in Marseilles, so she can pass as French, which fits the plans.
Natalie must have more than a mere disguise to fool Saladin. She must be totally transformed into another person. The details of how she becomes a Muslim woman named Leila are fascinating, and as is always the case with this series, the inside workings of the spy agencies is mesmerizing. Much suspense is built up as Leila becomes accepted into the terrorist network. She is committed to her spying job, but she is a novice and Gabriel Allon feels responsible for her. It is not clear at all if she is passing as a Moslem or has been discovered. Gabriel Allon, for all his talents and experience, is not always able to prevent devastating events from taking place, so the reader is on edge throughout.
It is apparent that the author has spent time in each of the locales that he mentions, in the various far-flung as well as familiar cities and rural areas. His descriptions of what the cities look like when ISIS is in control, with dead bodies hanging in the streets, is the same as the picture of these places painted by those who have escaped from them in real life. Silva’s clear analysis of events and his careful research are evident throughout.
A note of darkness has crept into this latest Daniel Silva thriller. Gabriel Allon no longer seems as confident that what he and his agents do will assure Israel’s long-term survival. Gabriel Allon pledges to keep his country safe for the present, for the course of his own lifetime. But it seems that there is an uncomfortable sense that Israel, that miraculous Jewish sanctuary, may not be able to continue to exist as its neighbors become more aggressive and violent and world events spiral out of control. One would hope that Daniel Silva is not as correct about this as he was about the attacks that form the heart of this book.
§ Anne Corey is a writer, poet, teacher and botanical artist in New York's Hudson Valley.
Reviewed by Anne Corey, July 2016
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
