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Summary and Reviews of The Messenger by Daniel Silva

The Messenger by Daniel Silva

The Messenger

by Daniel Silva
  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • First Published:
  • Jul 25, 2006, 352 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jul 2007, 500 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

Monsignor Luigi Donati, the private secretary to His Holiness Pope Paul VII, has come to seek Allon's help. A young Swiss guard has been found dead in St. Peter's Basilica, and although Donati has allowed the official inquiry to determine that it is suicide, his instinct tells him that it is murder - and that his master is in grave danger.

A spellbinding tale of power, greed, and revenge from the New York Times-bestselling "world-class paractitioner of spy fiction"
(The Washington Post)

Allon is recovering from a grueling showdown with a Palestinian master terrorist, when a figure from his past arrives in Jerusalem. Monsignor Luigi Donati is the private secretary to His Holiness Pope Paul VII, and a man as ruthless as he is intelligent. Now, however, he has come to seek Allon's help. A young Swiss guard has been found dead in St. Peter's Basilica, and although Donati has allowed the official inquiry to determine that it is suicide, his instinct tells him that it is murder-and that his master is in grave danger. He has trusted Allon in the past, and he is the only man he trusts now.

Allon reluctantly agrees to get involved, but once he begins to investigate he concludes that Donati has every right to be concerned, as, following the trail from the heart of the Vatican to the valleys of Switzerland and beyond, he slowly unravels a conspiracy of lies and deception. An extraordinary enemy walks among them, with but one goal: the most spectacular assassination ever attempted.

Filled with remarkable characters and breathtaking double and triple turns of plot, The Messenger solidifies Silva's reputation as his generation's finest writer of international thrillers.

1.London

IT WAS ALI MASSOUDI who unwittingly roused Gabriel Allon from his brief and restless retirement: Massoudi, the great Europhile intellectual and freethinker, who, in a moment of blind panic, forgot that the English drive on the left side of the road.

The backdrop for his demise was a rain-swept October evening in Bloomsbury. The occasion was the final session of the first annual Policy Forum for Peace and Security in Palestine, Iraq, and Beyond. The conference had been launched early that morning amid great hope and fanfare, but by day’s end it had taken on the quality of a traveling production of a mediocre play. Even the demonstrators who came in hope of sharing some of the flickering spotlight seemed to realize they were reading from the same tired script. The American president was burned in effigy at ten. The Israeli prime minister was put to the purifying flame at eleven. At lunchtime, amid a deluge that briefly turned Russell Square into a ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Booklist - Connie Fletcher
Starred Review. What makes this series fascinating is the interplay between standard spy-thriller fare... with the passionate, tragic figure of Allon himself. An engrossing and beautifully written contemporary spy thriller.

Library Journal
Unlike other thriller writers... Silva builds suspense through realistic threats, harrowing situations, and gripping action.

Publishers Weekly
The way Silva resolves his plot will keep readers right where he wants them: on the edges of their seats.

Reader Reviews

SandyA

And then I wrote -- the same book all over again
I need to preface my review with this disclaimer: I am a Daniel Silva fan, and have recommended him to other people who like well written mysteries, sympathetic heroes, and creative plots. HOWEVER, this book by Silva seems identical to several ...   Read More

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Read-Alikes

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