The Black Widow (Gabriel Allon Book 16) Kindle Edition

This is the first time I have read anything by Daniel Silva; I'm in love! This novel is a very, very pdetailed story of a man who is a remarkably odd combination of art restorer and Mossad assassin. Actually he is no longer so much an assassin as a one-time assassin who now designs and meticulously plans audacious spy actions. In this case, he invents a woman, a black widow, who will be invited into the heart of ISIS territory in Syria. Her mission is to learn of future actions planned for Europe and the US.There are many facets to this story, both human and tactical. Building the legend of the widow, locating and developing her, ensuring her safety as much as possible and much anxiety every step of the way -- this is only part of the equation!I don't want to reveal the plot beyond the above. The development is painstaking and the action is, sadly, quite realistic. If you enjoy books that catch you up and have you biting your nails from one crisis to the next (there are many twists and turns) you'll have a terrific time reading "The Black Widow". Quite honestly, I question the way someone who is pro-ISIS will take this book. Everyone else can join me as I sit on the edge of my seat.One business aside: eventually I will manage to read every book by Daniel Silva. However the ebook pricing is totally unreasonable and unapologetic. I probably should have taken away a star or two to issue my protest, but I don't want to punish the author.

Daniel Silva's Book 16 in the Gabriel Allon series, The Black Widow, is a wild ride as Silva is slowly easing Allon into his future role as the Office head. While Gabriel is allowed to finished his last restoration project, a hauntingly prophetic scenario of ISIS orchestrated attacks across Europe begins starting in France. Gabriel is recruited to assist a special anti-terrorist French unit, not only to hunt down the attackers, but also prevent future attacks. The title is taken from the nickname given to women whose male partners have been previously killed and are seeking vengeance. Gabriel recruits a woman to go deep undercover to identify the puppetmaster pulling the strings for the various attacks.The tradecraft is well done with considerable attention paid to the detail oriented nature of establishing an undercover identity with a bit of rendition thrown in. There's also the conflicted nature of necessary alliances and stark contrast to the rules of a civilized society and the necessities of keeping the population safe. Silva has created both a new Office recruit who appears to have in the future, a central role as well as a new nemesis that is likely to run for several plots.One can only hope that with his next Allon installment, Silva is not so eerily accurate in his prognostications of future events.

I am always excited when I see that Daniel Silva has new book out based on Gabriel Allon. Mr. Silva has created a complex protagonist in the Israeli spy master. Allon is a gifted art restorer and consummate spy. We are drawn into the plot immediately with the explosion of a building in France which destroys a Jewish Museum, killing a close friend of Allon's. The French authorities request Allon's assistance in hunting down the terrorists with the proviso that the French can also stay involved. Allon also drafts a Middle Eastern Intelligence agency to assist him. Most intriguing is the drafting of a Jewish doctor who works in France saving the lives of both French Christian and Muslim victims of terror without prejudice. She is needed to help Allon discover who is the current deadly terrorist plotting extreme acts of terrors throughout Europe. His code name is Saladin, but Allon needs to find out his true identity. He soon learns that Saladin has a major attack planned on US soil. After agreeing to help Allon ferret out Saladin, Dr. Natalie Mizraini undergoes extensive training to become a terrorist sympathizer intent on killing Jews. She becomes a "Black Widow," who gets noticed by a Saladin recruiter for her apparent willingness to sacrifice herself for the terrorist cause. The book becomes a thrilling game of chess between the Israelis and the terrorists with Natalie's life at stake. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This kept me up at night hoping that our brave Natalie would survive Saladin's beheading.

Daniel Silva does it again. If the government doesn't have him on their payroll they should. He is prescient about what the terrorists are planning around the world. This time Paris bombing and terrorist attacks cause Gabriel to take on one more Operation before being tied to the big desk at the Office. How better to brig down ISIS than to create someone to infiltrate the system. As such, Gabriel takes a French/ Jewish doctor living in Jerusalem and turns her into a Palestinian doctor working in France. Natalie/Leila is so undercover that she dreams in her alter ego. Her task - to infiltrate the ISIS caliphate and find out what their leader Saladin is planning.Natalie is able to get in but will she get out? Will Gabriel and his team be able to stop the coming destruction that is being planned? Who will live and who will die?This book is cut from the pages of the tomorrow's newspapers and provides a chilling warning to what is happening in the world. All the while, Daniel SIlva manages to make the story entertaining without sounding preachy. This book is an amazing thriller and the ultimate spy novel.

This is, as usual, a gripping and very realistic story and worthy of 5 stars. However I really do have an issue with the cost of Danial Silva's Kindle books. Top writers recent new books are under £10 e.g. Stephen King's End of Watch £4.99, Peter May's Cast Iron £6.99 while this is £11.24, double the price of the paperback. I managed to get the Kindle version for 99p but the offer only lasted a day. I also cannot understand why we still cannot get the earlier Gabriel Allon books on Kindle and at a realistic price. Perhaps I could persuade Gabriel to pay Silva a visit and remind him he should be considering his fans a little better.

Mossad’s latest confrontation with the worst the Islamist world has to offer is an annual treat. This year’s villain, as topical as he could be, is an Iraqi known as ‘Saladin’ who is masterminding outrages in European capitals on behalf of ISIS and has the US in his sights.Israeli superspy Gabriel Allon recruits Natalie, an Arab-speaking French Jewish doctor, and creates a new identity for her that will make her attractive to ISIS: she becomes Leila, a Palestinian ‘black widow’ thirsting for vengeance after the death of her husband at the hands of the Zionists. The infiltration works, although Natalie/Leila’s first meeting with Saladin is under circumstances very different to what she or Allon expected.This is Silva’s 16th thriller featuring Gabriel Allon. They have inevitably become formulaic. Israel’s military – and moral – superiority over the Islamists is hammered home, although this time round the Jordanian secret service has a part to play, as also (and more regularly) do the British and French services and, of course, the CIA. The climax in Washington is nothing less than apocalyptic. We are once again reminded that no matter how conclusively the West defeats Islamic State (and Al-Qaeda and the Taliban) on the battlefield, 'the patron saints of terror' will continue to bring their war to our cities and our streets.Another page-turning, nerve-shredding read from Daniel Silva.[Reviewer is the author of SHAIKH-DOWN]

I write as a big fan of Daniel Silva and his world-saving colleagues. But in this book, it seems he has just taken the basic plot of his book The Messenger and changed the settings. In The Messenger, the lovely Sarah Bancroft has to penetrate violent terrorist group. Same thing in The Black Widow, but this time a lovely French doctor is the heroine.For the first time, I started getting impatient with Silva as the stable of old themes, baddies and stereotypes are trotted out. I have no objection to the same characters appearing, they are like comforting characters and you know who and what they are. But a lot to me in this book struck me as a good copy and paste job...pretty disappointing...

I waited a long time for the new Daniel Silva and it was worth it. The research that goes into his novels is outstanding. Sad that this time it should come about with the advent of ISIS in it's present form and for which he truly didn't anticipate. The pleasure was in once again seeing that the previous characters are all accounted for and perhaps now a new one. Natalie. His novels delve deep into Middle Eastern Politics and he obviously has a sound knowledge. Gabriel Allon no longer in the field. He had to get to old at sometime has his finger on the proverbial button.I suppose what drew me to his novels and you must read from the first one was my own interest in paintings and art with the fact that although he was an assassin he was an art restorer and I grew up in the times of the Black September Movement and all that was to follow. Fascinating recreation of historic events. Daniel is a master of his craft.

Daniel Silva's novel couldn't have been more timely, given the recent atrocities in Europe. It's right up to date. This probably added to the fact that I couldn't put it down and it is, without doubt, one of the best novels of it's kind and of any thriller come to that, of recent time. It deals with Islamic terror in Europe and the USA but it is the European aspect that grips because of recent incidents. The authors forward is rather poignant in that he explains that he almost abandoned the project following the terrorist attacks in France. It's also rather refreshing to have a central character that isn't a 6' 2" chisel jawed, alpha male of the Hollywood variety. I'll be reading more of Daniel Silva's work and wholeheartedly recommend this book.