Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Book review - "The Heist" by Daniel Silva


Might contain spoilers.


Silva is never one to give the reader a break.  He starts his novel The Heist with a scene that seems innocent enough (unless you’ve read some of his other works), but within a few paragraphs has you devouring each page while taking you on a wild ride through Europe, the Middle East and all the art museums in between.

The Heist opens with the brutal murder of an art thief, so naturally Israeli spy extraordinaire and master classic art restorer Gabriel Allon is taxed with finding out who killed him.  And where are the paintings he stole?

The title refers to Allon staging a theft of a Van Gogh from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.  He creates an exact replica of the painting and puts it on the black market to flesh out the murderer.
Of course, Silva doesn’t stick with a mere art thief and a couple of murders.  Soon, Allon and his team uncover huge sums of money generated from the theft, trafficking and selling of priceless pieces of art.  Billions of dollars are hidden in bank accounts all over the globe to keep a tyrannical regime in power, and rolling in the dough while keeping its citizens in poverty and oppressed by the military.

Although a great story, I felt it wasn’t as good as some of his previous works.  The final solution is a little disappointing but I suppose we can’t become complacent.  There is still an element of satisfaction that the little fish didn’t get away, even if the big fish does.

I enjoy Silva’s work even though he violates writers’ rules against adding data dumps, however, interesting and the intrusive narrator.  He keeps his stories fast passed despite these sins(?).

3 ✪✪✪ out of 5

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