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
