The Kill Artist

The Kill Artist by Silva, Daniel. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780375500909.

From worldwide bestselling author Daniel Silva, praised by Newsday for "bringing new life to the international thriller," The Kill Artist is a taut and elegantly structured novel about a reluctant hero and his mission to destroy an old enemy and preserve international peace. Gabriel Allon had a simple but brutal job: he tracked down and eliminated Israels terrorist enemies. But when his wife and son fell victim to the danger that accompanied him everywhere, Gabriel quit and devoted himself to the work of art restoration, an occupation that had previously been a cover for his secret assignments. Now Ari Shamron, the head of Israeli intelligence, needs Gabriels particular kind of experience to thwart a Palestinian plot to destroy the peace negotiations in the Middle East. The architect of this plot, a Palestinian zealot named Tariq, is a lethal part of Gabriels past, so as the two begin an intercontinental game of hide-and-seek, with life and death as the prizes, the motives are as personal as they are political. The story features a vivid and fascinating supporting cast, including the magus-like Ari Shamron, a beautiful French Jewish model who is seeking retribution for her familys death in the Holocaust, and a marvelously comic down-at-the-heels London art dealer. Set these colorful and varied characters against a brilliant background of political intrigue and vengeance at the highest levels and a manhunt that covers three continents, and the result is a smart and electrically exciting global thriller.