I love it when friends recommend books to me because I end up reading a lot of things that I would not otherwise! This was one such book . . . thanks Paul for the recommendation!
The Messenger features Gabriel Allon, the world renowned art restorer, who also happens to be an Israeli version of James Bond! You even have your additional operatives that add depth to the story . . . Rimona, Dina, Yossi, Yaakov, and of course, Shamron. Allon is present when a terrorist group targets the Pope and the Vatican. The group leads to Zizi and his associate bin Shafiq. Then enters Sarah Bancroft, an American woman directly affected by 9/11 and willing to infiltrate Zizi's group, even willing to die for the cause. The question is . . . when the operation goes bad, will Sarah live and will they get their target man?
When I first began reading this novel, I was a bit lost to tell you the truth. I was not sure what was going on and almost put the book down. I think some of this confusion came from issues that could have been resolved if I had read Silva's previous books and some of it from the inner workings of intelligence agencies and terrorism -- something I'm not too familiar with! However, I pushed through it and eventually, was not able to put it down. I had to know if bin Shafiq was going to meet his maker and if the very likeable Sarah Bancroft was going to survive.
Maybe this is too bold to say. Maybe I am just hoping. I know that this book is strictly fiction, but I will say that it did give me hope in our own personal fight against terror. It is not just us fighting this war. The U.S. is not alone. And, there is hope that there are many good people out there to protect the innocent.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. At first, it may have been hard to drudge through, but it was more than worth the read once I got through the first quarter of it! In fact, when I decide to go book shopping again (after I have my many other books read), I may consider buying another Silva novel!
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