Prince of Fire

Saturday, June 3rd, 2006 | Personal

I have blogged earlier about Daniel Silva‘s books, The Kill Artist, The English Assassin and The Confessor, so it was with great anticipation I picked up Prince of Fire at the bookstore last week. It continues shortly after A Death in Vienna, which I regrettably haven’t gotten my hand on yet, but once more we follow the Israeli spy Gabriel Allon as events unfold in the grander scheme of Israeli-Palestine intrigues involving the both loved and hated leader Yassir Arafat.

Once more Ari Shamron arrives to meet Mario Delvecchio, Gabriels alternate identity, and he has to flee his beloved Venice and journey home to Israel. Something he has tried not to do from the moment we first met him. Once more evil Palestine terrorists threaten the Israeli state and the prodigal son has to lead the investigation into these threats. This will be a race through history, memories and relationships throughout the history.

Despite portraying some of the transgressions committed by the Jews then this story reads somewhat more one-sided as the earlier books involving the Israeli-Palestine conflict as being almost completely pro-Israeli. This is, of course, fine in works of fiction, but it does peel off some of the Gabriel in conflict that I found very fascinating in the other novels I’ve read. This will, of course, not keep me from having a look at A Death in Vienna and the sequel The Messenger as I really enjoy Daniel Silva’s writing style. The portrayal of a spy world where not everything is pure glamour, where everything isn’t black and white, where moral superiority hardly ever belongs to anyone, where unspeakable truths are put before your eyes and you’re forced to consider whether these things might give you moral justification to do what will be done. It is quite thought provocative at any length.

Tags: ,

No comments yet.

Leave a comment