Think of ISIS as the Death Star and their recruiting tactics as the thermal exhaust port. Gabriel, then, would be Luke Skywalker, planning to expose their lone weakness. Mizrahi is the torpedo aimed to bring the whole thing down, if only it were that simple…) Legendary spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon is poised to become the chief of Israel’s secret intelligence service. But on the eve of his promotion, events conspire to lure him into the field for one final operation. ISIS has detonated a massive bomb in the Marais district of Paris, and a desperate French government wants Gabriel to eliminate the man responsible before he can strike again. Despite the fact that the novel is a bit of a dark read, it does end with a sense of hope. The good guys will fight on. That is the stuff of movies, and hopefully of reality. Its ending however leads me to believe that Mr. Silva intends to continue another frame of the story in the next novel of the series. The story does not quite feel complete.

Once Silva accomplished his introduction, and we slipped into the middle half of the book, the gripping suspense began. My advice: if you read this book and find it slow at first, don't give up, read on. The middle part of this book was pure gold and comparisons to Le Carre are valid. The voice of the characters and the jeopardy he puts them in brought a level of suspense and tension that is up there with the best. Can the Gabriel Allon series get any better? This may be the best book in the series to date. Daniel Silva's writing skills continue to grow. The story could be something straight out of the news headlines. Silva's prescience is uncanny. El autor se encontraba escribiendo el manuscrito de este libro cuando ocurrieron los atentados perpetrados en París y Bruselas por el mismo grupo terrorista que aquí encontramos, ISIS. Y es triste, cuando como en este caso, la ficción juega una mala pasada, y salta de las páginas de un libro a hechos vividos en la vida real, y no al revés. Sin embargo, aplaudo la iniciativa del autor al mantener la línea original del libro, porque es verdaderamente adictivo. This is a story that flows naturally, with an easy reading due to its small chapters and I must say it was my first reading of this highly successful author, but this book is the 16th in a series entitled "Gabriel Allon" and although Read very well as an independent reading, because the author knows how to contextualize everything, the truth is that I believe that there may be details and even relations with some characters that we would understand better if we had followed the series.

A woman whom Gabriel knew (she appeared in Silva’s sixth Allon novel, The Messenger) was among those killed in the explosion. She happened to be in possession of a very rare and famous painting that is valued at more than twenty million dollars. In the event of her death, she had arranged for the painting to go to Gabriel. Knowing this, the French confiscated it from her flat and are holding it until he finishes aiding them with their investigation. Daniel Silva is the master of spy thrillers and one of the best authors on the planet. To not read his books and call yourself a fan of the genre is nearly criminal. More specifically to this book, I found his expositions on politics to be especially heavy handed and clumsy. Again, we get it... You don't like President Obama. I wouldn't be bothered by that if it hadn't been such a distraction from the narrative in this novel. There was way less Gabriel Allon and way more potshots at the current administration. I think Silva is at his best when he's telling stories, not beating us over the head with his political views. In the past, he has been very successful at showing us how complex the political situation in the Middle East is when he is telling people's stories. La viuda negra” es el Libro #16 de la Serie Gabriel Allon, y pufffff como me ha gustado! Éste ha sido un thriller más que apegado a la realidad actual, y nos muestra el mundo convulso en el que vivimos a raíz del fanatismo religioso. I love Gabriel Allon and have read all of the previous 15 books, but I found this book tiresome for a few reasons. First, Daniel Silva has apparently never met a non-beautiful woman worth writing about. As a female reader, this has gotten quite old by now. Isn't it enough to make the new woman featured in this book a multi-lingual, courageous doctor? Can't she just be normal looking and still be worth writing about? I've found Silva's insistence on creating a world populated almost exclusively by beautiful women to be a bit annoying throughout the series, but it was especially wearing in this novel, perhaps because Silva is once again relying on the trope of inserting a beautiful girl into a terrorist network. You'll notice that the female terrorists had to be beautiful, too.

Mizrahi’s scenes are especially compelling, as the magnitude of her mission is never lost on the reader. Silva has done a tremendous job developing her character just enough to make the readers care about her, while at the same time allowing her to remain somewhat of a mystery. That balance allows for some really intense moments later on, as the story eventually takes several surprising turns. In this 16th book in the 'Gabriel Allon' series, the Israeli agent is after an ISIS terrorist. The book can be read as a standalone, though familiarity with the characters is a bonus. Proving once again to be one of the best authors of his generation, Daniel Silva delivers a stunningly brilliant plot, with a final act that is sure to leave readers speechless! There is a mystery that is not revealed at the end of this book and that left me wondering if it would not be a character that has appeared in the other books, because he knows Gabriel Allon, it's about the identity of the "Saladin"? The leader of the terrorist who seems to have had a past in espionage, but that left us with several questions that makes us want to wait for the next book to see if this mystery is unraveled. As a longtime fan of the series, I’m happy for Gabriel, but sad at the same time. I’m not yet ready to admit to myself that those days of him in the field are over with. However, if they are, Silva has begun setting things up for the future rather nicely.The ISIS headhunter arranges for Leila to take a month-long vacation in Greece. After a couple of days, however, Leila is spirited off to Syria - where she's interrogated by a top ISIS official. Apparently passing muster, Leila starts training to be an ISIS terrorist. Meanwhile, she keeps her eyes and ears open for information about Saladin. In the last few 'Gabriel Allon' books the Israeli agent has been preparing to take charge of his country's spy agency, 'The Office.' La narrativa se mantiene fiel al estilo del escritor que tanto le ha resultado, mantiene los saltos entre escenarios y personajes, siempre con buenas descripciones, ambientaciones y diálogos perfectamente balanceados dentro capítulos bastante cortos; haciendo que disfrutes de una lectura amena, ágil y súper adictiva.