The Messenger
Written by Daniel Silva & Reviewed by Detective Dru
Part One: The Door of Death
Ah yes, the painfully familiar Silva chapter one. A man Ali Moussadi, an allegedly esteemed intellect, gives a lecture and is then tailed back to his hotel. He panics and gets hit by a car while trying to lose it. The tail nabs his briefcase. Shortly after, Shamron visits Gabriel Allon. It was his man tailing Ali and the laptop contained alarming photos of the Vatican’s security measures. This operation is likely financed by Prince Nabil, some evil Saudi Arabian. Evil Saudis will be a recurring theme. And Lev is out and Amos is in as head of Mossad. An Italian rep will visit Gabe tomorrow, as he is to debrief Italy on the threats Ari discovered. FYI Gabe has open warrants now in France because of the bombing at Lyon to get Khalid in the Prince of Fire.
Our familiar friend Luigi Donati arrives in Jerusalem. Him and Gabe discuss the photos and Ali and visit the Old City. Donati tells Gabe to come with him to Rome after deducing when the suspicious photos were taken. Gabe sees the Pope. They discuss the threat he’s discovered and the Pope is nonplussed. His ceremony will go on as planned (just like the other book) and Swiss guard will be responsible for his safety.
Gabe gets access to paperwork and somehow deduces one imam is their suspect from hundreds of files (in like an hour btw) Him and a priest go to El-Banna’s room, but all that is there is some declaration of war a la the crusades. Uh oh for the Pope. 700 dead from three suicide bombers, including 4 bishops and the head of the Swiss guard. Pope summons Gabe to thank him for saving his life before he returns to Israel. He also tells Gabe Chiara would like to see him in Venice before he returns. Gabe visits Chiara, but she has not summoned him. So, I guess this Pope lies when it comes to matters of the heart? They immediately do what agents do and jump right into reconciling the relationship. Gimme a break with this arc. And yes, Gabe still visits his invalid ex-wife Leah 2-3 times a week. Gabe’s girl problems are not the least bit engaging, and there’s no wounded-animal type sympathy to be had for him. Chiara left him last book for not divorcing his wife, and here they’re back together despite nothing having changed.
Gabe returns home to find Shamron waiting. Turns out el-Banna was working for Khalil, aka Ahmed bin Shafiq. He was GiD (gen intel dept) for Saudi Arabia. He was kicked out, then became a terrorist financier, but was extra dangerous because of his new network but also his connection to the USA ally Saudi Arabia. Gabe is to go to DC to explain the man is dangerous and Saudi Arabia may no longer be an ally. When Shamron leaves his apartment, Gabe hears an explosion….
Part Two: Dr Gachet’s Daughter
Ari is in the hospital and his wife Gilah is in the waiting room. Gabe is summoned by the PM, he’s certain it’s Shafiq. Adrian Carter of CIA has asked to meet with Gabe in London. The PM agrees to it and assigns Gabe to get justice or vengeance for Ari. Adrian Carter tells Gabe in London that they’ve deduced some Saudi Zizi al-Bakhari is financing Shafiq’s terrorism. But he and many other troublesome Saudis are paid up with DC, so prosecuting them would damage the USA image. Carter and POTUS want Gabe to infiltrate the house of Zizi, then kill Shafiq when the opportunity arrives.
Chapter twelve is practically a montage chapter. Gabe visits Eli Lavon from the previous book at a dig at Armageddon. He agrees to follow money for the terror financing. Then Gabe visits Ari who already knows about Carter’s request and disapproves because it reeks of patsy. Then Gabe says he has a plan to infiltrate Zizi and it requires an American woman. When Gabe gets home, Chiara is randomly and conveniently there.
Gabe visits art dealer Julian Isherwood from previous books. Gabe needs a Van Gogh to dangle in front of Zizi since rumor is he wants one. Andrew Malone is the crooked broker Gabe will hafta go thru to get to Zizi, but first he must acquire the painting by stealing it from the Weinberg family, per Julian’s provenance. Gabe approaches Hannah Weinberg in Paris about the painting. She denies owning it at first, then concedes when Gabe points out that her grandfather purchased it from the woman Joanna, close associate of Van Gogh in his later years.
Langley, Virginia. Carter tells Gabe they have the perfect girl for the Zizi mission. Sarah Bancroft. But Gabe is reluctant because she had a boyfriend that died on 9/11, which would cause Zizi to discard her immediately if he found out. CIA picks her up anyway, then Gabe is randomly taken to speak with POTUS, an unintentional homage to the lesser Jack Ryan novels.
Sarah is brought to Julian Isherwood and put through art exhibit training. She debates the morality of what she’s being asked with Gabe. She is to ID bin Shafiq for elimination. Julian reaches out to the broker Andrew Malone. Much back and forth. Andrew wants 10% of Julian’s commission - they have this on tape now and know it would make Zizi furious because of his infatuation with exclusivity and discretion and loyalty. Zizi agrees to come view the Van Gogh and arrives with a comically large entourage to purchase the Van Gogh. Andrew Malone is summarily dismissed and Sarah is conveniently hired to replace him.
Part Three - The Night Journey
Sarah’s on the yacht, but bin Talal confiscated all her electronics, including her hair dryer. They keep things light like when James Bond first meets the villain and neither is being honest about who they are. Sarah and Zizi’s hot daughter Nadia spend the day at a beach in a French island who, in defiance to her father, is smoking topless. They later go to dinner with Zizi who meets with someone named Alain Al-Nasser who Sarah thinks might be bin Shafiq. She puts her hair up - the signal to Gabe she might have an ID.
The next day Sarah leaves the boat for the island with Jean Michel, Zizi’s trainer. They jog, then Gabe needs a voice sample of Al-Nasser so he randomly spills a drink on his wife during their dinner, of which Gabe knew about from tapping their phone (but only getting audio samples of the wife) Gabe is now certain he has his man.
Gabe and the team begin planning their assassin and extraction. They alert Sarah to fake an illness and go to the bathroom during dinner. And they plan to kill bin Shafiq (and his wife) at their villa. Gabe doesn’t like the constriction of the island as a kill zone and the others are paranoid that bin Shafiq is aware he’s being monitored.
Mission aborted in chapter 27. Zizi’s team claims there’s a bomb threat and retreat from the island for the yacht. Bin Shafiq pulls up stakes quickly and scrams via private jet. Gabe is heated because he knows they must’ve figured out that something was amiss, meaning Sarah is now in danger. Zizi tells her she needs to fly to Switzerland to inspect a Monet and drops her off on the tarmac. Bin Talal and Jean Michel accompany her on the jet then hit her with a syringe. Uh oh.
CIA & Mossad scramble to save Sarah while she’s cuffed to her seat in the jet bound for Switzerland. Bin Talal and Jean Michel beat her and drug her and place her in a diplomatic Mercedes upon arrival in Switzerland. She’s driven to meet bin Safiq, again. He threatens her and magically knew of every person surveilling them, just like every other Silva book. She admits to knowing Shafiq’s real name and is ethered and given over to Mohammed the interrogator for a “Night Journey“ to discover what she knows.
CIA and Mossad land in Switzerland while Sarah arrives at some creepy chalet with Mohammed. Gabe and his team converge on the chalet. Sarah gives up info to Mohammed. Gabe rescues Sarah and kills Mohammed. A super anticlimactic scene after chapters of build-up. Sarah tells Gabe that she gave up names to Mohammed and that bin Shafiq is planning another hit on the Vatican.
Sarah is taken to Ramstein to be treated by American military doctors. Carter and Gabe scramble to fortify the President’s visit to Vatican that is likely the target. Gabe gets to the Vatican. A man he recognized attempts to shoot POTUS, but Gabe kills him in the staging area. Franchise favorite Luigi Donati was shot during the attempt. Pope and Gabe are at Luigi’s bedside, lamenting their friend who saved POTUS’s life by jumping in front of the bullets that the Swiss guard Muller fired.
Part Four - The Witness
Gabe is subpoenaed by CIA, but as a foreign officer, he agrees, but only if it’s private. (Gabe is famous now because the POTUS shooting video was all over the news) Gabe tells the US senators how corrupt the Saudi’s are, much to everyone’s chagrin, including Carter and the Saudi ambassador. Gabe gets to see Sarah who is recovering and now on the desk for CIA. Saudi station. Gabe returns to Israel.
Shamron was not happy about Gabe’s testimony. He remarks that field work is out for Gabe now, since he’s famous. Gabe plans to steal back the Van Gogh per his promise to Hannah about returning it. He also finally tells Leah he will marry Chiara. Gabe steals back the painting in Paris, then blows up bin Shafiq at a hotel. Then Zizi is shot while boarding his yacht by Uzi, the guy that was given Gabe’s job. The daughter Hot Nadia screams in agony of revenge while over her dad’s body.
This book was a major step up from the last book despite following many of the similar beats. Silva’s series is starting to reach AC/DC territory, where the audience is treated to the exact same concert in every city. Fortunately, the concert rocks, despite the story and its beats feeling closer to a Jack Reacher cover band than an original Gabriel Allon album. In an effort to test the AC/DC theory, the next Daniel Silva story to be reviewed will be a few books further along the Allon chronology. It will be curious indeed to see if there is much of a difference in the template six or seven books down the road of this franchise roadmap.
