Grab Prince Of Fire (Gabriel Allon, #5) Engineered By Daniel Silva Contained In Manuscript

fifth book of Daniel Silvas series featuring artrestorer and Israeli avenger Gabriel Allon shows in small ways his growth as a writer.
In Prince of Fire, the technical aspects of the plot play second fiddle to the people side of the story, although the plot doesnt lack for suspense or mystery.


The ongoing battle against Palestinian terrorism plays itself out on the battlefield of Allons guilt over the loss of his son and the injury suffered by his wife Leah.
An incidental consequence of his obligation

to Leah, despite the fact as this novel begins she has not said a word to him in more than a dozen years, is the aborted legal consummation of his relationship with Italianborn Chiara.


Another aspect of the human side of the story is the relationship of Allon to Shamron, his father substitute.
The latter continues to manipulate Allon to serve his ends, knowing Allon cant say no to him.
Shamron wants him to take over running the “Office,” while Allon just wants to restore medieval art.


Prince of Fire doesnt paper over the suffering of the Palestinian people but accurately places the bulk of the responsibility for the refugee problem on the Arab leaders of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt who refused to allow ten percent of the British mandate to be allocated as a Jewish state and instead sought to drive the six hundred thousand Jews living in Palestine ininto the Mediterranean.


Then failing to accomplish that goal, those same leaders refused to integrate the refugee population into their countries, forcing them into squalid camps which became the breeding grounds for terrorism they remain nearly seventy years later.


Allon explains the problem to a member of his team: “The only difference between Hamas and Hitler is that Hamas lacks and power and the means to carry out an extermination of the Jews.
”

That doesnt mean the Palestinians have any interest in a peaceful settlement, which is why Daniel Silva continues to find fertile territory for his brilliant story telling.
It always comes back to the people who didnt ask for war, but for whom war cant be escaped.

The fifth book in series, featuring Gabriel Allon, an art restorer, and an assassin is called back to Israel when terrorists bomb the Israel embassy in Rome and discovered that Palestine has uncovered Gabriel Allon identity.
Based on a history of Israel and Palestine conflict after world war two, Silva explained the conflicts from both sides.
Couldn't put it down. It is difficult and somewhat arrogant for someone like mea welloff middleincome American Christian suburbanite from Ohioto have an opinion about the Middle East, especially in regards to the IsraeliPalestinian issue.
I dont even know what to call it, so Ill just call it an “issue”, Is “war” appropriate Is “hatred” accurate Is it politically incorrect to call it “genocide” What the hell do you call it without offending either or both sides

Theres so much I dont know or understand about what is going on in the Middle East, mainly because there is so much I dont know or understand about what is going on in my own country most of the time that the events happening hundreds of thousands of miles away, across the ocean, are all just white noise.
I hate to say that, but its the truth,

I like to pride myself on being someone who tries to stay current with what is going on in the world, but most of the timeand especially latelyI have had this frantic isolationist approach to the world.
I just want to hole up with my wife and daughter, “bunker down”, stay socially distant, and the governments “recommendation” to stay at home is strongly influencing these thoughts.


Silver lining: Im getting a lot of reading done, especially of some books that I had set aside, with every intention of someday reading them.
Now that libraries and bookstores are closed, that “someday” is now,

I was, a few months ago, on a Daniel Silva reading kick, and then I just stopped for no apparent reason.
So, Im picking up where I left off, which was the fifth book in his series featuring Israeli superspy Gabriel Allon, “Prince of Fire”.


After a Jewish embassy is bombed in Rome, leaving many dead, Allon is called in to spearhead the manhunt of the person or persons behind the bombing.
Allon is given a handpicked team, under the supervision of his boss and mentor, Ari Shamron,

Connecting dots of similar bombingsa community center in Buenos Aires and a synagogue in Istanbuland significant dates that are too significant to be coincidental, Allons team discovers that the man behind the bombing is a man whose very existence has been reduced to a myth, a man who has been shaped by a violent history between Palestinians and Israelis.


It is a history in which Allon is complicit, and one for which he feels some guilt.
It is a history, on the other hand, in which his boss, Shamron, takes pride, Shamron, like his Palestinian counterpart, Yasir Arafat, are part of the oldschool hardline militants, slowly dying off, but not slow enough for Allon.


Going into further detail would be spoilers, but its needless to say that Silva has written another fastpaced edgeoftheseat espionage action thriller, one that tackles timely subjects in an intelligent and compassionate manner.
Thisth thriller in the Gabriel Allon sees a change as Allons alter ega gets outed and he has to leave Venice and live in Israel.
In the opening of this book the embassy of Israel in Rome is hit by an murderous attack with a high bodycount, and of course Allon with a small team gets picked to figure out who is behind it.
Of course they quickley find a possible lead and when they follow it Gabriel Allon finds himself under fire.


This book is a decent thriller, and in my humble opinion a failure in making it a really great thriller.
The background of this book is the creation of the state of Israel and the trouble that came from it.
Instead of going into the source of the trouble we get a somewhat shallow, for my taste, explanation which in itself lacks any heart.
It therefor restricts itself to chasing a killer whose roots lie in the old Palastine,

A missed opportunity, but perhaps mr Silva's interest lies more with the world of art and less with any geopolitical ideas.
It makes this book easily one of the lesser of the series and a bit of a put off.
The Israeli assassin Gabriel Allon has been outed, His cover as the art restorer Mario Delvechhio has been blown, His enemies know who he is and where he is which puts him in mortal danger,

Responding to the threat, the Israeli intelligence service hastily extracts Allon and his lover, who is also an Israeli agent, from Venice and brings them back to Israel where they are given new quarters and Gabriel must go to the "Office" every day to participate in an inquisition as to how the latest debacle happened.


There had recently been several terrorist bombings of Israeli facilities around the world, bombings that were attributed to Palestinians, but the Israelis must figure out who is planning and executing these attacks.
There is an urgency about doing this before another attack takes place,

Meanwhile, Gabriel has made arrangements to bring his wife, Leah, who has been in a nursing facility in England for thirteen years since the explosion that killed their son and seriously injured her, back to Israel.
And his current lover is pressuring him to finally divorce Leah and marry her, All the necessary papers have been drawn up all he has to do is sign them,

The search for the person responsible for the current wave of terrorist attacks leads back to the Black September Movement and to Allon's first assignment as an assassin to kill those who attacked and killed members of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich in.
At length, Gabriel becomes convinced that the perpetrator of these latest attacks may be the son and grandson of earlier terrorists, that it may, in fact, be the son of one of the Black September terrorists that he killed.


Daniel Silva provides quite a fascinating history of how Black September came to be as well as its forerunners.
This "history" is fictionalized, of course, and has a definite Israeli bias, but then the protagonist/hero is Israeli, so it could hardly be otherwise.
No doubt if he were Palestinian, the "history" would slant a bit differently, Nevertheless, the backstory provided by Silva is based on verifiable historical events and it gives considerable context to the current and ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis over the bloodsoaked unholy land of the Middle East.


In my opinion, this fifth book in the Allon series is the best one yet, to a great extent because of the historical background that is given, but also because Silva seems to have a firmer, more surehanded grasp of his characters this time.
And that is to be expected, of course, The more one writes about a character, obviously the better known that character becomes to him,

I found the plot of this book more gripping and compelling than some of the others in the series.
It was also pretty straightforward and easy to follow, The moment when Allon learns that his physically and mentally damaged wife has been kidnapped was a turning point in the story and in the series for me.
It made Allon somehow more human and sympathetic, not the pitiless automaton that he has occasionally seemed.


Prince of Fire was a thriller in the best sense of the word.
It was a book that, once started, I didn't want to put down, Another solid Allon novel! I liked to see Gabriel's character progress into a new place, I would like to see the books head into a different direction than the IsraelPalestine conflict,

stars! “We have prayed for impossible things, Peace without justice, forgiveness without restitution, love without sacrifice, ”

In “Prince of Fire”, theth novel in the Gabriel Allon series, you can tell that the author, Daniel Silva, has had it with Palestinian terrorism.
He broaches the topic in a very different manner than he did in the first novel in the series.

In this text, Silva unflinchingly depicts Yasir Arafat for what he wasa twobit terrorist whose goal was the extermination of the Jews.
Arafat is given the unflattering portrait he deserves in this book, Silva makes clear that Arafats rejections of peace cost many people their lives,
However, what makes Mr, Silva such an interesting writer is that he turns that unflinching eye on both sides of the conflict.
He details the Palestinian grievance in Israel with honesty and truth, which does not often happen in books that deal with this issue.
An Israeli character gives his reasoning for the brutal expulsion of some Arabs from their homes in/and you the reader can hear his argument and decide for yourself what to make of it.

I have propelled thru this series because Dan Silva is a good writer and a good storyteller.
In the world of thriller fiction, that is a rare combo, Some examples from “Prince of Fire” include a section where the protagonist Gabriel Allon analyzes the case he is working on in the same manner he would a piece of art that he is restoring.
It is an excellent analogy and the writing in this section is top notch, In another section, a victim of Hamas terrorism gives a bitter and passionate account of a bus bombing that is chilling to read.

This series keeps getting better, I will be sure to move on to numbersoon!,