| | |  | Terrorism | Home » » Moscow Rules (Gabriel Allon) | | | | | | | Description: | | Daniel silva has hit the top with his new gabriel allon novel...
A #1 New York Times bestseller!
The death of a journalist leads Israeli spy Gabriel Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn if he wants to prevent a former KGB colonel from delivering Russia's most sophisticated weapons to al-Qaeda.
| | | Product Details: | | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 147 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 147 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
82 of 106 found the following review helpful:
 Moscow Rule: "Death solves all problems. No man, no problemJul 22, 2008
By Mary Whipple
(4.5 stars) In his eighth Gabriel Allon espionage thriller, Daniel Silva moves from investigating the historical crimes of the past, often related to the Holocaust, and their effects on the present, to crimes of the present and their possibly catastrophic effects on the future. In this intense and absorbing novel about uncontrolled arms sales, the biggest threat to the future comes from Russian arms dealers, aided by Russia's president and former KGB operatives who are now unimaginably wealthy independent brokers and contractors. These arms merchants operate with impunity, selling all manner of weapons to terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East and Africa.
Gabriel Allon, formerly with the Israeli Mossad, is on his honeymoon in Italy when he is contacted by Ari Shamron, the grand old man of Israeli security. Allon, a trained art restorer, has been working for the Pope, but the recent assassination of a Russian journalist who may have had information he wanted to reveal to the West brings him out of retirement and back into action. When the murdered man's Russian editor-in-chief is also murdered, Allon travels to Russia, where he learns the name of a Russian arms dealer, Ivan Kharkov, who has been supplying Hezbollah, and who now appears close to selling sophisticated weapons to al-Quaeda.
Kharkov and his wife are collectors of Mary Cassatt paintings, and the fascinating art world which has added so much life to other Gabriel Allon thrillers in the past is also a major aspect of this novel. Art dealers, down-in-their-luck gentry who own prized artwork, and, in the case, of Allon, restorers, all play unexpectedly major roles in this effort to prevent Kharkov from selling advanced weapons to al-Quaeda. As the high-stakes plotting by the conjoined security services of England, the US, Italy, and France builds to a crescendo, Allon follows the action through various countries leaving multiple murders, beatings, car crashes, and betrayals in his wake. Always, the fine hand of the Russian mafia is pulling the strings, purportedly with the aid of the Russian president.
Silva keeps the action moving briskly, and his ability to convey the atmosphere of disparate locations adds depth and drama to the plot. The characters, even the minor ones, are paradigms of the countries they represent, imbued with the cultures of their homelands, rather than mere stereotypes. His major characters are complex and carefully drawn, and the action and underlying themes of the novel are intelligent and thought-provoking. As always, Silva creates a complex and exciting story, but this time the focus is on contemporary politics, rather than on the past. Providing evidence that future catastrophes are shockingly easy to inspire, given the venal nature of unscrupulous international arms dealers, Silva employs his formidable talents to create a terrifying picture of a cynical world--and a warning for the future. n Mary Whipple
The Marching Season: A Novel
The English Assassin
A Death in Vienna
Prince of Fire
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 I'll be sure to pick up more Silva...Apr 11, 2009
By L. Boswell
The middle book of my "Russia" trilogy (Child 44, this and then The Secret Life of Moscow), this happened to be my first Daniel Silva. While it follows a character--Gabriel--from his previous book and references some connections, characters and scenarios from it, I didn't find it difficult to follow Moscow Rules at all without having read the others.
Moscow Rules begins with Gabriel on holiday in Italy with his new wife. He's trying to get some downtime in after what was apparently a rather stressful experience from the last book, and is working diligently on restoring a painting for the Vatican. He gets an urgent call from his boss from the Israeli counter terrorism unit that a member of the much-oppressed Russian press has requested a meeting with Gabriel--and only Gabriel--to give him information about a possible impending attack on Israel and the U.S. They agree to meet, but the journalist is murdered before he can tell Gabriel anything, forcing Gabriel to travel to Russia to learn what the journalist died trying to tell him.
Although this is a spy novel, it's in no way a James Bond- or Jason Bourne-esque book--it's not about some superman taking down the world's biggest supervillians (or the world's biggest quasi-evil omnipresent secret government organizations, in the case of Bourne). It is a mystery thriller--although you learn fairly early on who the "villain" is, it takes most of the book to figure out what he's really planning--but Gabriel is no martial-arts gun-toting killing machine. It's much more a thinking man's game, and Gabriel is genuinely helped, not hindered, by his organization. The elaborate ruse set up to meet with the crime bosses' wife has that Thomas Crowne Affair/Ocean's Eleven type of feel to it, which I enjoy just as much as a good Bourne fight scene. Although I can't say how this book compares to his others, I can say it was entertaining enough to make me want to read more.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Another excellent SilvaAug 10, 2008
By Readerbuff
There are abundant reviews that describe the story line, some in great detail; so that's covered. I would like to throw my hat on the side with those who view Moscow Rules as one of Silva's best to date. All are excellent, and I completely enjoy the Gabriel Allon series for multiple reasons, so perhaps I am biased at the outset. But I do believe that Silva spins a tale here that at least matches the intrigue, and suspense of the others. This book fosters the "I just couldn't put it down" reaction of his previous efforts.
What continues to amaze me is the obvious depth of knowledge that Silva possess about the ins and outs of the cities and towns, and countryside of Europe, and Isreal, and now two major cities in Russia. Such depth of knowedge adds solid foundation to his stories, and depth to the images of imagination.
This is yet another excellent Gabriel Allon series, and I do believe you will love it, start to finish.
90 of 121 found the following review helpful:
I hoped for something moreJul 26, 2008
By T. Kunikov
Being a former Soviet I had high hopes for this book as I am used to the large amount of research Daniel Silva usually goes through for his novels. Having read most, if not all, of the Gabriel Allon series, and, at the same time, having read about some of the operations described in Silva's books (operation Wrath of God, etc) I was looking for an accurate assessment of today's Russia. Sadly, while the story was good enough and moved at the usual pace that Allon novels do, I was very much let down by the author/editors of this book in a variety of ways.
First, the Russian newspaper represented in the book is entitled "Moskovsky Gazeta", it should be "Moskovskaya Gazeta." The character Olga Sukhova has a grandfather with the same last name, Sukhova. Sukhova is the feminine form, if it is a man, it should have been Sukhov. I also noticed that the AK-47 is purported to have been one of the reasons the Soviets won against the Germans. I could only interpret this as a reference to WWII, yet, the AK-47 was not developed until after WWII. These are just a few of the errors I found, there weren't many more, but they did take away from the usual interest I have when delving into the world the author is trying to create.
The major "mistakes" that I noticed, and, to a degree, one might not be a mistake per se but rather something I do not agree with the author on. Russian journalists feature highly in this book and there have been a number of journalists killed, from a variety of causes. Yet I cannot agree that all the journalists killed, Silva claims 14 have died during Putin's time as President, died because of the work they have been doing (be it against the government or a government agency). In truth, few have been killed in such a way as to raise suspicion that they might have died under "professional" hands. Others have been made to seem that way for a variety of propaganda purposes. What I vehemently disagree with the author on is the idea that a character like Ivan Kharkov, a gun runner and former KGB operative, could be one and the same and an oligarch to boot. The oligarch's in today's Russia (and of the 90's) are not former KGB (Berezhovsky, Gusinsky, Abramovich, Khodorkovsky, Smolensky, Luzhkov, Chubais, etc) but they do have former KGB and spetsnaz forces as their security. These men made their money through banks, speculation, natural resources (gas, oil, etc), TV channels, real estate, etc. I'm more than sure that all of them took illegal steps in one way or another, but that is the natural order of things in capitalism.
Lastly, I resent the fact that just because Russia is using her resources as a bargaining chip means she wants to become a super power once more. Russia has a sphere of influence just like the US, their actions in foreign policy are dictated by self interest - just like every other country in this world. While it is true that they helped arm the Middle East during the cold war when the Soviet Union was in existence, it was the US that helped arm Islamic extremists the world over (especially those who flooded Afghanisan during the 80's to take up the war against the USSR, this of course doesn't take into account all the other covert operations undertaken by the US). I am not here to preach if what either country did/does is right or wrong, I just hate seeing a double standard at work.
My apologies if this review didn't cover the book as others have, I figure they did a good enough job and there was little I could add as to what the book was about/encompasses. But I do feel what I mentioned above will take away from the usual accuracy Silva tries to delivery in his books. Russians want and can live normal lives, otherwise how do you explain the millions living around the world? But it won't happen so soon, especially in a nation which has been around for less than two decades and has been living off of perverted capitalistic ideals that the west helped usher in.
11 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 A DissapointmentAug 11, 2008
By J. Weiss
I have read all of Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon stories with great enjoyment but found that he has fallen into a formula approach with predictable plot elements that are pretty much the same from book to book. Substitute Russia for Saudi Arabia, one villain for another and it's pretty much the same story. The Vatican is always there, so is the damsel in distress, as is the obligatory scene where Allon is brutally beaten but survives. It is enjoyable but now very predictable and thus dissapointing.
See all 147 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| | |
|
