Sent to Zurich, Switzerland, to restore a painting owned by a reclusive millionaire banker, art expert and sometime Israeli agent Gabriel Allon discovers his would-be employer murdered and a priceless collection of illicitly gained masterpieces missing and finds himself back in the espionage game, tangling with a rogue assassin he had trained. 150,000 first printing.Bookswagon.com ReviewThe English Assassin brings back Gabriel Allon, the appealingly melancholy art restorer with a double life as an Israeli secret agent, first introduced in 2000'sThe Kill Artist. Gabriel is sent to Zurich under a pseudonym to restore a Raphael belonging to a prominent Swiss banker and art collector, Augustus Rolfe, but upon arriving he finds Rolfe lying in a pool of blood. When Gabriel tries to leave Zurich, the Swiss police capture him immediately--and moreover, they know his real identity. He's released through some diplomatic string-pulling, but he soon discovers that Rolfe had requested a meeting with Israeli intelligence, for reasons unknown, just before his death. Rolfe's daughter, Anna, is a world-class violinist attempting to rebuild her career after an accident that nearly destroyed one of her hands. But her physical scars are nothing compared to those on her psyche, left by her mother's suicide when Anna was a teenager. Temperamental and mistrustful, she nevertheless believes Gabriel's story, and reveals that Rolfe owned a secret collection of priceless French Impressionist paintings, apparently stolen by his murderers. As Gabriel begins to put together the pieces of the puzzle, he faces two adversaries: a powerful group of men who would do anything to bury the past forever, and a hired killer who's planning a spectacular murder. Like The Kill Artist, The English Assassin balances fascinating characters, authentic-sounding historical detail, and plenty of glamorous international intrigue on the edge of a knife-keen plot. --Barrie TrinkleFrom Booklist*Starred Review* Spies are back. Part of the reason is September 11; part of the reason is that the genre itself is so compelling. Silva, who writes with the atmospheric grace and whiplash tension of le Carre, brings something special to the spy thriller: a multifaceted, believable hero whose sideline, spying, is only as intriguing as his regular job, restoring Old Masters. Gabriel Allon, a reluctant, off-and-on Israeli agent recruited after the 1972 Olympic Games, finds his real vocation in his studio in Cornwall, bringing past artworks back to their original glory. Sometimes, though, he's forced back into the deadly chess game of Israeli versus Palestinian spying. In this, the fifth in a critically acclaimed series, Allon accepts a commission to travel to Zurich to restore a Raphael at the home of a banker. At the last minute, Allon is told the banker will not be home; armed with private-security codes to gain access to the painting, he enters the home and stumbles over the dead body of the banker. In order to extricate himself from a web of suspicion, Allon must find the murderer. His investigation leads to the English assassin, a rogue terrorist whose casual killings (his send-off gift to his lovers is explosives in their luggage) are breathtakingly orchestrated. Silva makes a stunning contribution to the spy thriller.Connie FletcherCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedAbout the AuthorDaniel Silva is the bestselling author ofThe Kill Artist,The Unlikely Spy,The Mark of the Assassin, andThe Marching Season. He lives with his wife, NBC correspondent Jamie Gangel.