Equal parts brilliant and provocative, The Cellist is a dramatic tale pitting the forces of evil – corruption, greed and power –against the forces for good – virtue, justice and integrity.
Gabriel Allon gets the band back together in The Cellist after exiled Russian Victor Orlov is found dead in his London home of an apparent assassination via nerve agent. Allon, who owes his life to Victor, knows there’s more than meets the eye and kicks off an elaborate international operation to take down a corrupt Swiss banking outfit and a Russian oligarch who’s childhood and lifelong comrade is none other than the Russian President. The stakes are astronomically high and Allon must rely on his team, colleagues and allies from other intelligence services, and a few blasts from the past to deceive the Russians and deal a mortal blow to their finances and ambitions to change the world order.
As usual, Daniel Silva’s exquisite writing and storytelling are at a world class level. He’s unrivaled with the pen, crafting stunning prose and enchanting stories at a level unattainable by most. He yet again pinpoints some of the biggest issues facing our society and uses his love for the arts and his treasured characters to explore global ramifications while showing a path to vanquish those threats. And as an added benefit, in The Cellist we are reunited with many names from the past. A veritable trip down memory lane that is more functional and critical to the plot than it is a special Gabriel Allon episode of This is Your Life. The result is another exceedingly satisfying reading experience at the hands of one of the greatest writers of all time.
And yet I find myself somewhat disappointed to write another review for an otherwise outstanding book that dives down the Covid and divisive politics rabbit hole. To be fair to Mr. Silva, the inclusion of Covid in The Cellist is almost completely setting rather than social or political commentary, having Allon and team operate in a hand sanitizing, socially distant, travel restricted environment. However, there’s no getting around the political aspect of the book with the inclusion of the 2020 election, Russian disinformation campaigns, QAnon, the January 6 Capitol insurrection, and more. I understand that each author is faced with a choice to make on how to approach the events of the last 18 months and it’s their book so they can write whatever they want. However, I continue to have little desire to read fiction that includes these things, regardless of which side of the aisle an author’s political leanings reside. I want to enjoy an escape from reality, not relive the most frustrating parts.
You won’t find a bigger Gabriel Allon/Daniel Silva fan than me. Mr. Silva is on my Thriller author Mount Rushmore and I will continue to wholeheartedly support the author and the series. And the fact remains that if you strip out the parts mentioned above, we’re talking about a superbly written novel with a tremendous plot about an audacious international mission fraught with danger. I just wish Mr. Silva had made a different choice so that The Cellist could receive the universal high praise it deserves for the core of the story, rather than fuel polarization among thriller fans based on individual political viewpoints.
Putting that aside, the big open question is what’s next for Gabriel Allon? He’s getting up there in age and the last two books in the series have included many not-so-subtle hints that retirement is on the horizon. Could the next book or two be the last we see of him or can Mr. Silva leverage his genius to prolong this beloved character’s shelf life? Maybe evolving Allon into an Ari Shamron Godfather-like figure that directs The Office from the background? We’ll just have to wait – always the waiting – and pray that there’s many more stories to tell in the Gabriel Allon universe. Thriller fans will be quite lucky if that’s the case.
Follow Steve on Twitter or contact him via the site.
Purchase The Cellist
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)
Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen
