Daniel Silva 11: Moscow Rules

Maybe I'm an espionage snob, but the genre just hasn't been the same since the end of the Cold War. Thankfully, that is about to change. Israeli spy/artist Gabriel Allon returns in Moscow Rules and as the title suggests, the book features Russians -- both good and bad -- and boy am I happy. I don't know what it is, but the perfect spy book just has to include the Russians. In Moscow Rules, not only do we have the traditional Russian bad guy, but we also have the new breed of ultra rich Russians who vacation in the French Riviera and the Swiss Alps and are lividly hated by the locals. We know about the Russian mafia, but the protagonist in this book is a KGB agent turned gun runner who is about to sell some nasty weapons to terrorists. And it's up to Allon to thwart the plot. As always, the plot revolves around Allon's uniquely gifted talents as an artist, and it also features several Mossad agents who have been with Allon since he hunted down and assassinated the terrorists responsible for the death of several Israeli Olympians in Munich in the early 1970s. Other cameos from previous books include some colorful British art collectors, as well as fellow spies from the U.S., Great Britain and France. As I mentioned in my review of The Secret Servent, Daniel Silva is the best in the business right now. And the return of the Russians puts Moscow Rules atop Silva's list of wonderful novels. (Read more about Moscow Rules on Amazon)