Seven days. One girl. No second chances. Madeline Hart is a rising star in British government: beautiful, intelligent, driven to succeed by an impoverished childhood. But she also has a dark secret. She is the lover of the prime minister, Jonathan Lancaster.When she disappears on the island of Corsica, it’s clear her kidnappers know about the affair and intend to make the PM pay dearly for his … for his sins. Fearful of scandal that will destroy his career, Lancaster decides to handle the matter privately and not involve the police.
Enter Gabriel Allon—assassin, art restorer and spy—who must find Madeline within seven days before she is executed. With the clock ticking, Allon is thrust into a deadly game of shadows in which nothing is what it seems—and where the only thing more dangerous than his enemies is the truth.
Gabriel’s mission takes him from the criminal underworld of Marseilles, to the stately corridors of power in London—and, finally, to a pulse-pounding climax in Moscow, a city of secrets and violence where there is a long list of men who want Gabriel dead . . .
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Daniel Silva is one of my favorite authors. Love his books. Loved The English Girl! I was a tad disappointed that I figured out the twist, but the author did give clues all along.
In The English Girl, the prime minister of Great Britain is having an affair with an up and coming member of his political party. When she is abducted on the island of Corsica and held for ransom, the prime minister enlists the aid of Gabriel Allon, which is an odd premise given that there are plenty of British agents who could presumably pay the ransom and retrieve her. That is just the opening salvo to the novel which involves numerous twists and turns, and the Russians trying to gobble up oil interests in British controlled waters.
Daniel Silva consistently delivers quality fiction. It is a comfort to know that when I pick up one of his novels, I am going to get a fun and enjoyable story. I have yet to be disappointed by Daniel Silva, and this novel delivers. At first, the stakes don’t seem as high as they typically are in this series, until the Russians are revealed as the culprit of the kidnapping. I like the generally tight storytelling as well as many of the twists along the way. The one area that was disappointing was the climax of the story. It happened too easily, went exactly as planned, and there was little tension as a result. Otherwise, this was an enjoyable novel that I would recommend.
Carl Alves – author of Beyond the Shadow
All of Silva’s books are excellent. I have read all of them.
Silva’s body of work in Gabriel Allon series worthy of being mentioned in same sentence as my all-time favorite John Le Carre.
All 19 books are fsntastic
I love Daniel Silva’s books. He has a great research crew for historical fictions of people and location.
Action packed
Excellent. Great plot. Great Spy novel. Couldn’t put it down.
I love all of Daniel Silva’s books and read them all!
Silva is amazing….
I love this series. This was truly scary
All of the Gabriel Allen books are interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking.
Loved the whole Daniel Silva books
Easy read but read it several years ago
I love Gabriel Allon!
If you haven’t read any of Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon novels, you owe it to yourself to start immediately as they are all excellent and the English Girl is no exception. It is a good idea to start with the first in the Allon series even though they stand alone very well, but the early ones introduce characters that will be used throughout later books. I’ve read them all and enjoyed each one.
When an author puts out a book a year, and in it, he combines intrigue, great writing and phenomenal research, he puts out the caliber of writing that can only come from a Daniel Silva novel. I was not disappointed in The English Girl. Reunited with our favorite characters Allon, Chiara, Shamron and his team of operatives, we also meet some new characters — and discover that Daniel Silva has a wonderful gift with humor driven dialogue.
In The English Girl, a woman is kidnapped who has romantic illicit ties with the English prime minister. Of disastrous consequences to the married politician if discovered, Gabriel Allon is enlisted to find the girl and negotiate with the kidnappers in order to effect her safe return. A nearly impossible feat because he doesn’t know who, what, or where.
Gabriel teams up with another assassin in The English Girl, and this is where the humor comes in. The dialogue between these two paid killers, and the manner in which they would handle a situation, had me smiling with its wit, the competition between them and, of course had me flipping the pages.
An excellent read and plot. I look forward to next year’s preorder.
All of Daniel Silva’s books are page turners.
Not nearly as strong as past books.
Daniel Silva is always worth one’s time. His hero, Gabriel Allon, is an Israeli spymaster who does restorations of paintings. Very complex man drawn into complex situations with very intelligent, but evil people; usually spies, terrorists, arms dealers or assassins, or combinations thereof. This novel involves the kidnapping of an English girl who has a connection to the UK Prime Minister.