The Secret Servant-The Secret Servant

The Secret Servant
Daniel Silva
Putnam, July 2007, $25.95, 352 pp.
ISBN: 0399154221

Gabriel Allon, one of Israel’s most dangerous and brilliant operatives, is sent to Amsterdam on what is supposed to be a quick in and out mission. Dutch citizen Solomon has sent Israel good Intel for years and has made many enemies because of his his speaking out against Islamic fundamentalism. Now that he was killed Allon is supposed to look for his files and wipe away any connection between the dead man and Israel.

He meets one of Solomon’s informants, who tells Allon that Solomon was going to tell his handler that a terrorist cell was slipped into England and there would be an attack someplace in the country. Finding verification, he warns London but it is too late, the American ambassador’s daughter is kidnapped and bombs are exploded at a stop on the underground, at Piccadilly Circle, and other crowed places. The Sword of Allah is behind the kidnappings and al Qaeda is behind the bombings. The terrorists want to destabilize Mubarik’s regime where the martyrs were recruited so that a fundamentalist government could come into power. The Sword of Allah says it will exchange the hostage for the prisoner Sheik Abdullah dying from cancer in an American jail. Allon is the only one who has the ruthless qualities necessary to rescue the hostage but he has to evade capture and death from his many enemies.

As action thrillers go, THE SECRET SERVANT is one of the best to come along in the last year. Daniel Silva starts off at the speed of light and the plot only defies physics by accelerating. What sets this book apart is it has depth because the author shows by the actions of the characters why the Muslim fundamentalists feel like they do (similar to Congressman Ron Paul at the Republican debates), how governments cope with constantly being in a state of red alert and how the terrorists mold the minds of the youth generation after generation in hopes of reestablishing a Caliphate in the Mideast. Mr. Silva also shows why there is so much Muslim unrest in Europe. This is the thinking person’s thriller.

Harriet Klausner