The Unlikely Spy 
asked by costa on November 26, 2006 12:36 PM
In this debut novel, veteran journalist Silva mines the reliable territory of World War II espionage to produce a gripping, historically detailed thriller. In early 1944 the Allies were preparing their invasion of Normandy; critical to the invasion's success was an elaborate set of deceptions--from phony radio signals to bogus airfields and barracks--intended to keep Hitler in the dark about when and where the Allied troops would arrive. Catherine Blake is the beautiful, ruthless spy who could bring the whole charade crashing down; Alfred Vicary is the brilliant but bumbling professor Churchill has tapped to protect the operation. Along with a teeming cast of other characters, real and fictional, they bring the chase to a furious and satisfying climax.
Reviews
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I'm a big fan of Daniel Silva's books. I heartily enjoy them. This, his first novel, is more uneven than his previous books, as first novels often are (On the Road, for example,) but it's a fun WWII spy vs. spy suspense with great, deep characterization.
Arthur Vicary, a professor, is somewhat impressed into service in intelligence by his friend, Winston Churchill. His enemy, though he does not know who she is or even, at first, that she exists, is Catherine Blake, a deep-cover mole who has been inactive since the beginning of the war. She's also been coerced to serve, though with the ruthlessness one would expect from the Nazis. This makes her an ambivalent villainess, which makes for a far more interesting book than if she were merely a Mauser-toting, stiff-arm-flapping, knee-jerk honey trap. Here, Silva begins his explorations into the damage that a human psyche must acquire before the person can truly become a spy and a murderer. It's an interesting question more fully explored in Silva's later books about Gabriel Allon.
The plot is a basic one: can the Axis discover whether the D-Day invasion will be at Calais or Normandy, and can the Allies stop them from discovering it? No one ever went wrong with a strong plot. Because this is not billed as alternate history (like *The Plot Against America* by Roth,) you can kinda figure out the ending. Luckily, this book is about the ride, not about the end point.
Highly recommended.
TK Kenyon
Author of RABID, coming in Spring, 2007 from Kunati Books
Arthur Vicary, a professor, is somewhat impressed into service in intelligence by his friend, Winston Churchill. His enemy, though he does not know who she is or even, at first, that she exists, is Catherine Blake, a deep-cover mole who has been inactive since the beginning of the war. She's also been coerced to serve, though with the ruthlessness one would expect from the Nazis. This makes her an ambivalent villainess, which makes for a far more interesting book than if she were merely a Mauser-toting, stiff-arm-flapping, knee-jerk honey trap. Here, Silva begins his explorations into the damage that a human psyche must acquire before the person can truly become a spy and a murderer. It's an interesting question more fully explored in Silva's later books about Gabriel Allon.
The plot is a basic one: can the Axis discover whether the D-Day invasion will be at Calais or Normandy, and can the Allies stop them from discovering it? No one ever went wrong with a strong plot. Because this is not billed as alternate history (like *The Plot Against America* by Roth,) you can kinda figure out the ending. Luckily, this book is about the ride, not about the end point.
Highly recommended.
TK Kenyon
Author of RABID, coming in Spring, 2007 from Kunati Books
reviewed by bricktop on November 28, 2006 4:26 AM
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Hot diggity dawg and an M-1's rat-a-tat-tat for the best WWII spy book to cross my path in years. I dug this zoot suit-sporting jitterbugging book. It takes place in Englad before D-day, so you kind of know how it's probably going to end, but D-do read this D-dynamite book! It may be long, but it's worth the effort.
The Bookeater!
The Bookeater!
reviewed by smiling on November 28, 2006 9:44 AM
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Exciting, great details about London and Europe during WWII.
Fun to read.
Fun to read.
reviewed by mags on November 29, 2006 7:23 PM
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Someone reported all my 3 negative reviews of Daniel Silva books and got them removed! Hmm, I wonder who that could be.
I am rather annoyed at this because I spent quite a lot of time detailing why I didn't like this book, reasonably, I thought. Apparently, someone had decided that they did not follow the review guidelines. Well, I used no profanities. OK, there were some spoilers, but not more than I usually read in other reviews. Not single worded, no phone numbers, no solicitations, etc. Maybe whoever it was just didn't like my negative review. The last time I checked, the 1st amendment still applies in this country.
OK, so let me try to post another review of why I didn't like this book without violating any review guidelines, and I'm not going to spend 30 mins on it like last time.
I thought the book was very poorly written and very boring. It was very tedious to finish but I made it to the end. I've read a couple of other Daniel Silva books, but neither one of them could change my mind that he is an author that I don't like. I will not be buying any more of his books.
I am rather annoyed at this because I spent quite a lot of time detailing why I didn't like this book, reasonably, I thought. Apparently, someone had decided that they did not follow the review guidelines. Well, I used no profanities. OK, there were some spoilers, but not more than I usually read in other reviews. Not single worded, no phone numbers, no solicitations, etc. Maybe whoever it was just didn't like my negative review. The last time I checked, the 1st amendment still applies in this country.
OK, so let me try to post another review of why I didn't like this book without violating any review guidelines, and I'm not going to spend 30 mins on it like last time.
I thought the book was very poorly written and very boring. It was very tedious to finish but I made it to the end. I've read a couple of other Daniel Silva books, but neither one of them could change my mind that he is an author that I don't like. I will not be buying any more of his books.
reviewed by trailrider on November 29, 2006 7:28 PM