Daniel Silva began his career as a journalist, eventually working as a producer for CNN in Washington, D.C. After the success of his first published book, the 1996 novel The Unlikely Spy, he left CNN to become a novelist full-time. Moscow Rules his is eleventh novel, and the eighth in his Gabriel Allon series which began with The Kill Artist in 2000.

Gabriel Allon is a super spy in a similar mold to le Carre’s more realistic George Smiley and Tom Clancy’s spectacularly popular Jack Ryan. However, Allon possesses something neither of those men can lay claim to, a brilliant artistic ability. Recruited from art school by the head of the Israeli Mossad, Ari Shamron, he has gone on to become one of the world’s great art restorers as well as an accomplished artist. His first mission for the Mossad was as an assassin assigned to eliminate members of Black September, the killers of the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Allon has since attempted to distance himself from Mossad, but finds himself continually called upon by Shamron to perform especially sensitive or dangerous jobs.

In Moscow Rules, Gabriel Allon is once again drawn back to office when a Russian journalist claims to have information vital to the security of the West and insists upon speaking with him. Reluctantly pulled away from his Italian honeymoon with Mossad agent and wife Chiara, Allon agrees to the meeting. Of course, things never turn out to be as simple as they appear in the intelligence business. Before the journalist is able to pass on his important information he is murdered by what is obviously a skilled assassin. Allon is forced to journey to Russia where he discovers Ivan Kharkov, a Russian arms dealer, has just completed a lucrative deal with Al-Qaeda. And there the fun begins.

The spy genre almost lamented the fall of the Soviet Union. Gone with the cold war was the source of a vast treasury of plots and storylines. However the rise of terrorism and a rapidly disintegrating relationship between the West and Russia has provided a wealth of new material. Silva has managed to bring the two together in his latest novel to enjoyable effect. Moscow Rules is a fast paced read with the confident spy, black-and-white characters, and East versus West story we’ve come to expect in espionage novels.

Gabriel Allon is certainly a smooth operator. He has seen it all before. He knows how to shoot to kill, has the right connections, the knowledge and is a world class art restorer to boot which adds some fun to the formula. At times he can be a little much; he’s sensitive, emotionally torn, and a little too skilled with the paintbrush. It can all feel a little contrived at times, but one has to believe that Silva has his tongue planted firmly in cheek. Fortunately, just when Allon appears to be infallible he and his team slip up a bit allowing the reader to continue to enjoy the chase.

Moscow Rules is at times predictable because of its adherence to spy novel conventions. It has the intelligence operation that takes the usual jump from perfection to catastrophe while allowing everything to turn out fine in the end due to timely heroics. The conclusion to the novel wraps up just a little too neatly leaving the reader with a nicely wrapped package. But in the spy genre it’s the journey that matters, even if the destination is often easily foreseen. Daniel Silva has produced a character in Gabriel Allon that is likable even if he is a little too good at his job. For fans of espionage thrillers that have grown tired of the rapidly declining quality of authors like Tom Clancy, Daniel Silva has got your back. Moscow Rules is as good a place as any to jump in, you will likely be glad you did. I’m sold, maybe you will be too…

Rating: 4 stars

Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Matt Eskesen, 2008

-10 books:

• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
• The Confusion by Neal Stephenson
• A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
• The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
• Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff
• The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
• Nazi Germany and the Jews, Vol. 1 by Saul Friedlander
• The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
• Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell

-4702 pgs

-8.2 average rating

-Favorite: The Confusion

-Least Favorite: Invisible Man

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

Wow, I’ve only read thirteen of these books!  I’ve underlined more than that, but even adding the two doesn’t equal a very high number.  Guess my reading interests don’t line up well with EW, not all that surprising really.

Joe Abercrombie |Before They Are Hanged
In this highly anticipated second book in Joe Abercrombie’s bestselling series, the most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but a deadly one. They might even stand a chance of saving mankind from the Eaters—if they didn’t hate each other quite so much. Ancient secrets will be uncovered. Bloody battles will be won and lost. Bitter enemies will be forgiven—but not before they are hanged.

I’m currently reading the first book in this series, The Blade Itself.

David Louis Edelman | Infoquake
This debut novel takes speculative fiction into alien territory: the corporate boardroom of the far future. It’s a stunning trip through the trenches of a technological war fought with product demos, press releases, and sales pitches. As imaginative as Dune yet as real as The Wall Street Journal.

David Louis Edelman | MultiReal
The story begun in David Louis Edelman’s acclaimed Infoquake continues with MultiReal, the stunning second book in the Jump 225 trilogy. Natch’s struggles take him from the halls of power in Melbourne to the ruined cities of the diss. Hanging in the balance is the fate of MultiReal, a technology that could end the tyranny of the Council forever—or give the Council the ultimate weapon of oppression.

Kay Kenyon | A World Too Near
Traversing the galactic distances of The Entire, former star pilot Titus Quinn discovers the secrets of its geography, its fragile storm walls, its eons-long history, and the factions that contend for dominance. One of these factions is led by his daughter, who though young and a slave, has at her command a transforming and revolutionary power. As Quinn wrestles with looming disaster, he learns that in the Entire, nothing is what it appears. Its denizens are all harboring secrets, and the greatest of these is the nature of the Entire itself.

I finished reading the first in this quartet in May.

I mentioned Set This House in Order in a previous post about the author Matt Ruff.  It’s a story about a couple of people, Andy and Penny, with Multiple Personality Disorder (or DID) who try to come to terms with their past while also attempting to put things in order in the present.  It started off incredibly promising.  The dynamic introduced by MPD created a unique and fascinating story.  Unfortunately the book didn’t completely carry its promise to the end.

Andy has managed to get his personalities in order with the help of his psychiatrist Dr. Grey.  He can control which personality manages the body, or even leave the body unattended while all of the personalities meet inside his mind.  Andy makes for an extraordinary character when the reader first meets him.  I’ve not read a book before with this kind of narrative device.  However, midway through the book it becomes a tad stale, particularly after Penny is introduced.  Penny is a woman who cannot control which personality has dominance.  During times of high stress she loses control to other personalities and then “wakes up” minutes, hours or days later.  It might be this second character with MPD that caused me to feel like it became a little too much.  In addition, one of Penny’s personalities enjoys using using the F-bomb a little too much for my taste, nearly every other word.

Although I have some complaints about Set This House in Order, it was still an enjoyable read.  I recommend you at least give it a try.  It was good enough that I look forward to picking up another book by Matt Ruff.

Rating: 7.75

I’d been meaning to read this novel for some time and finally got around to it.  I’m glad I did.  I was a little skeptical going in after reading The Honourable Schoolboy by le Carre (not his real name by the way) which I didn’t particularly enjoy.  But this was a completely different experience.

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is about Alec Leamas, the lead agent for the East German operation for MI6 (the British equivalent of the CIA).  After every agent Leamas has placed in East Germany is killed, Alec returns to England thinking he will be put on the shelf.  However, he is offered a chance to lead an operation against Mundt, the East German agent who destroyed Leamas’ network.  What follows is an intricately plotted mission to take down England’s most feared opponent in the intelligence world.

This is a very good entry in the spy genre, some have called it the best.  John le Carre knows a little about what he’s written having served in the British secret service.  The book is excellently paced coming in at just over 200 pages and keeps the reader on edge.  I for one had no idea how things would turn out until the last page.  There are times when the plot is a bit difficult to follow, le Carre is not one for holding the reader’s hand, but The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is definitely recommended, particularly if you have any interest in spy novels.

Rating: 8.25

Anyway, we’re back in business today with some new books that found their way to my house this afternoon.  I received a package from good old Amazon.com with The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.  I’ve read two Rushdie books and particularly enjoyed one of them so I’ve been looking forward to getting some more exposure.  I should begin this book in the next couple of days.

An ARC was also delivered to my doorstep.  This one is Moscow Rules by spy novelist Daniel Silva.  I have been meaning to read one of his books and I was offered his newest which comes out next month so I took the chance.  It’s from the nice folks over at FSB Associates.

I’ve really been cutting down on my book purchases recently so this was quite a haul for one day.

The Confusion is the second book in Neal Stephenson’s excellent Baroque Cycle. Beginning with Quicksilver, this series relates the stories of several historical figures like Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, as well as fictional characters Daniel Waterhouse, Eliza and Jack Shaftoe. This is a massive work spanning almost 3000 pages. It also requires a bit of hard work to read but it’s definitely worth it.

Snow Crash was my introduction to Neal Stephenson. After reading that I knew I had to read more. Now that I have read two-thirds of The Baroque Cycle he has become one of my favorite authors. There are a few reasons for this, all of which are evident in The Confusion. Stephenson is brilliant, knows how to write, and is one of the wittier authors I’ve read. My only complaint about this novel is that some of the storyline following Eliza is a bit tedious at times, however as I’ve mentioned, every word is worth it.

If you want to know what this series is about you’re better off reading the synopses on Amazon or Wikipedia rather than my describing the plot. It is much too grand and sprawling for me to do justice. But let me say this, you owe it to yourself to read Neal Stephenson.

Rating: 9.5

Set This House in Order is a love story, but definitely not ordinary. It’s about two people with Multiple Personality Disorder (or as it’s called now, Dissociative Identity Disorder) one of whom has been able to put his life back together and one of whom is a wreck. I’ve never thought much about this disorder before, but in the hands of Matt Ruff it makes for an incredibly interesting story.

Ruff has also written Bad Monkeys, Fool on the Hill, and Sewer, Gas and Electric. You might want to check him out, if Set This House in Order continues to be as good as it’s been so far I know I’ll be reading more of his work.

I’ve been wanting to read a Steven Pinker book for a few years now and I’ve finally gotten around to doing so. I chose The Blank Slate thinking it was something completely different than it was. Oh well, it was still interesting, after I got over the confusion I had caused myself.

The Blank Slate is basically a refutation of the classic theory that humans are born with no traits or characteristics. What we become, our personality, behavior, attitudes, everything is a reaction to our surroundings, our family, friends and environment. Pinker basically tears this idea apart. It reads more like a lengthy article in a layman’s science journal than a book. While he destroys the theory of the blank slate he discusses the role of genetics in who we are. According to the research he cites, the variation in our traits is 50% due to genetics.

The strange and confusing thing about this book is that he never really lets on what he believes turns us into who we are. He discusses genetics as I mentioned but beyond that he avoids giving a good explanation on what shapes human minds. In addition, the first section of the book which discusses the blank slate theory in depth is at times difficult to understand. Or at least it was for me.

Despite these weaknesses The Blank Slate is a good read. There are some fascinating ideas about culture and the mind which might leave you questioning things you’ve always believed about why we are the way we are.

Rating: 7.5

-15 books:

• Warped Passages by Lisa Randall (rating: 7.0)
• All That Matters by Wayson Choy (rating: 8.5)
• Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (rating: 7.0)
• 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill (rating: 7.5)
• Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon (rating: 8.0)
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (rating: 7.5)
• The Truelove by Patrick O’Brian (rating: 8.0)
• The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (rating: 8.0)
• The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (rating: 7.5)
• Shadows Linger by Glen Cook (rating: 8.5)
• Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (rating: 8.5)
• The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (rating: 6.5)
• All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (rating: 8.0)
• Deliverance by James Dickey (rating: 7.5)
• Matter by Iain M. Banks (rating: 8.0)

-5,385 pages

-7.8 average rating

-Favorite: Shadows Linger

-Least Favorite: Warped Passages

After his parents divorce, 16 year old John Grady Cole and his friend Lacey Rawlins decide to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico. The year is 1949, and while most would travel the highways in a car, this pair travel by horseback. Shortly before making the crossing they meet up with the mysterious 14 year old Jimmy Blevins who is determined to tag along. After losing his horse in Mexico, Blevins steals it back while Cole and Rawlins take a different path finding work on a ranch. Unfortunately the trouble caused by the young Blevins will come back to haunt them all.

The first two thirds of the novel is used to introduce the reader to Cormac McCarthy’s view of Texas and Mexico with his unique use of punctuation and prose. Though not as sparse as in his most recent novel The Road, McCarthy’s usual wordsmithing is on display again in All the Pretty Horses, the first in his Border Trilogy. Some sentences run on for entire paragraphs with incredible metaphors and beautiful imagery. In the final third the story begins to pick up as John Grady Cole is faced with isolation and heartache culminating in painful decisions.

The real weakness of this novel lies in the first two thirds which is much slower plot wise. If you haven’t read a McCarthy novel before or if you have and didn’t enjoy it this isn’t the book for you. But if you’re a fan go ahead, pick up All the Pretty Horses, the writing and the end are worth it.

Rating: 8.0

Oedipa Maas is surprised to find that she has been named executor of the will of California real estate mogul Pierce Inverarity. Upon beginning her duties as executor she discovers what appears to be a strange conspiracy to deliver mail through Tristero, a centuries old rebel postal service. This organization is represented by a diagram of a horn which begins to turn up everywhere Oedipa looks.

The Crying of Lot 49 is a bizarre novel. It is by far Pynchon’s shortest novel, but is certainly not short on peculiarity. The conspiracy is quite convoluted and sometimes hard to follow for Oedipa and the reader. The book is anything but transparent, it twists the mind. This is sometimes a weakness, as is its lack of an obvious conclusion for those who need one. Pynchon has a knack for unique, almost stream of consciousness prose as well. Though this type of writing is not too dominant in this outing.

If you’re looking for a good introduction to Thomas Pynchon this is the best option. But if clarity and straightforward narrative is what you’re after you would be wise to look elsewhere.

Rating: 6.5

I have received another book for giveaway. This one courtesy of FSB Associates who is working with the author. The novel is LoveHampton by debut author Sherri Rifkin. Here’s a little about the book and the author:

After a recent breakup sent her into a self-imposed “personal hiatus,” thirty-something New York TV-promo producer Tori Miller is determined to get a life. The fastest way? A Hamptons summer share house. She ditches her old look — thanks to a last-minute makeover on a reality show pilot — and over the next three months, the new-and-improved “Miller” becomes the wing woman to a glamorous new BFF, goes head-to-head with her house’s prickly Resident Alpha Female, and is drawn into a web of secrets by a charming Brit. But soon she finds herself entangled in one too many complicated romantic situations — and the many Hamptons Unwritten Rules threaten to implode her new, carefully cultivated social standing. Now the fabulous life Tori has might not be the one she wants, and she must decide who she really is, what she wants, and what she’s willing to give up to get there . . . all by Labor Day.

Sherri Rifkin, a former TV marketing executive, lives in New York City, where she writes for a variety of entertainment and media clients, including Bravo, USA Network, and the Style Network. This is her first novel. For more, please visit www.sherririfkin.com.

There are not prerequisites with this one.  All you need to do is send me an email with the subject line, “LoveHampton”.  Include your name.  I will contact the winner to get the snail mail address.  The winner will be chosen randomly.  The deadline for this contest is Monday, June 2nd at 9pm PDT.