The Confessor

Rating:
Summary: Adequate Airplane Book, Not Top-Notch Fictional History
Review:

There is a great deal of potential in fictional history books, such as the Da Vinci Code, and there is no more exciting topic for such books than the cross-over between espionage, religious conspiracy, and genocide.

Unfortunately, while this book is adequate to an airplane ride, it is not as good as the author's stunningly good earlier work, "The Unlikely Spy", and it is disappointing in terms of its coverage of the Israeli Mossad, the Catholic Church (for a better non-fiction read, see "The Keys of This Blood"), and its over-all lack of critical detail.

One small example: intelligence professionals do not throw radios (usually with embedded encryption) into the ocean because their subordinates have annoyed them. This was just one of several details that were off-putting, and that made it clear the author was rushing a book out and not doing the homework--nor being held accountable by the publisher for being serious.

Rating:
Summary: It's Not the DaVinci Code
Review: There's a lot wrong with this book. Chief among them is character development. In the editorial review written above, the author calls Gabriel Allon "enigmatic." I'll say! You can find nothing about this character's description, age, fears, passions (except for art restoration), what motivates him, whether he's strong, good, smart. Who IS this guy? Am I supposed to care about him and his cause?

Silva seems to wrap other stories that were done better (The Day of the Jackal) around his "secret! finally exposed!": that Pope Pius XII was silent during much of the Holocaust, and that Nazi war criminals escaped after the war with the aid of the Roman Catholic Church. Ooooooo. That is SUCH a revelation.

The other main problem I have with the book is the lack of action until most of the many, many characters are introduced. There are so many characters that I often had to page back in the book to see who someone was when they were later re-introduced into the narrative (Tiepolo, for instance). I don't think much action occurs until after you've read about 200 pages. And after that the action is spotty, not very exciting. There's no real tension built up at any point.

The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons are much better books on similar subjects (not WWII or the Holocaust but evil within the Vatican). If you've read them and are looking for more on the same or similar subjects, I'd advise, keep looking.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing
Review: This book by Daniel Silva is among the most engrossing you are
apt to read for awhile. His hero, the art-restorer Gabriel Allon, who still does the occasional very secret job for the
Israeli Secret Service, learns that one of his best friends
was murdered while working on a top-secret book.
The search for the truth quickly becomes quite complex, as this
talented spy searches for answers, and he is directed to an obscure convent along one of Italy's northern lakes, where the
answers to his questions are really suspicious non-answers.
His quest send him to locales through Germany and Italy, as well
as into France and other places, and the tension mounts as Gabriel has to shoot his way out of a couple tight spots, and he
begins to wonder just who his enemies are.
Some of the highest leaders of the Roman Catholic church have
parts to play here, as the search begins to focus on WWII and
the part the church played in the Nazi's attempts to eliminate
the Jewish population of Europe.
Whether the premise, of Catholic indifference to the plight of
the Jews in WWII Europe, is accepted or not, the story is very
fascinating, and this author does a magnificant job detailing
possible scenarios, and his characters are believeable to the
point of the reader worrying and caring about some of them,
and hoping for the worst for some others.
Silva creates both characters and places that are easily visualized, and we do feel we are working along with these people as they are shot at, race around back streets of German
and Italian cities, and meet with mysterious figures.
The atmosphere the author creates cannot be beat, and this book
will end too fast for most readers.
Grab this one as soon as you can.

Rating:
Summary: Gabriel Allon goes to Vatican: another great book by Silva
Review: I have listened to the audio version of the book (using audible.com) and found it as entertaining as the rest of Gabriel Allon series. The plot is exciting and dynamic throughout the book. In the book, Mossad investigates the murder of one of its covert agents, and walks into a power struggle between the newly selected Pope and a secret Catholic society opposed to him. Although the story takes place in recent years, it is set against the background of the events of World War II, the Holocaust and the role of the Catholic Church in it. The plot is vivid and imaginative (if not somewhat improbable at times), but ultimately it kept me entertained to the last page. Some turns of the events could be predicted if you're familiar with the rest of Silva's books, but that was not a major issue. If you enjoy political intrigue, espionage, and Europe's 20th century history, you will also enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Thriller
Review: This book certainly lives up to its genre. The story is as fresh as current headlines concerning Jewish and Catholic relations and what happened during the Holocaust. Author Silva has written a timely novel and one that delves deeper into the psyche of his main character art restorer and secret Israeli angent, Gabriel Allon. Silva does an excellent job of creating three dimensional characters that become easy to root for. My only negative about the book is the pace of plotting. Mr. Silva moves it along so quickly that at times it becomes choppy and a little over the top. That does not detract from an overall good effort.

Rating:
Summary: Silva triumphs again!
Review: Reviewers claim "The Confessor" is Daniel Silva's "best." Could be. The author of the very successful "The English Assassin" has a well-timed book that also involves the Church (did somebody say "The Da Vinci Code"?) and whispered (perhaps actual) conspiracies.

Silva's "art restorer" Gabriel Allon is called into play once again. We know Allon well from "Assassin" and here he is, once again, "recalled into service." The Mossad agent is the perfect man for this job. Again, combining the fine arts, religious concatenations, and 21st century conspiracies, Silva makes his latest well worth the read. In this one, three central personalities figure in: Allon, the writer Benjamin Stern (or rather the life of Stern!), and the newly-elected Pope Paul VII.

It is difficult to find a more mesmerizing theme today than that of the Church's "conspiracies." That said, of course, Silva's book is not entirely devoted to such a story line. In addition, the book is a Rand-McNally of Europe, as the characters bounce back and forth and across Europe's most exiting easels, and Allon is determined, that again, h e is not to be framed, chiseled, buffed into submission.

Excitement abounds (not to mention quite a few humanities/fine arts lessons). Highly recommended! ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: A Knock-em Dead, Unbelievable Thriller
Review: Gabriel Allon restores fine paintings by day but is a secret Israeli agent by night, or whenever, ready, willing and able to do battle with Arab terrorists. In THE CONFESSOR, however, the stalkers of Jewish victims are Catholics operating out of the Vatican in an effort to cover up the evidence of the Church's collaboration with the Nazis in World War II.

The plot is based on the silence of Pius XII during the Holocaust as well as upon a supposed secret wartime meeting between someone from the Vatican and someone from the German Foreign Office. At this meeting, the Vatican guy is depicted as sanctioning Hitler's plans for the Final Solution.

The action revolves around Pope Paul VII, a liberal pope who has succeeded Paul II, and who intends after three generations, to admit the Church's guilt in failing to save Jews from the Holocaust. A far right secret society of traditionalist is determined to stop the pope even if it means assassinating him. However, Gabriel Allon, is determined to keep the pope safe.

I like Silva's work and have grown to like his art restoring spy, but I must confess I had trouble with the premise of this book. Did Pope Pius XII know about Hitler's Final Solution, I don't think so, but if he did, I suppose we should ask the question those senators used to ask about President Nixon during the Watergate hearings, "What did he know, and when did he know it?" I for one can imagine that somehow, someone must have told him something, sometime before the end of the war, but to assume that he knew about it from the get go and that he sanctioned it, is unthinkable.

As Usual Silva has written a knock-em dead thriller, but it was just a little too unbelievable for me.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Rating:
Summary: my first silva book!
Review: the confessor is the first book by daniel silva that i've read. i really enjoyed the story, the plot twists, and his descriptive detail of the cities that allon traveled through, all in all, the confessor is a really good novel.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great One from Silva!
Review: I just read The Confessor on a weekend car-trip and I was again impressed with Daniel Silva. Not that any of his works were below par but he is truly evolving as an author and at the forefront of the so-called "New Generation". The Great Master, Robert Ludlum, may have passed away and Frederick Forsyth publishes goes six or seven years between novels; but as long as we have authors like Silva and the complex characters and intriguing plots he so expertly crafts I know that I will have plenty to read in the years to come.

Rating:
Summary: Spine Tingler
Review: Daniel Silva's work in The Confessor is mesmerizing not only from the standpoint of the subject matter but because of the intriguing & fasinating plot. I've been curious about Pope John Paul I's death for years and felt the Vatican's role in WW II & the Holocaust was highly in question. I've never understood the need for secrecy. What are they trying to hide? This book offers a bit more meat on the bones even if it is deemed fiction. I'm a believer in that there may be a great deal more fact in this story than the average reader realizes.