Rating: 
Summary: Very good book!
Review: My 1st time to read Daniel Silva's book. I wasn't disappointed. I thought I'm seeing a movie here while reading it's story. It may be only a fiction, but boy, what IF it was true? Hmmm. Good Job, Mr. Silva... I'll be reading his previous books, now that I'm hook with Gabriel Allon's character.
Rating: 
Summary: Attack
Review: Silva, as always, maintains his skill in The Confessor. However I object to his subject matter. After finishing this thriller, I tried to analyze whether the author is Jewish, Catholic, or both. I felt I had to, because of the way he has presented the subject matter. In my final analysis I believe this book is an attack not on the Catholic body of the church, but rather on the Vatican. I am not impressed with this fabrication.I would much rather he had picked some other subject.
Rating:
Summary: I doubt there will be a confession.
Review: This was the first Daniel Silva book I've read and I liked his writing. The story was a fantasy about the next Pope wishing to make amends for the Church turning it's back on the Jews during WWII. Because of the present day headlines, I found this "good guys vs. bad guys" an enjoyable read.
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Summary: THE CURIA DOES NOT LIKE POPE ACCIDENTAL
Review: COMPLEX PLOT TO KILL THE POPE WHO PLANS TO CONFESS THE CHURCHES'S ROLE IN THE NAZI ATTEMPT TO RID THE WORLD OF JEWS. THE CURIA CANNOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN SAYS CARDINAL BRINDISI WHO INTENDS TO BE THE NEXTPOPE. SECRETS ARE BURIED DEEP IN THE VATICAN ARCHIEVES LEST POPE PIUS XII BE PUT TO SHAME. BUT THERE ARE THOSE WHO WANT TO MEND THE WAR BETWEEN CATHOLICS ABD JEWS AND ARE INTENT ON DOING SO. A KILLER IS HIRED AND THOSE IN AGREEMENT WITH POPE PAUL PUT A COMPLEX PLAN INTO ACTION. MR, SILVA HAS HONED HIS CHARACTERS INTO THE BEST OF MEN AND SMOOTHLY CARRIES YOU FROM ONE SCENE TO THE NEXT IN ACTION AND SUSPENSE KEEPING THE READER WELL INFORMED ON BOTHSIDES OF THE PLOT. YOU WON'T WANT TO PUT THIS ONE DOWN UNTIL THE END.I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE SURPRISE ENDINGS IN HIS NEXT BOOK.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate suspense for Silva!
Review: Daniel Silva has penned a series of spy thrillers, whose main character is Gabriel Allon, an Israeli spy-assassin, doubling as an art restorer. Allon's credibility is infallible as he pledges to continue a slain colleague's attempt to reveal a secretive Vatican society.This novel captures the tragedy of the Holocaust, recounting soberly and with sadness the Nazi atrocities, and the continued efforts of major world-players to conceal their involvement. The troubling role of the Catholic Church in the Second World War and the refusal of the Church to release its records from that period is realized through Allon's willingness to expose the truth and protect the Pope from the darkest members of the covert Vatican society. The combination of international intrigue, fast-paced action, and institutional politics is woven together by Silva in an absorbing portrait of a crisis where human life is of no consequence to many who would kill to protect their institutions from attack. The Pope's key role of insisting that the church live up to its ideals, together with the network of comrades who enable Allon to secure his trust, has a ring of both truth and idealism that is reassuring and heartening.
Rating:
Summary: A fast and engrossing read
Review: Daniel Silva is a skilled writer who for this book has done an admirable amount of research. The result is a well-presented intrigue yarn that further supports its author's position among the top thriller writers. The plot is speculative but based on sufficient fact to make it plausible. This author lays this out in a separate chapter. The characters are a bit abstract, and the plot is more interesting than the people, but this is a minor quibble in such a well-written novel.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome new book from Silva, a master.
Review: I am a huge Daniel Silva freak, and have re-read all 5 of his previous novels more than once. They are all so well written and intricately plotted, with fascinating and ingenious characters, that they are in class with Ken Follett, Martin Cruz Smith, Le Carre, and other great espionage books. This one is better than The English Assassin, but if you want to read Silva at his absolute peak, read The Kill Artist, which is the best Gabriel Allon novel and one of my all-time favs. I think The Kill Artist and his two Michael Osbourne novels, Marching Season and Mark of the Assassin are his best novels so read those first, but this is still an entertaining read for people not familiar with Silva and just want an excellent spy story.
Rating:
Summary: Fast moving, exciting and controversial spy thriller.
Review: Daniel Silva continues his winning ways with "The Confessor," a first-rate follow-up to Silva's wonderful spy novel, "The English Assassin." Gabriel Allon is back as the moody and talented art restorer who is also an agent for the Israeli secret service. Allon's old boss, the tough and crusty Ari Shamron, has called on Allon to investigate the murder of Benjamin Stern, Professor of European Studies in Munich. Allon would prefer to stay out of the spying game. However, he cannot refuse to investigate the death of Beni Stern. Gabriel and Beni had been agents for the Israeli Secret Service years ago, and a bond had formed between them. Allon is eager to bring his friend's killer to justice. Before long, Allon discovers that Beni was murdered because he was about to reveal some damaging and controversial information about the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and Nazi Germany during World War II. Allon's quest for Beni's killer pits him against powerful and dangerous members of a secret organization who will stop at nothing to keep their dirty secrets buried. As he did in "The English Assassin," Silva makes good use of some colorful locales in Europe. The scene switches frequently between Italy, Germany, Austria and France, as the tense drama unfolds. Silva skillfully describes the political machinations and friction between a progressive Pope and the reactionary individuals who oppose him. The characters in "The Confessor" are lively, the action is electrifying, and the plot is filled with unpredictable twists and turns. Silva, once again, shows great courage in tackling a topic that will make many people uncomfortable. Did the Catholic Church turn its back on the Jews during World War II, and if so, why? Although this question may never be answered fully, it is important to keep asking it, until the secret documents that are hidden in the Vatican's archives are opened for all the world to see.
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling!!
Review: This is a book you hate to put down, even to get some badly needed sleep. Gabriel Allon, a master art restorer and an assasin of the Mossad returns for his third encounter with The Leopard. The background is the dark secrets of the Vatican and the Holocoast and how they entertwine. A new Pope has come to power and he is determined to right the wrongs of the past. Standing in his way is a secret society known as the Crux Vera (True Cross)who have decided that the way to stop the probelms about to be caused by what they term "The Accidental Pope" is to employ the services of The Leopard and have him killed. Allon is investigating the murder of Benjamin Stern, who as it turns out was on to the story of Pope Pius XII's involvement in the events of the days in the past. How his investigation and discoveries peel away layer after layer of history and expose him and others to great danger is a story best read and not recounted here. Silva is at the top of his game in this book. Read and learn.
Rating:
Summary: An absorbing read with a complex yet believable plot
Review: Daniel Silva's new spy thriller, which is riding on the coattails of his bestseller THE ENGLISH ASSASSIN, proves without a doubt that conspiracy is still alive today and thriving in Europe without the aid of communism --- in fiction, anyway. For the material in this book, Silva reaches back to the source of the oldest conspiracies that still exist in the modern world: the Roman Catholic Church. You may not believe in God --- in fact, it might help if you don't --- but you will believe in the potential deviousness of the men of God by the end of THE CONFESSOR. From Venice to Rome to Munich to a villa in Switzerland, from a convent on a lake in the foothills of the Alps to London and then on to France and back again, this book gets around at a fast and convincing pace. Everyone is flawed --- the main characters have all killed and will kill again if they must. The difference is in what motivates them to kill. You learn to make your choices about who to root for by distinguishing among shades of gray. The only really good guy, i.e. non-killer, happens to be the pope. In a fictional near future, there is a new pope in Rome. A former cardinal of Venice, the new guy goes by the name of Paul VII. He was a compromise candidate, a "caretaker pope" elected when the presumed strongest candidate couldn't come up with enough votes in the College of Cardinals. It is soon evident, however, that the new pope isn't as harmless as certain movers and shakers of the Curia thought he'd be --- and so the ball is set in motion. In Munich, a well-respected professor is murdered. The professor was a Jew, returning to Germany for his scholarship after a time in Israel. He was currently on sabbatical and writing a book, keeping the research very close to his chest; the research and manuscript are missing when his body is found. In Venice, an art restorer, a mysterious man who works upon a shrouded scaffold and lives perpetually in solitude, receives a call he cannot refuse. The professor was not just a friend, but a comrade-in-arms of old. Gabriel, the artist, must leave the beloved madonna he has been bringing back to life on the wall of an ancient church in order to find out who killed his friend. This is not a personal duty --- he is ordered to go for the branch of the Israeli Secret Service to which he still belongs. But when things get really dicey and another agent tries to send him home to Israel, Gabriel continues to look for his friend's killer. Meanwhile, in and around Rome, the cardinal who wanted to be pope but didn't get enough votes is stirring his secret ecclesiastical pot. It seems that there is an organization within the church, so long rumored without confirmation that, even within the Vatican, some think it's a myth --- this organization is called Crux Vera. These men are so right-wing they make Opus Dei look moderate. They are not all priests; some are among the wealthiest businessmen in Europe, as were their predecessors, who turn out to have been at the heart of a previous shameful situation that was covered up by the church and by a previous pope at the time of World War II. They don't do their dirty work themselves. Rather, they hire the best --- and they reach out for a man in Switzerland who is known throughout Europe as the Leopard, yet he has been so seldom seen that some think he, too, is a myth. Dig deep enough into the Leopard's past and you will find he was once a seminarian. The plot of THE CONFESSOR is complex, yes, but it's so believable that, by the end of the book, you will be wondering how much of this might really have happened, or might happen yet. It's a fine, absorbing read --- especially if you'd like something that feels current and will occupy your mind so thoroughly that, for a while, you can forget about what's going on in the rest of the world. --- Reviewed by Ava Dianne Day
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