THE COLLECTOR is Book 23 in the Gabriel Allon series by thriller author Daniel Silva. This is the author's most popular work and it continues in Book 24 - A Death in Cornwall, out July 2024.
Long-time readers of the series and the author's writing have mixed feelings and argue that it's becoming stagnant and dull. However, if as a reader you compare the series with other work in the genre by new authors you are bound to find it a bit as same old same old. That's natural given the sheer amount of books by diverse POV's and the fickleness of a reader and their current tastes. So, if you enjoy something especially the central character like Allon in this series you'll always be curious to know how he's faring with the times. That's why I always pick up his latest story whenever I can.
THE COLLECTOR is set in 2022 around art theft, murder and the war in Europe. We see the retired Intelligence Director, world-renowned spy, Gabriel Allon chasing a stolen famous painting and somehow finding himself saving the war from going worldwide.
The story starts with the theft of a famous painting from a private home in Denmark and the murder of its owner. It turns out both acts are committed by not the same person but different people. As details about this dual crime unravel Gabriel is called in and things soon evolve. While establishing the faces of the people behind the crime and the order givers it seems there's something altogether different going on.
Soon a Danish oil company CEO, a professional thief, a Russian assassin, few countries' intelligence are involved. Gabriel soon identifies the compromised parties and makes a plan to find and retrieve the stolen painting and while he's at it ends up saving the world from a major war catastrophe.
What I enjoyed -
Being back in the world of covert missions, the whole mix of art, thieves with a heart and ones with darkness, of saving countries from destroying each other. All this while drinking some wine, shopping or just sightseeing.
The situations definitely brought the thrill factor and the pages flew. It presented a POV which we all want given it brings an end to something terrible. While it's all fiction for the duration it makes one wish it was as simple as it happens in the book. That's why it's fiction and only an escape which we all are well aware of and hence enjoy the momentary respite it brings.
The introduction of new characters, like the professional thief in this story, is always fun. We get to know a new Peter Pan who will soon be brought to the other side in the name of the old debate of good versus bad.
It was a bit worrying and resigned feeling to know, even though it's fictionalised, how the people involved in the war are motivated. It's something that makes you wonder what the world's coming to and its future.
The part which makes thrillers popular, of course, are the action scenes, which I enjoyed the most. There were the sitting on the edge of the seat and the heart-racing moments with bullets flying and snow pounding in the characters. There was also the triumph of having stopped the fireworks which would cause only death and darkness.
So if you are a long-time Daniel Silva reader or are looking for a quiet thriller to read on your day off or the commute pick up a copy you won't be disappointed.
Master novelist Daniel Silva has thrilled readers with twenty-two thoughtful and gripping spy novels featuring the “much-loved Gabriel Allon” (Booklist). Silva’s ingenious plotting—based on his superior knowledge of geopolitical events—have taken the art restorer and former spy around the globe and back, from the United States to Europe, Russia to the Middle East.
Silva returns with another blockbuster—a powerhouse novel that showcases his outstanding skill and brilliant imagination—that will thrill his multitudes of steadfast fans and growing legions of admirers.
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