Just Finished: Silva, The English Assassin

[Francis A. Miniter]

Daniel Silva's *The English Assassin* was a disappointment.
First, it was utterly predictable. The ending was
obvious from near the start of the book. There is no
Ludlum-like suspense that has you unable to put down the
book even at 4 AM.

Second, the writing style made me feel as though I were
being repeatedly struck with a hammer and pounded into the
covers of the book. Let me make a comparison. Frank
Herbert was, like Tolkien, a master of narration, who could
always leave you wondering about things hinted at, but never
fully explained. But his son, Brian Herbert, who - along
with Kevin J. Anderson - tried to write the alluded-to
stories as prequel novels to the Dune series, utterly
failed. The prequel novels just lay out fact after fact
after fact in a deadly journalistic style. So too Daniel
Silva in this novel. For instance, he introduces you to a
character by having the narrator almost read you a
curriculum vitae of the character. By contrast, Agatha
Christie would place the description in the mouth of a
character, with comments by a third character. Exposition
is so important, and the expository parts of this story
stick out like infected abscesses.

Another problem is the unexplained ability of the bad guys
to always be spying on the good guys. Then again, the good
guys sometimes make it way too easy for them. For instance,
Gabriel Allon (our protagonist) meets the spy master Ari
Shamron (an all too obvious stand-in for Ariel Sharon) in a
church in Rome after Shamron's factotums have checked out
the place. So what do these geniuses of spydom do? They
leave the safe location and walk a couple times around the
square while discussing their most important business so
that the bad guys can pick up and record their conversation.

Then there is at least one time frame problem. The story is
clearly said to be in the 21st century - Gabriel refers to
Otto Gessler as the Goering of the 21st C. Let's say that
means 2000, and not 2001. (The book was published in 2002.)
The banker Rolfe, whose murder is the first problem for
our hero, dies at age 89. Gabriel says so and Rolfe's
daughter Anna agrees. So, he was born in 1911 - if the
story is set in 2000. We are emphatically told that Rolfe
took over the business of an important Swiss bank (important
enough to warrant Rolfe being on a secret banking council)
in the _early_ 1930s. But that would mean he was no more
than 22 years old when he began his career as bank
president. That is just not possible, especially not in a
hide-bound conservative place like Switzerland.

Finally, the characters are all flat. There is no
development - except perhaps in the character of the
"Englishman" - the redeemable bad guy, but that too is a
stock character in so many stories and movies. Lacking
suspense, it would be good to make the characters
sympathetic to the reader. But no. Silva is no LeCarre.
There is here no Connie Sachs (Smiley's People), whom we can
meet once and regret deeply that she is dying and we will
never hear her voice again.

--
Francis A. Miniter

Oscuramente
libros, laminas, llaves
siguen mi suerte.

Jorge Luis Borges, La Cifra Haiku, 6

[ia...@notcox.net]

Thanks for suffering for me. I have picked up Silva's books again and
again, eventually re-shelving them each time. SO now I know not to
bother meditating on a purchase any longer.

Ian

[Janet]

I just read his first one, An Unlikely Spy. It was okay, but didn't live up
to the cover hype.

[BarbNJ]

But Gabriel Allon books are great! And the get better as the series ages!
Barb

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