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    The Kill Artist
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    The Kill Artist
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    The Kill Artist
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    The Kill Artist

    Written by Daniel Silva

    Narrated by Jason Culp

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Once a key operative in secret Israeli-intelligence missions, Gabriel Allon is on the run from his past, assuming a quiet life as a meticulous restorer of priceless works of art. But now he is being called back into the game. The agent with whom he is teamed hides behind her own beautiful mask-as a French fashion model. Their target: a cunning terrorist on one last killing spree, a Palestinian zealot named Tariq who played a dark part in Gabriel's past. What begins as a manhunt turns into a globe-spanning duel fueled by political intrigue and deep personal passions. In a world where secrecy and duplicity are absolute, revenge is a luxury no man can afford-and the greatest masterpiece of all.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateDec 19, 2000
    ISBN9780375420108
    Unavailable
    The Kill Artist
    Author

    Daniel Silva

    Daniel Silva is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Unlikely Spy, The Mark of the Assassin, The Marching Season, The Kill Artist, The English Assassin, The Confessor, A Death in Vienna, Prince of Fire, The Messenger, The Secret Servant, Moscow Rules, The Defector, The Rembrandt Affair, Portrait of a Spy, The Fallen Angel, The English Girl, The Heist, The English Spy, The Black Widow, House of Spies, The Other Woman, The New Girl, The Order, and The Collector. He is best known for his long-running thriller series starring spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon. Silva’s books are critically acclaimed bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than thirty languages. He lives with his wife, television journalist Jamie Gangel, and their twins, Lily and Nicholas.

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    Reviews for The Kill Artist

    4/5

    662 ratings43 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I guess we don’t pick up these books for good titles, but this one is pretty bad. The title, I mean. The book was solid.This is the first of Silva’s series about Israeli super-assassin Gabriel Allon. I had seen the series recommended many times, most recently by James Ellroy, who is a fair judge of these things.As I said, solid. I wouldn’t say it “transcends the genre” or anything, but that’s not a problem, because there’s nothing wrong with the genre.Daniel Silva, by the way, is a Fresno State graduate.
    • 5/5
      This was a fast paced and excellent read. I would have given it five stars but just got a tad bogged down in the middle section so it lost half a star for this, 4.5 stars. Not a great one for spy books, but this one worked for me. Prefer this to a book I've previously read from later in the series. Sat down and read this within 24 hours. I look forward to continuing this series. Some interesting characters, with one or two twists thrown in.
    • 5/5
      A thriller of espionage, terrorism, counter-terrorism and all the machinations that are encompassed in the world of manipulation. Gabriel Allon has been finely drawn as a moral man, a man with a conscience. His is an admirable character. Ari Shamron is depicted as the ultimate public servant in this secretive world. I can't tell you more because then I'd have to kill you. lol. Suffice it to say this is a masterpiece of writing, with perfect suspense that will keep you reading.
    • 4/5
      Former Mossad assassin Gabriel Allon is settled in Cornwall and working as an art restorer when his old boss convinces him to take on one more mission. Tariq is a Palestinian terrorist intent on thwarting the peace negotiations between Yasser Arafat and Israel’s prime minister. Allon and Tariq are old enemies, each having lost a beloved family member to the other’s hand. They’re playing a cat and mouse game, but which one is the cat and which one is the mouse? Allon’s character has a lot in common with NCIS’s Jethro Gibbs. Even though it was a page turner, I was a little disappointed that art is secondary to Middle East politics in the plot. I’m partial to mysteries and thrillers with an art theme, and I hope that art has more of a central role in some of the other books in this series.
    • 4/5
      The first book in a series featuring Israeli spy/hitman Gabriel Allon. Gabriel is pulled out of retirement (which he's spending working as an art restorer) to do one more job for a shadowy Israeli spy agency. They want him to eliminate Tariq, a notorious Palestinian who uses targeted assassinations to derail the Mideast Peace Process. Gabriel has his own personal reasons to want Tariq dead, so he agrees to take the job. But are his handlers telling him everything, and is everyone what they appear to be? Almost certainly not, or there wouldn't be a much of a book. A good series beginning; Silva is a good writer, which makes everything hold together more than in most debuts. I expect I'll keep reading.
    • 3/5
      A solid book and the start of a series I hope to fully enjoy. The Kill Artist revolves around a retired Israeli spy/assassin who is brought out of retirement to finally kill his great nemesis. Not exactly original stuff, but I liked the background and the way many side characters were weaved in and out of the story.

      Overall I liked the story and the spycraft involved. I thought there could have been more action, but the book felt more realistic than other similar types of books I have read. I would have given this book 4 stars but I felt that the ending of the book was a bit of a disappointment. The showdown between the two rivals didn't have that epic feel you would hope for from a type of book such as this.

      With all of that said, I did enjoy it, and based on reviews of the series I have read, the future books only get better.
    • 4/5
      A pretty decent international thriller designed, apparently, to spawn quite a few sequels in a lengthy series starring the protagonist, an Israeli spy and assassin. I enjoyed it, but the book has nothing on, say, Frederick Forsyth's, who's one of my all-time favorite thriller authors. Still, recommended.
    • 2/5
      I read about the super talented international spy and assassin, who is also a world famous art restorer, and then I read about the French supermodel who is also secretly an Israeli international spy, and who desperately wants to sleep with the other international spy, and then I decided I'd had enough of Daniel Silva's adolescent fantasies.
    • 3/5
      International political thriller, featuring an Israeli assassin and a Palestinian terrorist playing Spy vs. Spy. Seems to be set in the 1990s. Naturally, a beautiful French Jewish Mossad agent is also involved so there can be a damsel in distress who eventually must take control of the situation.The book is fine, and stages the spy stuff well enough. It ran a bit long, and I found the escape and reversal of fortune for the heroes a bit hard to believe, requiring some stupid behavior by the bad guys. Good airplane reading nevertheless.
    • 5/5
      It was a spy mystery. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. The beginning was a little confusing as I tried to remember who all the people were. But once I got into it I could not stop reading. And there are definitely twists I wasn't expecting. Definitely would recommend it if you want a good suspense book.
    • 3/5
      I did not enjoy this book...there were only bad guys in it except for one small unloved boy who made two appearances: once in the beginning and once at the end. When it comes to terrorists, who is the bad guy? The one who pulls the trigger? Or the families of the victim who, in their turn, pull the trigger?For these reasons, I gave it 2.5 stars: .5 stars for the young boy. 1 star for the impossibility of reconciling the violence, and one star for the very good writing (except for twice getting a character's name confused with another's. Hey. I'm giving up on writers using copy editors.)
    • 4/5
      After completing The Kill Artist I felt lifeless, and drained. Which is quite unusual for me. Another uncanny thing about this book is that it established a blistering 5/5 average rating right from the start. In this book it is 90% clear who we are supposed to side with. More unusual aspects of this unusual book is that the seemingly condemned character doesn't die. Also the hero doesn't perform much in the vicinity of heroics. I felt sad after reading The Kill Artist. I should not. The book wasn't geared for that. It's a freaking thriller. But below the exciting surface, there's the stirrings of unhappiness, sad endings, forsaken dreams, and moral meanderings.
    • 4/5
      Great suspense thriller! Our cousin Chris recommended Daniel Silva to me two years ago at a family reunion on the Jersey shore. I just found the note I wrote it down on! And, boy, am I glad I did!! Fast paced, intelligent, & informative all at once! With an imperfect hero you can't help rooting for.
    • 4/5
      A new author to me. Quite a skilled writer. And I enjoyed the novel more than I expected. One comes to expect thriller characters and plots to be like peas in a pod from one author to the next. Unavoidable perhaps but Silva managed to stand out so i will be back.
    • 4/5
      Gabriel Allon is a former spy. But he's lured back into the game by the chance to kill the terrorist who blew up his wife and child. Problem is that things in the spy business, as in life, aren't always what they appear to be. He's about to be reminded of that. Again.Characters well-drawn, twists and surprises, especially the ending!I'll definitely be continuing this series.I listened to the audio edition and it has an excellent narrator.
    • 3/5
      "The Kill Artist" is the first book in the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva. Allon is a retired Mossad agent, spending his time restoring famous art paintings in a secluded house in southern England. His former boss turns up one day with an offer Allon can't refuse: join him in hunting down and killing Tariq al-Hourani, the Palestinian terrorist responsible for killing Allon's son and seriously wounding his wife. This is a great spy novel, a fast read.
    • 5/5
      Ok, now I am officially addicted to Daniel Silva books. Gabriel Allon is a character that possesses many interesting possibilites in the future. Really enjoyed this one.
    • 4/5
      In this book, Gabriel, a former assassin for Israel's foreign intelligence service, the Mossad (which translates into English as "The Institution") retired after the murders of his wife and son to lead a quiet life as an art restorer, one who fixes the wounded past. Gabriel's ex-boss, Ari Shamron, an Israeli spymaster a la George Smiley but more treacherous, convinces Gabriel to leave his sheltered hermitage to hunt down Tariq, the assassin who killed Gabriel's family, before he can kill again. In an exquisitely wrought plot of treachery and counter-treachery, Silva explores the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from many, many angles.
    • 4/5
      Sometime art restorer, sometime assassin Gabriel Allon isn't the only artist in The Kill Artist. Daniel Silva's artistic talent definitely shows as well. Silva does a masterful job of balancing action, drama and character building in this first installment in Allon's story. As a first in a series, The Kill Artist not only tells a great story, but it sets up the future of the series so well. This really is a spy novel for intellectuals. The action fits with the characters and has feel of reality that so many spy franchises don't bother with. A great start to a great franchise. A must read if you like the genre.
    • 4/5
      The story begins with the assassination of an Israeli ambassador in Paris, pulled off by Tariq, a master Palestinian assassin. Rumors of Tariq's plans to disrupt the ongoing peace talks reach Ari Shamron, head of the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. He decides to seeks out the services of Gabriel Allon, ex-assassin and art restorer who worked for him in the past. Although reluctant to become involved, Allon has a personal grudge to settle with Tariq, the man responsible for the car bombing that killed Allon's toddler son and maimed his wife (physically and mentally). He agrees to once again work for Shamron to find and murder Tariq. He has the assistance of a beautiful French model and occasional Israeli operative, Jacqueline Delacroix. Allon uses Delacroix to infiltrate Tariq's inner circle so that he can discover his whereabouts. What Gabriel doesn't know is that Tariq is trying to find and kill Allon.

      Gabriel has tremendous regrets about things that happened in the past and he can't stop blaming himself for what happened to his wife and son. I am both intrigued and fascinated with this character. I've read each of the series (currently 14) but felt compelled after the last one to go back and meet Gabriel again for the first time. I prefer to read book in order but I don't think it's necessary in this case. The book takes place at a time when Allon has already given up his work as a spy. We learn about Allon's past and his initiation into the world of spying through flashbacks.

      The author takes the reader through some tense but drawn out situations and while the action may stall in some places, the plot moves along quite well and as far as I am concerned, it was a real page turner.
    • 5/5
      I have had this book on my shelf for some time now and decided to see for myself if Daniel Silva's Israeli assassin, Gabriel Allon, was as good as I have heard. I can honestly say that Gabriel did not fit into my image of an assassin.As the story begins, a mysterious stranger moves into a old cottage in an isolated English village, Port Navas Cornwall. The first chapter is told from the viewpoint of Peel, a boy of around 10, who had also recently moved to the village with his mother. Therefore, it takes several chapters to find out the stranger is Gabriel Allon.Gabriel was a world renowned art restorer, the cover job he had in order to hide the fact that he worked for the Israeli intelligence service. However, he "retired" from the clandestine service nearly 10 years previously when a terrorist he was contracted to take out placed a bomb under his car, killing his son and turning his wife into an empty shell. After that, Gabriel went into a self imposed exile and immersed himself into restoring paintings in the hope of forgetting the past.Then the Israeli ambassador and his wife are killed by terrorists in Paris, and Ari Shamron, head of the intelligence service, discovers the assassin was none other than Tariq, the Palestinian who destroyed Gabriel's family. Shamron trusts no one, and secretly goes to England to bring Gabriel back for one more mission. Gabriel can not refuse, even though he knows killing Tariq will not bring his family back.In other novels featuring assassins, they tend to be cold and calculating, justifying their actions by believing the target deserved to die for their transgressions. Gabriel, however, has flashbacks and feels guilty for what he has done. Benjamin Stone, a wealthy backer of the Israeli operation, describes Gabriel as "an assassin with a conscience."Given all the baggage Gabriel is carrying around, I had my doubts as to whether he would be an effective assassin. Add in the fact that he has been inactive for nearly 10 years and he was at a distinct disadvantage.I thought the book started out slowly, but it gradually picked up its pace before finally reaching its climax. But even after the climax, there were more plot twists which tied the story into a neat little ball. Gabriel seemed to enjoy restoring paintings much more than his other line of work. Therefor, this is not the typical testosterone filled prose that one would associate with a story about an assassin, but rather paints a softer, more human side of the occupation. There are several more books in the series, so I am anxious to find out what would bring him out of retirement again.
    • 4/5
      I've read a few of the Gabriel Allon mystery series but decided to read the series in order. This is the first in the series and I have to say I'm impressed with the writing in this book. The characters are complicated -- even the 'good guy's have their flaws. And the plot twists -- wow, I have to say there were plenty of surprises in this story. Definitely looking forward to the rest of this series.
    • 4/5
      Not as enjoyable as later entries in the series, but still worth reading even if only to see how certain characters got their start.
    • 5/5
      I found myself a little confused by the jumps the story took at the beginning - perhaps a challenge of a recorded book. The details and challenges are developed cleverly. I will have to read more Daniel Silva books.
    • 3/5
      The beginning was a bit muddy, especially concerning Ari Shamron's status as either retired or recalled. The derring-do was done well, and the twist a fair one.Rating xr for language and sexual situations. 
    • 3/5
      Gabriel Allon has established a reputation as one of the world’s leading restorers of Renaissance artworks, and is working on a marvellous altar piece by Francesco Vecellio for a London gallery. This is, however, his second profession. He was previously an accomplished assassin working for the Israeli secret services, participating in operations to track down and kill targets identified as terrorists working against Israel. During that phase of his life, his particular bête noir had been a Palestinian known as ‘Tariq’, believed to be the mastermind behind a series of attacks against Israeli targets all around the globe, culminating in a revenge attack on Allon’s own family. This had driven Allon away from that world, moving to his art restoration instead.As the book opens, Israel and Palestine are cautiously moving towards a peace settlement, which has upset extremists on both side who suspect their political leaders of craven compromise. This is manifested by an audacious attack on the Israeli ambassador to France, which has Tariq’s trademarks all over it. Fearing that this might derail the peace process, the powers behind the scenes in Israel decide that Tariq must be killed before he can wreak further havoc and mayhem. Allon is persuaded to set aside his new life and return to the fold, with a specific mission to track down and kill Tariq.Silva writes without frills, and this seemed to work for the first three quarters. As with so many promising thrillers, however, I felt he author erred on the side of over complication. He is also clearly better at describing action than constructing characters. The plot was sound enough but his principal characters too frequently teetered on the verge of two dimensionality, and the book might have been commensurately stronger if it had been one hundred pages shorter.
    • 3/5
      The methodology of the art restoration expert is the same as that of the professional assassin: “study the target, become like him, do the job, slip away without a trace.” Just as retired Israeli agent Gabriel Allon must study the artist Vecellio in order to resurrect and restore The Adoration of the Shepherd, to make the painting just like the original so he must study again the work of his old nemesis Tariq, agent of the PLO wing that is angry and upset with Arafat’s peace initiatives. Tariq is also responsible for the death of Gabriel's wife and child, so Ari Shamron tries to induce Gabriel out of retirement to track down and kill Tariq after Tariq’s organization has assassinated the Israeli ambassador in Paris. In these days after the end of the Cold War, writers of spy thrillers have been left with few international conflicts and adversaries with which to ground their novels. Silva has become one of the more successful, and this one is a real pageturner. Tariq learns from an inside source that Gabriel is after him, so it becomes a cat-andmouse game to see who can find and eliminate the other first.

    • 2/5
      A friend of mine loaned me this book saying that the principal character, Gabriel Allon, was “the Israeli James Bond,” but Gabriel Allon seems to me to be an even more unbelievable character. Allon, besides being a super spy, is also one of the world’s five top art restorers, a single-handed (“expert”) sailor of a two-masted ketch, an opera lover, a skilled auto mechanic (old MG), and a biblical expert. In addition, he speaks “flawless” Arabic, whereas all the Arabs in the book speak it with some kind of recognizable national accent. Even when building a fire, “[h]e seemed capable of holding the hot wood for a long time without discomfort.” Sure.I like to suspend belief a little when I read an adventure story, but Silva’s characters are just over the top. Tariq, the villain, takes five days to escape from Paris to Samos after an assassination, but on the way he manages to seduce three different women, driving all of them to multiple orgasms, needless to say. The main female character, madly in love with Allon, is a super model of course. She “worked with good looking men every day in her overt life, but there was something about Gabriel that took her breath away….She decided she was going to make love to this man before the operation was over.” Naturally, how could it be otherwise? The story takes place amid the interminable Arab-Israeli conflict, and the author gives both sides plenty of reasons to hate each other. Nonetheless, there can be no doubt that Silva’s sympathies lie with the Israelis. He has concocted a fast-paced narrative, and he even throws in a twist in the plot at the end. In the hands of a better writer, a twist is used to explain a factual anomaly in the main plot. Silva’s plot twist, however, is somewhat gratuitous in that it comes in after all the action has been resolved and isn’t necessary to make the rest of the story more believable. I guess it was an attempt at irony. In short, I found this book too cartoonish. (JAB)
    • 3/5
      Spy thriller, very violent and terrifying but also sad.
    • 3/5
      Great book. The romantic entwinements combined with a counter terrorist theme, made the book a fine read. You gotta wonder if things like that happen all the time? :-) Well written and read; hard to put down.