There is a Palestinian freedom fighter called Tariq who assassinated the Israeli ambassador in France and who is now on a mission to assassinate Yasir Arafat.

There is Ari Shamron, chief of the Israeli secret service (never mentioned in the book as Mossad but called simply as the Office). The Office is going through some bad times and needs some good press. Ari Shamron is after Tariq and he seeks out the aid of a former agent, Gabriel Allon, who is spending his life as an art restorer. Tariq and Gabriel are enemies of old. Gabriel Allon in turn seeks the aid of a former colleague, Sarah Hilevy, who is spending her life as a model in France.

The story jumps from France to UK to Canada to USA. Sarah sells her body in order to be able to insinuate herself among the Palestians. From there on, she is contacted by Tariq and taken to Canada. Tariq and Sarah go to USA, where Tariq reveals that he already knows her secret and knows that she is working for Israel. He keeps her imprisoned in hotel room while he goes about planning the assassination of Yaser Arafat. He manages to get Arafat alone but Arafat charms him with his talk and Tariq decides not to kill him. He leaves Arafat's room. Outside, he is met by Gabriel. There is a shoot out and Tariq wounds Gabriel. Meanwhile, Sarah escapes and goes after Tariq and shoots him dead.

In the end, it turns out that Tariq was going to die soon any way. He had an incurable brain tumor. Ari Shamron had put the lives of all his agents in danger in order to kill an already dying man for the express purpose of getting good press for the Office.

The novel is chockfull of clichéd characters, clichéd situations and distinct undertones of bigotry and racism. There is not a single likeable character in the whole kit and kaboodle. The book is unnecessarily detailed at places and skips whole chunks of necessary background at other instances. My advice: let it go

Unfortunately, I was bitterly disappointed. I still love Silva's writing style, and I'll say that up front. His prose is easy to read; you'll consume large chunks of text in one sitting.

However, his plotting in this novel is amateurish at best. A painter-master spy (Gabriel Allon) is a cool concept for a protagonist, but then you put him on a surveillance mission? The most exciting thing he does is reprogram an alarm clock! You think I'm kidding, but I guarantee it!

So most of the action revolves around Jacqueline Delacroix, who is a supermodel on par with Cindy Crawford or Christy Turlington. And lucky for Jacqueline and Gabriel, the Palestinians never think to look on the cover of any magazine when they're trying to figure out who she is! No, but they happen to notice she's the same chick from some grainy photo of an operation that took place twelve years before! Crickey!

One other thing I found annoying about this book is that the first three chapters do not use names for the main characters. Unfortunately, Silva thought it would be cool if he didn't give any of the characters names until later. He thinks it builds suspense, but to the reader it is aggravating reading about "the stranger" who paints, or "the man" who is trying to assassinate a Israeli foreign minister.

The underlying moral value in the book is that people have many faces, both private and public. Nobody really knows someone else's identity. In the first chapters of the book, he tries to slam this home so that you feel like you know no one in the book. Things clear up later, but you have to be patient.

Unfortunately, patience never pays off for the plot. The action is few and far between. When the climax comes, the result defies logic. The impact on the protagonist is vague. I don't want to spoil it for you, so I'll leave it at that.

An untapped resource in this book is the Israeli Intelligence Chief Ari Shamron. He is the most intriguing figure as a gruff and calloused spymaster using agents as pawns, but he was under-utilized.

I just can't put a positive spin on this book besides this: Silva has so much potential that I hope his next works harness the imagination we saw in "The Unlikely Spy."