History was never this interesting in school. The thirteenth installment in the Gabriel Allon series, ‘The English Girl’ is more than just your average thriller and espionage novel. Following the exploits of Israeli intelligence operative and art restorer Gabriel Allon, the series not only delivers the excitement and intrigue promised by the genre, but also delivers a more thorough lesson in international history and politics than many readers are likely to have experienced yet.
When Madeline, the mistress of the British Prime Minister, is kidnapped, they make the decision to call in as a favor and ask Allon to help find her. Launching a covert operation without the knowledge of the British police in the hope that it will spare the Prime Minister from scandal, Allon soon discovers that this is more than just a simple kidnapping and blackmail for ransom case. Travelling through Corsica, France, Russia and Israel, Allon uncovers even larger scandals and more shocking motives. As is common in Allon novels, the case becomes personal, and he will not stop until Madeline is found, the truth about her disappearance known, and those responsible held accountable.
Allon is a compelling character, and it is certainly he who drives this book. He is passionate and unrelenting, pursued by his past and responsible to his future, but always focused on the moment before him. An operative of Israeli intelligence (referred to in Silva’s novels as ‘The Office’, but although it is not ever specifically referred to as Mossad, it is the literal translation of the colloquial Israeli name for the organization, HaMisrad) Allon has a past steeped in history. An Israel Jew, the son of two Holocaust survivors, he was recruited to the Office to participate in Operation Wrath of God – an operation following the Munich Olympics in 1972 when eleven members of the Israeli team were murdered. Allon served for three years as one of the assassins hunting down members of the Palestinian group responsible and continued working for the Office thereafter and working as an art restorer as his cover.
Silva has a masterful grasp of the English language, and the novel is an enjoyable read, just for the lyric quality of the sentence structure. His descriptions of locations – the domes of St. Petersburg, the rusticity of Corsica, the coast of Marseilles – are so lifelike you can almost smell the Corsican macchia.
One wishes he’d devoted as much attention to some of his secondary characters. These supporting cast members – most of them a part of Allon’s team – have been introduced in previous installments of the series, yet remained sadly unexplored in any depth here, instead reduced to little more than wallpaper. If this is your first introduction to the Allon series, I highly recommend looking it up on Wikipedia and reading the character description of his team members so that you may know them better.
If ‘The English Girl’ is burdened by anything, it’s an overabundance of foreshadowing, some of which does not pay off. Much of the plot is telegraphed by an omniscient narrator (or an oddly mystic Corsican signadora), but not everything projected comes to fruition, which create some confusion.
Silva is politely gracious enough to provide a note about the accuracy of the information he presents, and you will enjoy letting Allon be your teacher. ‘The English Girl’is not without flaw, but while many novels are entertaining, few will give you quite so much.
