Rating: 
Summary: Authentic detail wrapped in a vibrant compelling story
Review: This pair of parallel stories was a very ambitious undertaking intertwining the tale of two sleuths one living in the 21st century and one living 400 years previous in the times of Queen Elizabeth I and the environs of London. Silbert pulls it off with marvelous attention to detail and manages to keep it compelling. Aside from the great peril confronting Kate and her Elizabethan counter part Christopher Marlowe, the big intrigue is a document entitled Anatomy of Secrets. It was a compilation of the crown's spymaster files. Similar one would suppose to the files of the late J. Edgar Hoover when it came to nasty secrets. Before you wrinkle your brow, the late 1500's spawned the likes of William Shakespeare and therefore the chief spymaster of England might well have known whether Shakespeare did indeed draft the plays now attributed to him in every class room across the English speaking world. There are other equally intriguing questions. This book is a tour de force of English history snippets taught with a premium on entertainment. For those of you like myself, not inured to English history this would be the time when a playwright, turned intelligence operative, named Christopher Marlowe lurked in the underbelly of English society and hid away treasured parchments containing nearly unbelievable secrets. History tells us that Marlowe was murdered.Perhaps not? Perhaps Kate the modern day heroine can figure it out. It is a novel of two worlds in juxta postion, of spies and intrigue shaped by their times. The detail and research is exquisite including the modern day spy stuff. Either she is well informed about 21st century sluicing or she fooled me. Readers will enjoy the attention to detail. The similarities in the two parallel stories lie in the age old vagaries of human nature. The intrigue is in the blending of the history with fiction, the relationship of things almost forgotten with priceless artifacts. For my taste, unlike most of the reviewers the modern day tale of Kate is the more entertaining while the Elizabethan side of the story is perhaps more informative. Although I learned a lot from Kate. If Kate has a flaw it is that she doesn't have many flaws and therefore the challenge she faces is much more without than within. Kate could use a few more interesting conflicts of the human sort to keep fueling my empathy and hence my fear for her survival at least to the next book. Perhaps in the next installment Kate might have some psychic Achilles to overcome. Perhaps we will watch her unravel whatever angst she has over her father. Still Silbert does the trick of writing two excellent plot lines and writes very compelling fiction, that makes me feel as though I'm being educated while I'm being titillated which is the hallmark of this genre and a great story. Overall it's an excellent read and I'm sure many of us are looking forward to the next. This book is top-notch.
Rating:
Summary: Smarter than your average thriller
Review: "The Intelligencer" is much more ambitious than your average thriller. The protagonists of the two time periods -- Kate Morgan in modern New York and Christopher Marlowe in Elizabethan England -- are motivated primarily by intellectual curiosity, rather than the standard good guy/bad guy motives you normally encounter in this genre. Silbert's take on Elizabethan England is very plausible, particularly her reconstruction of Marlowe's character (although she sidesteps the question of his homosexuality). The Marlowe story would have made a good novel on its own, but the tie-in to the modern story is what makes this book stand apart from the crowd. Some of the connections between the two time periods are quite subtle, so you have to read closely to catch all the connections woven into the plot. The plot in the modern story isn't quite as inventive as the one in the past, but the strength of the Kate Morgan character makes up for it. She relies on her brains to get through tough situations -- which always works best in intrigue stories like this. She's also a complete character, with friends, a past, feelings, and interests of her own outside of the plot, and altogether she's one of the better characters to come out of this genre in quite some time. I look forward to Silbert's next book; it's too bad Marlowe's been taken out of the picture, because he would have been fun to have in a sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: EMBARRASSINGLY BAD
Review: An awful, insipid, mess. The contemporary stuff is AWFUL! Don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Two books in one - but only one of them is good
Review: As a fan of both high-concept thrillers and historical fiction in general, I had high hopes for The Intelligencer. Silbert's concept had potential but unfortunately the execution left much to be desired.The Intelligencer is essentially two books in one. The historical-fiction half of the book, which revolves around Christopher Marlowe and a host of other Elizabethan historical figures, is fascinating. Silbert writes with great knowledge and authority on the subject of Elizabethan espionage, and these scenes kept me reading long after I'd ceased caring about the rest of the book. The other half of the book revolves around modern protagonist Kate Morgan, a former Renaissance scholar turned private investigator/covert CIA operative. Kate is called in to consult on the attempted theft of the Anatomy of Secrets, a long sought-after collection of Elizabethan espionage reports. Kate is likeable enough, but her backstory contains so many overused cliches (like the dead fiance and the politician father) that it's hard to see her as a unique character. She comes off as a semi-scholarly rip-off of Alias's Sydney Bristow. Furthermore, the book is so busy setting up its own sequel that it fails to bring Kate's Marlowe-related work to a full and satisfying conclusion. The climax to Kate's Anatomy of Secrets plotline is so badly written I almost gagged. Any time a protagonist uses the old "this is for [victim 1], this is for [victim 2] and this is for me" line while defeating the bad guy, it's a clear tip-off that author is way over his or her head in the thriller genre. Instead of fleshing out Kate's investigation of the Anatomy of Secrets, Silbert instead elects to drag the reader through a murky, dull B plot that's clearly designed to set up the next Kate Morgan novel and has nothing to do with Marlowe, Renaissance espionage, or any of the interesting ideas contained elsewhere in the book. I would not suggest investing money in this book in hardcover, although once released in paperback it might make a good airplane read. If only Silbert had written a full-length novel about Marlowe and Elizabethan spies; that book probably would have gotten five stars. Instead, the reader has to slog through the unimaginative "adventures" of a modern stock character in order to get to the good stuff. It's really a shame.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring and Overrated
Review: Based on the reviews, I thought this book would be an interesting read. The premise certainly sounded interesting. A dash of The DaVinci Code and a bit of The Eight, but this book doesn't come close to being as good as those it's compared to. I found the main charcter to be over the top and predictable, her storyline not even interesting. The flashbacks to Christopher Marlowe and Elizabethan England had the potential to be interesting, but just fall flat. I couldn't even force myself to finish this boring novel.
Rating:
Summary: The most compelling thriller I've ever read
Review: From first page to last, The Intelligencer is a pure delight. There is something for every one to love -history, romance, heart-stopping intrigue. I highly recommend this marvelous novel!
Rating:
Summary: truth in advertising
Review: How many times have you seen a book cover that says things like "warning: once you pick this book up you won't be able to put it down!" Well, I've always taken it with a grain of salt, because I've bought the book and then found myself quite capable of putting it down. Until THE InTELLIGENCER. I think it's the first time I've read a book in one sitting. Two cool stories, deftly interwoven.
Rating:
Summary: truth in advertising
Review: How many times have you seen a book cover that says things like "warning: once you pick this book up you won't be able to put it down!" Well, I've always taken it with a grain of salt, because I've bought the book and then found myself quite capable of putting it down. Until THE InTELLIGENCER. I think it's the first time I've read a book in one sitting. Two cool stories, deftly interwoven.
Rating:
Summary: Really love this book!
Review: I am a huge fan of historical fiction and this book did not disappoint. I really loved how she twisted fact and fiction seamlessly and still made it a real page turner. Kate was a smart, brave character and I loved the Marlowe comparisons. Definitely buy this book - you will be hooked.
Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced and fun, yet so smart and informative as well
Review: I flew through this novel. I've never read a thriller that was so well written, creative and thought provoking. I loved reading about Elizabethan spies, ciphers and black-market arms dealing, paired with a parallel espionage tale set in the present day. You learn so much turning these pages, while being entertained non-stop...I was especially fascinated by the discussion between the modern-day heroine, Kate Morgan, and her client, about which was more dangerous to pursue in the Renaissance: state secrets or God's secrets, and why. Marlowe got killed for one of those dangerous pursuits, Kate says, but which? That's one of the mysteries revealed in the final chapters, as Kate deciphers Marlowe's final intelligence report. Speaking of which, I thought the way she figured out that particular code was fun and really interesting.
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