Rating: 
Summary: Fails to Leave a Mark
Review: Some writers run aground as there careers progress, while others find greater depths. Having discovered Silva's writing through "The Dead Artist" and "The English Assassin," I've come to expect subtlety and nuance, with sympathetic characters. Silva is one of my new favorite authors.Going back to read "The Mark of the Assassin," for me, was a disappointment. While Silva's concepts and characters match those of his later books, he seems less focused here. We watch political maneuverings, clandestine meetings, brutal attacks, yet never really doubt what's going on. We see little of the main characters within the first hundred pages, and when Michael Osbourne and his wife do take center stage, they are puppets in a less than credible play. The writing is fine. Dialogue moves along. But the improbabilities and coincidences begin to mount quickly. Even as the pace picks up in the last quarter of the book, I found myself doubting the scenes. One example: the KGB trained, world-renowned assassin moves in for the kill by taking the disguise of a bicycle courier(even getting multiple piercings to look the part), but as soon as our erstwhile hero sees him from a distance, the cover is blown. Ah, too bad--all that effort for nothing. For a fast-paced story and streamlined writing, "The Mark of the Assassin" surpasses many second-rate novels. Clearly, though, with only his second book, Silva was fine-tuning his storytelling, and I had a difficult time getting lost in this tale. Having been spoiled by his newer, richer work, I finished this one with barely a mark.
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