Rating: 
Summary: Satisfying and Cunningly Plotted
Review: Veteran journalist, Daniel Silva, makes his mark as a novelist with, "The Unlikely Spy," a quality World War II espionage thriller. The story centers on Britain's top plans for the D-Day invasion and Hitler's attempt to uncover the vital secret of the war; the time and place of the Anglo-American invasion of France.Working on behalf of Germany is the beautiful Catherine Blake, a ruthless Mata Hari type spy who will seduce, maim, and kill in order to help Nazi Germany achieve victory. Hand-picked by Winston Churchill himself is Alfred Vicary, a successful history professor. Vicary's job is to run "Operation Double Cross" for M15 England's couterespionage agency. It is known that Germany has spies stationed in England, but who they are and how to find and break them lands on the shoulders of Vicary. The war could easily be lost to Germany if vital information is leaked to Hitler. For Vicary, not only does he face the challenge of foreign enemies, but also he must deal with a few deceitful people in his own department, jealous of his designation by Churchill. The cat-and-mouse game begins to roll! Silva's book is not entirely original, you will see shades of Follet and Higgins throughout. Nonetheless, it is entertaining and the historical facts the story is based on are accurate. I believe Silva shows a lot of promise as a future force in the world of high-spy literature. With experience he should develop a style which is uniquely his own. He is definitely worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written but flawed
Review: This is a well-written spy novel concerning the Allied turning of Axis agents in England, and the deception about where the D-Day forces would land. It does well at portraying daily life in wartime London, and some of the characters have depth and complexity.
Yet all this effort at realism and character development falls short. Many people who read this book KNOW the true story of how the Allies turned the German agents in England, and the various complex and ingenious methods which deceived Germany about the planned landing point of D-Day.
And such readers KNOW that the British would not be so dumb and reckless with thousands of lives, as to give the Germans information pointing to Normandy, merely because that information MIGHT cause dissension among German intelligence analysts which MIGHT benefit the Allies.
Nor would the type of risky and pointless manipulation WITHIN the British MI5, which is part of the book's plot, be engineered by MI5, just because it MIGHT make fake information received by the Germans look more authentic -- just as it might allow the Germans to get the true information and cause D-Day to fail.
There are so many plot lines, with equal drama and tension, that could have been developed within the framework of known facts, that it seems silly for an author to go so far outside the known facts.
Rating:
Summary: needs editing
Review: The plot of this novel is interesting - not as engrossing as some others of this genre such as Forsythe and Harris. My biggest complaint is the disrupting way flashback are inserted into the story. Only one is necessary, the others are just distractions and do not further the plot or enrich the characters. This being the author's first published work I must blame the editor for this. I'm hoping other work will be more tight.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating World War II EspionageThriller!
Review: Daniel Silva's "The Unlikely Spy" has more twists and turns than a corkscrew. This spine-tingling, historical espionage thriller is set in London, Germany and the US during World War II. The plot, and complex subplots, go back and forth in time and place, from the mid-1930s to the period before the invasion of Europe. Thus the scenario is set, and the novel's various characters are brought to life. These are the people who are involved in the Allies' invasion plans, and the Germans who plot to discover the top-secret information, and thwart the invasion. Many of the details and historical figures are accurately depicted, and realistically fleshed-out by Mr. Silva. Churchill, Hitler, Schellenberg, Himmler, Canaris and Eisenhower all have important roles in this action packed adventure - and their personas are fascinating. Alfred Vicary is a primary character, and much of the story revolves around him. He is a brilliant professor and a noted historian, who was befriended by Churchill in 1935. At that time Churchill was warning Britain and Europe of the Nazi threat, but to no avail. The predominant political pundits of the day believed that Hitler, and Nazi Germany, were a good counterbalance to Stalin and the Soviet Union. Vicary wrote to Churchill, after hearing him lecture, to tell him that he agreed with his assessments. Churchill invited Vicary to his home, Chartwell, and they became close political confidants. In 1939 England's Prime Minister summoned Professor Vicary to his home, once again, to ask him to take a job in Military Intelligence for the duration of the war. Churchill tells the professor, "I need someone I can trust inside that department. It's time to put the 'intelligence' back in Military Intelligence." Catherine Blake, the novel's other primary figure, is half English and half German. Since her mother's death, when she was a child, Catherine was raised by her father in Germany. She is beautiful, intelligent and a sociopath. She was targeted early by German Intelligence, five years before the war, to be trained as a special secret agent - a sleeper. Her German controller knew everything about her, including traumatic events of her adolescence, and was a genius at manipulating her. He threatened her with her father's possible imprisonment, torture and death if she did not succeed in her mission. And her mission was to secretly enter Britain, adopt an English identity, live in London, and wait until she would be activated. She was expected to discover and transmit the key information of the Normandy invasion to her German masters. This is a real page turner. Until the novel's conclusion, the reader is never sure who is the enemy, the secret agent - who is working for whom? Silva is an excellent writer. His fast paced narrative flows, and his characters are very well developed. I have read most of his books, and this is one of the best,
Rating:
Summary: A great WWII spy novel
Review: Daniel Silva's debut novel is incredible on many fronts. First, for a debut novel, it has incredible depth and substance. It has great characterization and many twists. The novel is set in WWII as Germany tries to find the secret to the D-Day invasion and England tries to keep them from getting that secret. I read one review which said Silva made up facts about the deception and what actually occurred during that time. For me that didn't matter (if that's true) because the true story is about the spies and the chase. The secrets they are peddling are of secondary importance. The story revolves around Catherine Blake, a German spy in England who is stealing secrets from Peter Jordan, an American helping the British prepare for the invasion. Catherine Blake is a great character who seems to regret what she is doing as a spy but also views it as a game that she is competing to win. At the end of the novel as the authorities close in, Blake becomes a much less of an interesting person, but the setup Silva gives her in the beginning is great. The man trying to stop the spies is a professor named Alfred Vicary. He is an older man with many regrets yet he is great at what he does. He does a great job of piecing together the info needed to catch the spies. This novel has many twists and turns and Silva does something many authors don't that I only noticed because he included it. Silva actually includes the scenes of suspicious behavior. So, instead of having Vicary being suspicious of Boothby, his boss, Silva writes a scene of Boothby doing suspicous behavior. This made me wonder what was Boothby actually doing (as were the other characters) instead of just relying on what Vicary thinks. A great line uttered by Vicary sums up the suspense of the twists and turns of the novel. Vicary is interviewing Peter Jordan, the American architect. After hours of intense questioning, Vicary asks, almost as an afterthought, "You are Peter Jordan, aren't you?" This makes me wonder if one of the most straight foward characters isn't what he seems. This novel builds up to a great twist at the end and it does a great job of explaining all that went on before it. The twist for me was good, but not the best. I can't wait to read more of Silva's books.
Rating:
Summary: The Unlikely Spy
Review: I have to say, this is probably the best mystery/espionage book I've read. The intricacies of the plot are numerous - but not difficult to follow. With more than one protagonist, it's almost a question as to who the unlikely spy really is. It also gives a superb sense of time and place in the descriptions of WWII London. I've read all of Silva's books and for my money, this is by far the best of his work, and much different from his later novels. If you like to read mysteries, I cannot recommend this one highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: A page turner
Review: I haven't read a book like this, a WWII espioage thriller, for ages, 20 years or something like that. A fiend of mine lend it to me 2 years ago and it had been firmly placed in my bookshelf.
After reading a couple of more "serious" novels I felt like a reading a thriller and I picked it up.
For the first 50 pages I really wóndered if this was something for me, the I got hooked and finished it in a couple of days... Is a very exiciting, well-composed intrigue and a very enjoyable read. Sometimes I find his prose a bit lacklustre but I'm not bothered by it since this is primarily a suspense novel and as such it works very well indeed.
Highly recommended
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing
Review: This novel about WWII spying, mainly the German attempts to
penetrate British secrets relating to the coming invasion of
Europe, is superb. The writing is first-class, and the plot
moves along at speed at all times, and the characters on all
sides are entertaining and plausible.
There are sub-plots, and there are numberous characters in this
story, but, unlike many such attempts, all these characters are
fascinating, and when the story switches from one scenerio to
another, the readers' interests continue unabated. The plot
and sub-plots are complex enough, and properly entertaining,
that the reader with proper interest will find this very difficult to put down to be picked up and resumed later.
The story involves English professors who leave their quiet
world of contemplation and study to go into a world of intrigue,
lies, disinformation and danger, all while being all-to-aware
of the passage of precious time that could spell the end of their civilization. Hitler and the Nazis occupy most of Europe,
and they still have hopes of dominating the world at that time
and for many years to come.
We get to meet some of the fascinating characters of that period, such as Churchill, Hitler, Himmler, Schellenberg, and
Canaris; there is nothing new about these people, but the author has his facts down, and he works in known and interesting
aspects of these people, all the while spinning out his interesting tale of the people engaged in the highest level of
spying, all for the highest possible stakes.
The focus of his story is the ordinariness of all the participants, who all work harder, and achieve more, than they
would have thought possible. War is hell, yes, but it can also
be stimulating and bring out the best in people. Just as it
can bring out the worst.
And this author, in this story, has several such stories, and
they are all interesting and worth reading. Plus, these people
don't spend all their time plotting and spying; they drink cold white wine, dream about a better life, yearn for a peaceful
time again, and they search for love.
This book is first-class, and it should be read by anyone interested in intrigue and romance in the WWII era.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: Alfred Vivers works in "A rather dull office of the war ministry" at least that is what he has to tell everyone. In fact it is his job to safeguard one of the most vital secrets of the second world war just exactly where the troops are going to land. Not to mention the artificial harbors that are being constructed. A sleeper agent that has been in England since the 30's seeks to jeopardize all that. Now he must race against the clock to find the agent before she escapes England and reaches safety in Germany. The suspense level makes this a thoroughly enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully WW2
Review: I cannot read enough on WW2, it was a time in our modern history that I believe could ever be dupicated. The whole world was at war and courage prevailed. This is the first book I have read of Daniel Silva's, I will continue to read all of them. His ploting, feeling of period, and intrigue would be hard to equal. I applaud this book and stand positive the rest will be as good.
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