Rating: 
Summary: Terrorism or Big Business?
Review: An American jetliner is shot down from the sky off of Long Island by a hand held Stinger missile by a two man team in a small boat, killing all aboard. The boat is discovered to be the tomb of a dead Palestinian terrorist with links to the militant group the Sword of Gaza. He had been shot 3 times in the face, the signature of premier assassin Jean Paul Delaroche, known as October.The attack had been orchestrated by a group called the Society, a clandestine group of wealthy businessmen, intelligence experts, career military men and criminals. The goal of the Society was the maximizing of profit by promoting world chaos. Mitchell Elliott, multi millionaire industrialist and owner of Alarton Defense Systems was a prominent member. Through years of political contributions, Elliott was able to control policy decisions of America president James Beckwith. Elliott now stood to make a fortune by supplying the nation with a missile defense system. Michael Osbourne, top CIA agent and Middle East terrorism expert is called in to investigate the tragedy. Osbourne, now married to beautiful and high powered lawyer Elizabeth Cannon, years ago, witnessed the killing of his girlfriend Sarah by Delaroche.
Osbourne suspecting that the Sword of Gaza was not involved in the plot, starts to investigate Elliott and Delaroche. His speculation is confirmed when his wife's best friend, Susanna Dayton, investigative reporter for the Washington Post is found murdered. She had been working a piece that exposed the dirty dealings of Mitchell Elliott. Eventully Delaroche is commissioned by the Society to dispatch Osbourne, which begins a cat and mouse game across the globe between hunter and hunted. Silva does an admirable job in crafting an exciting ad revealing tale of international intrigue. I would suggest reading this novel prior to his follow up book The Marching Season,which I unfortunately did not do.
Rating: 
Summary: An Implausible, Disappointing Read
Review: This book is, without a doubt one of the worst suspense novels I've ever read. It seems to have one cliche after another. First there's your uber-asassin, which seems ripped out from a James Bond movie and to a lesser extent, Frederick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal. Then, there's your money-grubbing conspiracy to rule the world using terrorism, extortion, etc. Does this sound at all like SPECTRE from the old James Bond movies? Perhaps the author should have considered making an original plot instead of trying to make just another lackluster spy novel. In conclusion, if you want a good suspense novel, stick to the works of Frederick Forsyth or John Le Carre.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Having loved "The Unlikely Spy" for its depth, subtlety, and complexity, I was especially disappointed by the shallow, cliched characterizations and predictable plot of "Mark of the Assassin." Taken on its own, it has a compelling premise - political and economic intrigue surrounding a terrorist attack on a commercial airline flight. The author raises interesting issues but doesn't go anywhere with them, staying instead with a race-against-time or chase-scene type approach. The ending set the stage for a sequel, but I'm not in a hurry to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very well developed
Review: I somewhat enjoyed this book but was let down by the ending, it left you hanging for an obvious reason of an upcoming sequel. Also, the ending was not very well developed and rushed.The plot was not very complex, could easily figure out who the bad guys were and why they did what they did -and the author actually reveals this in the middle of the story! what was that all about?? Obviously some major let downs...
Rating:
Summary: Deja vue
Review: A nice mix of suspense, intrigue and mayhem, Silva has written a fun summer read. I can't help but feel I've seen these characters before, however...maybe with different names.
Rating:
Summary: A real page turner!!!!
Review: The Mark of the Assissin was a true page turner -- nearly impossible to put down. It is a fast-paced, enjoyable read from the very beginning. In the story, CIA agent Michael Osbourne finds himself pitted against a ruthless assassin with the code name "October." The battle is emotional, psychological and physical. The supporting cast of characters are diverse and quite extensive. While keeping track of the long character list is sometimes an effort, the total package provides a story with action, excitement, intrigue, and frequent plot twists. Chances are that once you start his book, you will want to read it in big chunks.
Rating: 
Summary: The Perfect Thriller...
Review: A commercial jetliner is blown out of the skies over Long Island. A body is found during the recovery operation with three bullet holes to the face -- "the mark of the assassin" has just surfaced but his identity remains a mystery, even to the most notorious underground figures. Enter Michael Osbourne, a senior CIA "case worker" (the preferred term for "spy").. Osbourne recognizes the assassin's mark as that of the man who killed his former lover and many high profile political figures. As he gets closer and closer to finding the killer's identity, Osbourne becomes more entangled in the assassin's web, and unknowingly, places his life, and that of his entire family's on the line. Silva masterfully includes all the cookie cutter elements that genre fans want in a really good read: a solid (and very visual) education of international locales, inside details of covert activities, rapid pace story telling, masterful plotting, lots of chasing, twisting and turning...but he adds something even more spectacular: a romantic undercurrent that humanizes the roles of the protagonist AND antagonist. Silva beautifully weaves in two riveting love stories right under the surface of the main plot. I have a couple of pet peeves (Elizabeth's whining throughout the first half of the book was particulary annoying) but they were immediately squashed as I raced throughout the night toward the last page. If you enjoy fast-paced spy thrillers that take you on a whirlwind of espionage action all around the globe, then this is the book for you. The pace is relentless and the writing is flawless. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: We've seen this mark before . . .
Review: I read this book at at the same time I was reading Silva's other novel, The Unlikely Spy. I was very disappointed in the same cliche descriptions and character lines. His use of virtually the same description and lines in both books surprised me. Also, the ease with which the assasin dispatched people is lame. Silva tries to give Jean-Paul some depth, but his methods of killing and his thoughts are very predictale and disappointing. If you have read the Unlikely Spy, dont bother with this one!
Rating:
Summary: The Mark of the Assassin
Review: Excellent book written by Daniel Silva. The plot was well written. It kept me in suspense and was easy reading. His main character, October, kept me wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: absolutely captivating
Review: One of the most enjoyable books of this genre. If you enjoy excapist, spy vs spy novels this is the best. There is hardly a dull moment in this well written story.
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