Rating: Summary: Ho hum Review: Five stars for descrpitions of world geography - the author is evidently well traveled - but the story does not hold up. Can't give away too much to those who want to read it, but most of the key moments in the homestretch defied credibility.I may be getting jaded. Too many of these "thrillers" out there that get rave reviews to sucker me in. I like the genre but am missing the mark on the good material.
Rating: Summary: "Patriot Games" meets "Day of the Jackal"! Review: An impressive second novel from Silva, "Mark" keeps the pages turning with interesting characters and exciting plot twists. While hardly a classic in the genre, Silva offers a worthy alternative to those who've already read everything by Clancy and Le Carre, and are looking for a fresh voice. Th character of October, the enigmatic assassin, is particulary gripping, almost to the point that you would root for him over the hero! While not up to the level of the masters yet, Silva shows alot of potential!
Rating: Summary: Keeps up an excellent pace and is a page turner Review: Most of the location settings for this thriller I know personally and the author has captured their ambience well. There is one glaring error though. When he writes about a northern Canadian location its cukoo-land! For a light jet to land on the east coast of Hudson Bay - on a flare-lit runway? Then for the villain to jump in a Range Rover with snow-shoes and dehydrated food? Where's the road? Who lit the flares? The Innuit? How did the vehicle get there? And get out? No roads, no nothing up there buddy! Still, I enjoyed your book Mr. Silva. From a Canadian Film maker.
Rating: Summary: Formulaic and Derivative. Review: This hackneyed, terrifically unoriginal "thriller" will leave fans of the genre reaching for their Le Carre or Deighton for a dose of the real thing. Silva's idea of a character flaw is a mild smoking habit? Please. I havent seen a collection of characters like this since I put away my Hardy Boys books. All of the women are slender and attractive, all them men handome and cool under pressure - not to mention sensational lovers with the security of an inherited bank account. The descriptions of exotic locales are tired: London - rain and fog; Cairo - hot and dusty. Skip it.
Rating: Summary: My first Silva selection, held my interset from start to end Review: Wow, this text is incredible bought the book for a plane flight not knowing what to expect, and I loved the cover art. The story was great, captivating from start to finish. the characters were real, and the plot scenario believable. I especially loved October, the depth of his character development was fantasic. I rushed out the other day and bought The Marching Season Silva's latest story!!! I'm hooked on Silva! Trent Stillman
Rating: Summary: GREAT READ! Review: I loved this book. Read it in one sitting. Silva is that rare combination of great characters and wonderful plot. Finally, a new thriller writer who is both intelligent and fun. I loved the characters, especially the villain. If you are going to read one thriller, pick this one.
Rating: Summary: An interesting fictional thriller. Review: It is a story of an assassin by the name of Jean-Paul is a very professional, very expensive assassin who is in his mid thirties. His targets are hard to get close to, so he pays his old lover an ex- Red Army assassin, Astrid Vogal, to pose as his wife. The cost will be great. His targets belong to very well known organizations and Astrid knows this. One is a CIA agent Micheal Osborne in his mid thirties. Aside form his job Micheal also has a wife by the name Elizabeth. What sets him apart from the rest of the targets is that he has seen Jean-Paul before. The President of the United States, James Beckwith, is about to run agian for a second term. It is proving to be very difficult because the American people are not so sure that he can provide them with the same service that he has for the past four years.James is not the only one worried that he will not be elected. A very wealthy man by the name of Mitchell Elliot will profit very comfortably if James is elected, so he is also very concerned. But as the election comes nearer, an accident accures witch puts Beckwith in the direct view of the American people. This in turn gives him his secound term and adds to the plot more conflict. The connection between the president and Mitchell Elliot is to be unknown and very secretive. This is why a woman by the name of Susanne Dayton is trying to investagate the connection. When something goes wrong Elizabeth, Micheal's wife, and Susanne's best friend, finds out everything she is writing and puts both the Osbourne's in trouble. This is where th assassins Jean-Paul and Astrid get involved. They are paid a million dollars to take out each target and take care of any person that can make a connection between the president and Mitchell Elliot including the Osbourne's. The book takes you back and forth from Washingtons DC to Greece. It is very interesting book that will make you think and try to place yourself in ythe shoes of th characters. The novel is a very discriptive and the dialog is very well written making it easier to read. All of the deteails of the characters seem very true for bieng a fictional book.
Rating: Summary: Respectable Subway Reading Review: An entertaining thriller that has some quirky characters and a suitably paranoid plot to keep you intrigued. But it's not nearly as good as "The Unlikely Spy," which was brimming with character and a real sense of place. What disappointed me most about "Mark of the Assassin" is that Silva is touted as having intimate knowledge through his previous work in journalism with the subject he writes about. Yet his grasp of life in wartime London 50 years ago was much more gripping than this one. Maybe that says more about today's life inside the Beltway than Silva's writing style! I'll hope for a return to his premier form in the next novel.
Rating: Summary: Decent, but not worth the hype Review: Clearly this book was intended to coast on the attendant hype of Daniel Silva's acclaimed debut novel, The Unlikely Spy. I haven't read that book, so I won't go into comaparisons, but, viewed on its own merits, The Mark of the Assassin is a decent book, that probably should have been a lot better. The characters are exactly the sort of people you'd expect to inhabit this sort of book; the right-thinking CIA operative, his smart, tough attorney wife, the rumpled CIA spymaster, the slightly dotty, sixtysomething Republican President (who reminded me of a similar character in the movie Clear and Present Danger, the manipulative White House Chief of Staff, the shadowy, Christian conservative defense contractor, and on and on and on... no surprises there. Silva's writing style, though, is clean and economical; it reminded me of Frederick Forsyth. And he does come up with one memorable character: international assassin Jean-Paul Delaroche, code name "October". I didn't buy his techniques all of the time, but his motivations and character quirks were never less than convincing. All told, an unspectacular second effort.
Rating: Summary: Superb Thriller - Couldn't put it down! Review: I liked this book very much. Many of the reviewers are comparing "The Unlikely Spy" with this book; maybe they just like WWII intrigue better than today's politics and espionage. Silva does a fine job with this book and you'll enjoy it. However, I, too, would like to know who the Director was. Does anyone know?????
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