This book is a continuation of Moscow Rules and we find Allon's team heading back to Russia to finish what they started.

The continued story is not without its toll though and the big question that lingers throughout the book seems to hang over every page... will this be Gabriel's last mission. Is he hanging up his spy work and leaving The Office behind? I don't think so because there are lots more books in this series, but you see the cost that this work brings to the team.

Also... Allon stories are not good for sleep, as in once you start you just cannot stop!

I very much recommend this series!

This is the 9th book in the Gabriel Allon series by [a:Daniel Silva|29085|Daniel Silva|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1240154365p2/29085.jpg] (@danielsilvabook) about an Israeli spy. This book still has a well told story, locations from North America to Russia, and a group of characters who work for the Office who are more and more damaged by the choices (and killings) that they make in their line of work. They are competent and loyal, but taking a life extracts a moral price for a person doing the killing and the lists of transactions in the ledgers are getting longer. Even if the person being killed is an evil human being, killing them takes a toll.

I'm hoping that Gabriel and Chiara can have their baby and that that little person will grow up not to work for The Office.

It was interesting reading the Author's Note at the end of the book where he methodically went through each of the major characters, businesses, and locations saying whether it was real or not and why.

By now I’ve read enough of Daniel Silva’s books to anticipate a sentence, a paragraph or a page that will latch onto you and you simply cannot stop reading thereafter. It might be on page 4 or page 220, the point is that it will find you sooner or later and each time I start one of his novels I am looking for the hook like a drug I need in my system. What is this sorcery.

Seems to be the most bloody Gabriel Allon book I've read so far, and I'm curious to see where Silva will take Gabriel and Ciara next.

Very intense. Difficult to pause (audiobook) or put down. As usual, Silva churns out damn fine work.

Yes, it's a bit formulaic and yes it's repetitive (referring to London as "the Russian city sometimes referred to as London" was kind of amusing once but unnecessary to repeat). Yes Silva trots out the same old descriptions for familiar characters (riotous hair/emerald green eyes etc) and spends too much time filling in the entire series for new readers. BUT it's also well paced, unfolds with satisfying logic and keeps you absorbed.

A very satisfying resolution to Moscow Rules.

Gabriel Allon seems to the only one who can discern the truth when the man who saved his life suddenly re-defects back to Russia from the UK. And then he saves the life of another Russian also under UK protection. It’s personal for Gabriel and he energizes MI5/6 and the CIA to assist him in finding the kidnapped man. It’s obvious who took him but where exactly is he? Gabriel puts his team together and mercilessly and ruthlessly exploits links back to the kidnapper. But then it gets very personal as the kidnapper does to Allon what Allon had done to him. It’s a race against time too. Not a happy ending. Revenge and retribution exact their toll on him. A righteous ending but a cost is paid. Was it too much?