Book Report: The Kill Artist

6. Daniel Silva, The Kill Artist (1998) (2/27/24)

I have about four nonfiction books going at the moment (which I won't list here, because hopefully I'll eventually finish them all and offer book reports—but writ large they're, variously, about geography, colonialism, and poetry—twice). I like nonfiction, very much, but of course it's not as compelling (usually) as plot-driven fiction. You read a chapter, you've learned something, you put the book down, maybe pick up something else. Well, "you" being me. Though I did read The Library Book straight through, which perhaps attests to both Susan Orlean's skill as a writer and the draw of the subject matter (books, local LA history, fire) for me personally. 

In any case, when I find myself shuffling too much from book to book to book, I will often put a stop to the restlessness by settling in with pure plot-driven schlock. Which The Kill Artist definitely is. I don't know where I stumbled into a mention of Silva, but I believe it was with regard to one of the more recent volumes in his Gabriel Allon series of, now, 23 novels about this art restorer–cum–Israeli assassin. I was intrigued by the enthusiastic review, but, as I do, I decided to start with the first in the series. 

Well. It was okay—despite it's rating of 4.02 on Goodreads (I gave it 2 stars out of 5, meaning, according to the site, "it was okay"). I found the story rather obvious, some of the situating scenes unmotivated, the dialogue pedestrian, and the twist at the end unnecessary and, hence, puzzling. I almost abandoned it midway, but a scan of Goodreads reviews kept me going. I guess I'm glad to have closure.

It is, in brief, the story of this assassin brought out of retirement when an Israeli ambassador is ambushed and killed in Paris by a Palestinian hit man who, years earlier, murdered Allon's wife and child. (Well, there's a twist there too, but it doesn't change anything.) This after, more years earlier, Allon murdered the hit man's brother. Revenge carries far. 

Along the way we do get a tiny bit of insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but mostly the book is about the operation, and flits around from Cornwall to Greece to Zürich to Tel Aviv to London to Paris to Jerusalem to Provence to Lisbon to, ultimately, Montreal and New York City. The flitting around was perhaps the one thing that kept me reading. (I like geography.)

Anyway, will I read more Silva? Mmmm, maybe. The Goodreads reviews do indicate that this book (despite its 4.02 rating) does not measure up to his later ones; that Silva becomes more skilled, more nuanced, the Allon character deeper. Then again, part of me wishes that when Allon accomplishes his goal and heads back to the centuries-old Renaissance painting he was in the midst of restoring when he was so rudely interrupted, he'd just stay put, enjoying his work and his little boat and the kid next door. If I don't read any more books in the series, I can keep him retired. I'd be doing him a favor.