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Special thriller section: 'Moscow Rules'

By Peter Mergendahl, Special to the Rocky

Published July 10, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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Moscow Rules

* Fiction. By Daniel Silva. Putnam, $26.95. Grade: A-

Plot in a nutshell: Israeli agent and master art restorer Gabriel Allon is working on a restoration and enjoying his honeymoon when he is approached by his handlers in Israeli intelligence to take what is described as a small job. It turns out to be anything but.

While arriving to meet a Russian journalist in the Vatican, Allon discovers the man is dying from what turns out to be poison. Before he can reveal the secrets he had promised to Allon, the man perishes.

Now, in order to learn what the reporter was going to divulge, Allon must go to Russia, a country he has never been to and with a language he does not speak. Allon barely makes it out alive with the information he needs - details concerning a secret sale of missiles that are ultimately headed to al-Qaida.

The seller of the missiles is Ivan Kharkov, an extremely wealthy and soulless man with ties to the old KGB and its modern offspring, the FSB. Allon has learned that the only way to uncover the recipients of the missiles and their whereabouts is through Ivan's wife Elena, a woman who has been secretly expressing remorse for the source of her lavish lifestyle. But getting to her and getting out with the information is a truly daunting task.

Sample of prose: "It was fear he thought. The kind of fear only Moscow can produce. The fear that he might find himself in Lubyanka once again and that this time he might not come out alive. The fear that others might join him there and suffer the same fate."

Pros: The immense amount of research Silva puts into his stories makes them engrossing - and the use of locales add color and excitement to the story beyond the violence.

Cons: While the main characters and regulars from book to book grow along with the readers' knowledge of them, the minor roles are sometimes stereotypical by comparison. For instance, you can practically hear a lisp coming from one gay character.

Final word: There is a reason that each successive book featuring Allon sells more than the last. Silva continues to provide some of the most exciting spy fiction since Ian Fleming put down his martini and invented James Bond.

CORRECTIONS: In this review, the writer criticizes the author for writing a stereotypical gay character. The chacter the review refers to is not gay.