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Portrait of a Spy

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Portrait of a Spy

By: Daniel Silva
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

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‘Allon is the 21st century Bond’ – Daily Mail

Gabriel Allon, secret agent, assassin and master art restorer, returns in a spellbinding new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author

Europe is exploding. And one man must find out why.

For Gabriel Allon and his wife Chiara, it was supposed to be the start of a romantic weekend in London. But nothing is ever that simple when you’re an off-duty spy and assassin.

Bombings in Paris and Copenhagen have put him on edge and when Gabriel notices a man exhibiting several traits common to suicide bombers, he follows him into the Covent Garden throng. He’s determined to prevent the carnage he fears is about to take place, but before Gabriel can draw his sidearm, he is knocked to the pavement by two plain-clothes police officers.

A moment later he looks up to find a scene from his nightmares.

From the streets of New York and London, to the unforgiving landscape of the Saudi desert, Gabriel Allon is in a race to the death against a calculating mass-murderer that he dare not lose…

Praise for Daniel Silva:

’Sexily brooding Allon… must be the most famous superspy not played by Daniel Craig’ Daily Telegraph

elegantly paced, subtle and well-informed. If you haven’t read Silva before, try Portrait of a Spy – and then go back and read the series.’ Daily Mail

‘[A] top-notch thriller by a writer with the inside track on spying’ The Sun

'In true Bauer fashion, shoot-outs, kidnappings and international terror plots follow Gabriel Allon wherever he goes' USA Today

‘Silva builds tension with breathtaking double and triple turns of the plot’ People

Action & Adventure Espionage Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Police Procedural Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Fiction Thriller Crime Suspense Exciting Middle East England
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Critic reviews

‘Allon is the 21st century Bond – elegantly paced, subtle and well-informed. If you haven’t read Silva before, try Portrait of a Spy – and then go back and read the series.’ Daily Mail

'Sexily brooding Allon… must be the most famous superspy not played by Daniel Craig' Daily Telegraph

'In true Bauer fashion, shoot-outs, kidnappings and international terror plots follow Gabriel Allon wherever he goes' USA Today

‘Silva builds tension with breathtaking double and triple turns of the plot’ People

All stars
Most relevant
My first Daniel Silva book so was unsure what to expect. To my mind it seemed to lack pace and I didn’t find any of the characters engaging. The plot was thin and moved along at a plodding pace.

Simon Vance always does a good job but even so I got tired of all the accents, which grated after a while.

Probably won’t bother with Mr Silva’s other titles after finding this one disappointing and, well, a bit dull.

Strangely dull

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As always, the level of detail and realism is marvelous, which for me is very important

Gripping story

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Would you listen to Portrait of a Spy again? Why?

Probably not - there was nothing remarkable about the story itself. Don't get me wrong, it was a good, solid, thoroughly enjoyable spy thriller but there was nothing in it that made it stand out from the crowd. Or indeed the rest of the Gabriel Allon series. I've read a few in the series and they've all been cut from a similar cloth: pick any one at random and you're guaranteed an entertaining story but I suspect if you were to read them all back-to-back you'd quickly tire of them.

What did you like best about this story?

The narration. Simon Vance is a wonderful voice actor and is a joy to listen to; he really brings the characters to life.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"Gabriel Allon has another brush with death"

Good story, great narration

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I thought the story was superb. However I was expecting it to end in the sand dunes or shortly thereafter but he writes a good thriller

What a great story

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Nothing to dislike! It was written very well with a good story line. Looking forward to my next Silva adventure!

A good intellectual read

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