Gabriel felt a wave of anger break over him. He wanted to drive his fist through the Russian's face. He wanted to hit him so hard he would never get up again. Instead he sat calmly. Glock in his hand. Dead men over his shoulder...
We all have our guilty pleasures -- audiobook guilty pleasures are a special category. Confession time. I'll go first: I enjoy listening to Daniel Silva novels, skillfully rendered by Brilliance Audio.
After listening to a 14-hour military history of America in WWI (The War to End all Wars by Edward Coffman, recently produced by Playaway and launching early 2010), followed by five and half hours of Ride or Die Chick, I could hardly wait to return to where I had left off, not far before the climactic finish of Silva's 14th novel, The Defector.
The Defector is Silva's ninth book featuring Israeli secret agent, assassin, and art restorer, Gabriel Allon. It picks up where Silva's 2008 book Moscow Rules left off.
The politics of these books isn't exactly what you would call Left-leaning. Heroic and resourceful Israeli agents work with their sometimes allies in Britain and America to keep Israel and the world safe from fanatical Islamic terrorists and sadistic KGB thugs.
But to accomplish their aims they inevitably must do terrible things -- kill people in cold blood, lie, manipulate, and torture. And Silva is unflinching about the price his characters pay for the choices they make. Agree with these choices or not, Silva's political analysis is usually pretty sophisticated --whether it's the roots of Islamic fundamentalism or the mechanics of the Russian oligarchy. His explanation of political movements and historical events is always interesting, usually accurate, and sometimes even thought provoking. The locales are skillfully and authentically described. The characters, though fictional, are clearly inspired by real-life figures and recent events.
Brilliance has been producing audio editions of the Gabriel Allon series since Book 5, Prince of Fire (2005), narrated by Guerin Barry. Book 6, The Messenger (2006), was read by Christopher Lane.
Since Book 7, The Secret Servant (2007), narration has been provided by the gigantically talented Phil Gigante, and that's no small part of how I got hooked on these books. Gigante is fantastic. I won't say that 100% of his Hebrew, Russian, French, or Italian pronunciations are correct or that his accents in these languages are completely authentic (though he does pretty darn well with Chiara Zolli, Gabriel's Italian-born wife). And, if truth be told, since performing The Secret Servant, he's altered his vocal styling for two of the recurring characters: American CIA man, Adrian Carter and Gabriel's brother-in-arms, Uzi Navot.
But none of that matters very much because Gigante gives every character a believable heart and soul. Some, though flawed, are essentially good; others are poisoned by hate, cruelty, or greed. Gigante shifts smoothly from voice to voice, and his pacing never falters. He's a joy to listen to and delivers fully on the excitement of Silva's skillfully told tales. His rendition of octogenarian old-school Israeli freedom fighter Ari Shamron justifies the listening experience all by itself -- as if guilty pleasures required any justification.
The 10th Allon book, The Rembrandt Affair, is scheduled for release in July 2010.
Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy
