The New Girl Daniiel Silva ,looks good

Booklist Reviews 2019 July #1

In August 2018, Silva began working on a novel about a Saudi prince who hoped to modernize his country, based on Mohammad bin Salman. The writer's plans changed shortly thereafter when MBS was implicated in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi last fall. This novel, rewritten from that first draft, still centers on a Saudi crown prince, here called Khalid bin Mohammed (KBM), but Silva also brings the murdered journalist into the story. In Silva's telling, Khalid remains redeemable if deeply flawed. We see both the flaws and the humanity in the despot following the kidnapping of his daughter, which takes place in the book's opening chapters. In an audacious alliance, Khalid turns to Gabriel Allon, chief of Israeli intelligence, for help in finding his daughter, and Allon, seeing the possibility for positive change in the Middle East, reluctantly agrees. The elaborate and fascinating premise set, Silva goes on to do what he has done so masterfully through 21 previous spy thrillers: combine ever-intensifying suspense with the multiple interactions between a familiar team of deftly portrayed charactersâ€"Allon's colleagues, along with spymasters from the UK and U.S., as well as, in this case, the alternately infuriating and intriguing Khalid and several figures from previous novels, including American Sarah Bancroft, art historian and dabbler in the secret world. Fans of the series will be especially glad to learn that the notorious Soviet mole from The Other Woman (2018), Rebecca Manning, is back, too, again with her sights set on Allon. It all adds up to an irresistible thriller, built on the realpolitik of today's Middle East but deepened by the universality of human tragedy. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Would Gabriel Allon approve of the way his adventures zoom to the top of best-seller lists? Decidedly not, but that's one thing he can't fix.