RANSOM

A perfunctory installment in an iconic series.

Alice Winter, British socialite and Instagram influencer, disappears. Her real estate mogul husband coerces Gabriel Allon, world-famous spy and all-around fixer, to find her. While the stakes grow as events ensue, this is a silly assignment for a one-time Mossad assassin. It’s hard not to conclude that Silva is just producing this summer’s Gabriel Allon novel as he’s been doing for more than two decades. The hero of The Kill Artist (2000), an Israeli spy and an art restorer, was singularly fascinating. Gabriel has, of course, evolved since his debut. But in this novel, he’s thoroughly unmoored from his roots. He has become a facsimile of himself, a collection of physical features and familiar tics. And while the scenario that follows the disappearance of a socialite ultimately spins out until it leads to world-historical consequences, it’s hard to understand why Gabriel lets himself get sucked into the role of private investigator employed by a billionaire. Silva has never invested many words in character development but, in past novels, he provided enough to help readers understand a character’s motivation. Here, he’s expecting his readers to remember the backstory of recurring characters, which may be a safe assumption. But he’s also asking readers to fill in the blanks with new characters. That said, Silva does provide his audience with a few cues. Gabriel makes his contempt for women who are “always posting all those silly photos” on social media obvious. Apparently, a man whose whole life has been built on subterfuge and who has worked with female spies has issues with how women present themselves on Instagram.

Is it time for Gabriel Allon to actually retire?