Dual heroes scour for valuables and tangle with spies in this often enthralling outing.
A treasure hunter and a writer reunite in this sequel as the duo’s search for a fortune in Fabergé eggs pits them against the KGB.
Six years ago, Bobby McAllister and Granger Lawton put their heads together to discover a long-lost treasure. Now international treasure hunter McAllister returns to the U.S. to rope Lawton into another adventure. The valuables this time? Fabergé eggs. McAllister currently owns six, and the Russians want all of them. That’s because the KGB has been buying or stealing Russian antiquities and selling forgeries to private collectors. KGB agents even assaulted and robbed McAllister’s brother-in-law after he won a Fabergé egg in an auction. In a global trek that spans such places as London and Switzerland, McAllister and Lawton learn what they can from a forger while evading various threats. By the time they reach St. Petersburg, there’s another fortune to seek—a “Fabergé treasure” that a thief allegedly stole in the early 20th century. Russian spies, however, are everywhere, and the friends lose loved ones, suffer betrayals, and face the business ends of numerous guns. Ferguson’s second installment of a trilogy takes a notable turn, favoring espionage over treasure hunting. Still, backstories covering both world wars prove a worthy foundation, whether it involves KGB agents or the Fabergé fortune. At the same time, the recurring protagonists share a delightfully complicated relationship; just because they respect and admire each other doesn’t mean they don’t verbally spar. Sadly, McAllister’s motivation (and the narrative drive) is sometimes tepid; he’s essentially bored with his billionaire life. Lawton, the more intriguing of the two in this installment, has a much more dramatic pull because he bases certain decisions on his desire for revenge. Like the preceding book, the novel maintains a steady pace with plenty of action and ever changing locales.
Dual heroes scour for valuables and tangle with spies in this often enthralling outing.Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-77097-898-0
Page Count: 424
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.
The 25th novel featuring Silva’s legendary protagonist.
During his intersecting careers as art restorer and Israeli spy, Gabriel Allon has tangled with Russian gangsters and al-Qaida terrorists. He has become well-acquainted with operatives in multiple security agencies and befriended a paid assassin. He has busted art thieves and created passable forgeries by Renaissance masters and abstract Modernists. This latest installment centers around his relationship with the pope and a newly discovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci that has gone missing from the Vatican. Silva’s novels tend to fall into two categories: books that reflect the politics of the day and books that don’t. His latest is one of the latter, which could be a treat for readers looking for escape, but it falls flat for a variety of reasons. Luxury has always been part of Gabriel Allon’s universe. It used to be an aspect of tradecraft, though. Allon would be wearing a very expensive suit and driving a very expensive car because he was posing as a client at a Swiss bank. Here, his wife is hosting a catered lunch for 150 of their daughter’s classmates in their apartment overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. What once felt like a scintillating peek into the world of the obscenely wealthy now just feels…kind of obscene. Similarly, Allon goes chasing after a missing painting as a civilian—he retired from Mossad in Portrait of an Unknown Woman (2022)—the same way another man his age might buy a speedboat or get hair plugs. As the story progresses, the stakes are raised, but it’s hard to forget that Allon is now a middle-aged man pursuing a dangerous hobby, rather than a spymaster leading his intrepid team to prevent a disaster that will disrupt the global order.
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780063384217
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”
Idyllic Catalina Island turns out to be just as crime infested as the rest of Los Angeles County in the latest series launch by the creator of Harry Bosch, Renée Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer.
Det. Sgt. Stilwell has been bounced off the county homicide squad and rusticized to Catalina, where the exclusive Black Marlin Club won’t admit even four-term Avalon Mayor Doug Allen to full membership and the most serious infraction seems to be the killing and cutting up of a buffalo, presumably by Henry Gaston, who operates Island Mystery Tours when he’s not threatening endangered species. All that changes with the discovery of a body sunk in the surrounding waters. The corpse, most recognizable by its streak of purple hair, is that of Leigh-Anne Moss, a Black Marlin server recently fired for fraternizing with members and guests she sees as potential sugar daddies. Stilwell is sufficiently invested in her murder to compete vigorously over jurisdiction with Rex Ahearn, the LA County homicide detective who kept his job when Stilwell lost his. Their rivalry, fueled by mutual contempt, is only the first hint that Stilwell will end up fighting his counterparts in law enforcement and local government at least as hard as he fights crooks like hit man Merris Spivak and Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova, Henry’s boss, who comes under sharper scrutiny when Henry disappears and ends up dead himself. Connelly handles his hero’s obligatory romance with assistant harbormaster Tash Dano and his increasingly wary alliance with assistant D.A. Monika Juarez with equal professionalism, and if the wrap-up leaves some loose ends dangling, well, that’s what franchises are for.
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780316588485
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
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