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Portrait of an Unknown Woman

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Portrait of an Unknown Woman

By: Daniel Silva
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
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In a spellbinding new masterpiece by #1 New York Times–bestselling author Daniel Silva, Gabriel Allon undertakes a high-stakes search for the greatest art forger who ever lived

Legendary spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon has at long last severed ties with Israeli intelligence and settled quietly in Venice, the only place he has ever truly known peace. His beautiful wife, Chiara, has taken over day-to-day management of the Tiepolo Restoration Company, and their two young children are clandestinely enrolled in a neighborhood scuola elementare. For his part, Gabriel spends his days wandering the streets and canals of the watery city, parting company with the demons of his tragic, violent past.

But when the eccentric London art dealer Julian Isherwood asks Gabriel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the rediscovery and lucrative sale of a centuries-old painting, he is drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse where nothing is as it seems.

Gabriel soon discovers that the work in question, a portrait of an unidentified woman attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck, is almost certainly a fiendishly clever fake. To find the mysterious figure who painted it—and uncover a multibillion-dollar fraud at the pinnacle of the art world—Gabriel conceives one of the most elaborate deceptions of his career. If it is to succeed, he must become the very mirror image of the man he seeks: the greatest art forger the world has ever known.

©2022 Daniel Silva (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Crime Fiction Espionage Genre Fiction International Mystery & Crime Literary Fiction Mystery Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction
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New narrator was good. Story excellent. Is this the last? I do hope not as they are so good.

Another great story

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This was my first time listening to one of Silva’s books and thoroughly enjoyed it. Storylines are always gripping and unpredictable- I look forward to the next.

Excellent

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…well up to Daniel Silva’s standard. Good to know that, even in retirement, Gabriel is keeping his hand in.

One small quibble: the narrator is mostly pretty good, but quite a lot of the French was mispronounced - Chamonix with the final ‘x’ sounded was the most glaring, but there were others. Otherwise quite a good successor to the excellent George Guidall.

Another masterpiece…

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I really enjoyed this, the narrator was good and really adept at European languages, only slightly slipping up on a few French words and perfect in Italian. incredible English accent for an American, nice job; though this narrator is much decorated so, go figure.

I enjoyed the story for it's culture and erudition and clear, dignified prose style. The main character is sometimes cartoonishly accomplished and effective, but I guess that's the deal. I do sometimes just get a sudden view of the book as only a thinking person's Dan Brown, where the author has at least done more than plagiarise a tourist office's cabinet of brochures, but still a lot of the glamour is just mentioning foreign names and writing down city street directions in a way that ostentatiously implies the author has been there. It's good glamour, though. I do wish that the main character could be tested a bit more, and grow. then again, maybe his race is run at this point and this is a new format from the earlier books.

Very entertaining

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Enjoyable story, enhanced by a talented narrator. Good balance of action and humourous details embedded in a twisty plot that keeps you guessing to the end.

Refreshed focus for Gabriel

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