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The Unlikely Spy 
| 80% Recommended by our customers. Publisher: Signet Catalog: Book Release date: 2003-05-06 Media: Paperback Number of pages: 752 Ean: 9780451209306 Book Isbn: 0451209303  Tip: compare prices with similar booksAuthor:
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| User Reviews: |
 Written on June 13, 2006 Summary: Sacre bleu! Someone reported all my 3 negative reviews of Daniel Silva books and got them removed! Hmm, I wonder who that could be. I am rather annoyed at this because I spent quite a lot of time detailing why I didn't like this book, reasonably, I thought. Apparently, someone had decided that they did not follow the review guidelines. Well, I used no profanities. OK, there were some spoilers, but not more than I usually read in other reviews. Not single worded, no phone numbers, no solicitations, etc. Maybe whoever it was just didn't like my negative review. The last time I checked, the 1st amendment still applies in this country. OK, so let me try to post another review of why I didn't like this book without violating any review guidelines, and I'm not going to spend 30 mins on it like last time. I thought the book was very poorly written and very boring. It was very tedious to finish but I made it to the end. I've read a couple of other Daniel Silva books, but neither one of them could change my mind that he is an author that I don't like. I will not be buying any more of his books.  Written on June 6, 2006 Summary: Wheels within wheels within wheels . . . It's the spring of 1944 and planning for the invasion of Europe is well under way. But where will it take place? At Calais, the closest point to England, where a good harbor exists to handle the millions of tons of supplies necessary? Or down the coast in Normandy, where no harbor exists? Hitler and his advisers are expecting the former, even after the disastrous Dieppe raid. But the Allies have decided to land in Normandy, and to answer the lack of a harbor by bringing their own. That's Operation Mulberry, an extraordinary construction project -- but it's too large to be kept completely under wraps from German agents. Enter Arthur Vicary of MI-5, ex-professor and master of the double-cross -- turning captured German agents and using them to funnel misleading information back to the Abwehr. (Even though they're really nothing alike, Vicary brings up thoughts of George Smiley a generation later.) Enter, too, Catherine Blake, a German sleeper living and working in London since before the war, and part of a spy network completely separate from the others, and therefore unknown to the British. Can she make the right contacts, discover the truth about Mulberry, and get it back to Germany? Can Vicary stop her? Or manipulate whatever she passes back to her controllers? As in any good spy story, there are wheels within wheels to the plot, which is very complex but the narrative is carefully controlled and the reader shouldn't have any problems following what's happening. But you aren't likely to catch on to everything that's happening until the very last chapter, when the biggest wheel of all is revealed. Silva seems to have problems with verb tenses sometimes, and occasionally makes weird word choices, but the story is inherently exciting (even though you know the invasion will be a success) and his narrative and characterizations are dead on. This is the best spy novel I've read in many years. Written on May 17, 2006 Summary: The Unlikely Spy I came upon this book by accident after reading most oif not all of Daniel Silva's books. If you can handle a long, multi-character which requires patience this is one of the best..... Written on May 5, 2006 Summary: A WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of Silva's books with Gabriel Allon have been great..........This is one of his earlier books and was wonderful............Ranks right up there with The Eye of The Needle by Ken Follett! Written on April 17, 2006 Summary: Great "first novel" a little flabby, but still fun Daniel Silva seems to have learned a lot from writing "The Unlikely Spy," his first novel after a career as a TV producer. He already knew a heck of a lot, and "TUS" is a fun, if traditional, World War II spy novel because of Silva's talent as a writer and his extensive research. Silva's talent is apparent in many facets of this book, but it mainly comes through in terms of his characters. "TUS" is aptly named, as there is not a James Bond in sight to save Good Old Britain as the Nazi threat looms. Instead, Winston Churchill entrusts one of the Allies' most vital secrets to one Alfred Vicary, the epitome of the dotty English professor. But to everyone's surprise, and perhaps even his, Vicary takes to espionage like a fish to water. But, as Churchill warns early on, if you're going to play the spy game, you must become one callous S.O.B., capable of sending good men and women to their deaths. Vicary must come to terms with this, and also come to terms with the fact that his superiors are very well-suited to this dangerous world. Silva drops his inspired batch of characters -- from both sides of the war -- into an England that Silva has mastered. Without getting too bogged down in the details, Silva does an excellent job of letting the reader feel the rhythm and paranoia of England under the German bombing raids. Dialogue and place all sound appropriate, and are filled with regular folks as well as the secret agents. Consider how difficult it is to write about a period 60 years ago in such detail. Some of the most entertaining passages of the book come from one spy trying to give the slip to another agent, using all the forms of public transport available in London. Well, to write that passage, Silva had to do the blasted research into how one got around London at the time, and then weave all that research into an enjoyable narrative. Not an easy task, but one Silva generally pulls off quite well. Silva has also done his research into the genre of the spy novel, and he follows it religiously. Look for the requisite underworld types, the seemingly unstoppable assassin, and some completely out-of-the-blue double-crosses and revelations. This is the reason we read spy novels, and Silva does not disappoint. Silva also gives us a suitable "doomsday" plot, as well. The Germans and the Allies both know the Allies are going to invade France, and soon. The question is, where will they invade? If Germany can figure that out, they will be able to muster their forces and wipe out the invasion before the Allies can establish a toehold. So the Germans think the Allies will attack at or near a port. The Allies, however, have come up with the "Mulberry Project," which involves floating colossal concrete-and-steel structures across the Channel to create an artificial harbor at Normandy. If the Germans discover this endeavor, they will figure out that Normandy is the point of the attack, so counter-espionage is required. Nothing less than the entire Allied war effort is at stake -- which is enough to make all of Silva's characters expendable and to put us on the edge of our seats. The only weakness of the book is in its length - at almost 500 pages in hardback form, it's too darn long. There are several characters who are built up, only to vanish without much of an explanation. It's as if Silva was desperate to avoid the "Law of Economy of Characters," which means that every character in a story must be vital to the plot - and usually allows you to figure out spy novels and other whodunnits long before they are over. Silva surely avoids that here, but at the expense of pacing. This is a mistake that Silva avoids in his later novels featuring Gabriel Allon as the Israeli spy, which are the epitome of lean and mean. Length notwithstanding ("The Lord of the Rings" was pretty bloated, too, and it fares pretty well), "The Unlikely Spy" is an excellent first novel. First novels are always fun to read if you're a fan of an author's later work, as they are both flawed and pure. If you're a fan of WWII or spy novels, check this out. |
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| Our price | $9.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 |
| List price | $9.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 |
| Lowest used price | $4.32 | $3.49 | $4.96 | $3.02 | $3.50 | $0.05 |
| Lowest new price | $5.00 | $5.23 | $5.31 | $5.24 | $5.48 | $4.72 |
| Collectible price | - | $10.00 | $10.00 | - | $29.95 | $29.93 |
| Catalog | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book |
| Release date | 2003-05-06 | 2003-09-02 | 2004-04-06 | 2004-01-06 | 2004-02-24 | 2003-02-25 |
| Media | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of pages | 752 | 528 | 512 | 512 | 480 | 416 |
| Ean | 9780451209306 | 9780451209313 | 9780451209337 | 9780451209320 | 9780451211484 | 9780451208187 |
| Book Isbn | 0451209303 | 0451209311 | 0451209338 | 045120932X | 0451211480 | 0451208188 |
| Link to shop* (opens in a new window) | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* |
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