The Confessor
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

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Penguin Publishing Group , 2004.
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Available from Libby/OverDrive

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Description

Munich: The writer Benjamin Stern entered his flat to see a man standing there, leafing through his research, and said, "Who the hell are you?" In answer, the man shot him. As Stern lay dying, the gunman murmured a few words in Latin, then gathered the writer's papers and left.Venice: The art restorer Gabriel Allon applied a dab of paint carefully to the Bellini, then saw the boy approaching, a piece of paper in his hand. It would be about Stern, he knew. They would want him to leave right away. With a sigh, the Mossad agent finished his work, then began to pack his brushes.Vatican City: The pope known as Paul VII - "Pope Accidental," to his detractors - paced in his garden, thinking about the things he knew and the enemies he would make. He believed he understood why God had chosen him for this job, but the road in front of him was hard and exceedingly perilous. If he succeeded, he would revolutionize the Church. If not, he might very well destroy it - and himself.In the weeks to come, the journeys of all these men will come together, following a trail of long-buried secrets and unthinkable deeds, leaving each one forever changed. Intrigue will dominate their lives and death stalk their paths, all of them in the shadow of the Confessor.

More Details

Format
eBook
Street Date
02/24/2004
Language
English
ISBN
9781101209950

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Also in this Series

  • The kill artist (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 1) Cover
  • The English assassin (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 2) Cover
  • The confessor (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 3) Cover
  • A death in Vienna (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 4) Cover
  • Prince of fire (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 5) Cover
  • The messenger (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 6) Cover
  • The secret servant (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 7) Cover
  • Moscow rules (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 8) Cover
  • The defector (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 9) Cover
  • The Rembrandt affair (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 10) Cover
  • Portrait of a spy (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 11) Cover
  • The fallen angel (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 12) Cover
  • The English girl: a novel (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 13) Cover
  • The heist (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 14) Cover
  • The English spy (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 15) Cover
  • The black widow (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 16) Cover
  • House of spies (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 17) Cover
  • The other woman (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 18) Cover
  • The new girl: a novel (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 19) Cover
  • The order: a novel (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 20) Cover
  • The cellist (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 21) Cover
  • Portrait of an unknown woman (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 22) Cover
  • The collector: a novel (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 23) Cover
  • A death in Cornwall: a novel (Gabriel Allon novels Volume 24) Cover

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Similar Series From Novelist

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
In these action-packed thriller series, an archaeologist (Sean Reilly) and an art restorer (Gabriel Allon) take on intricate plots with ties to global history. -- CJ Connor
These thrilling and suspenseful spy fiction series follow former Mossad agents who use their experiences as an art restorer (Gabriel Allon) and assassin (David Slaton) to thwart global war and terrorism. -- Jennie Stevens
While Gabriel Allon is heavier on action than the more character-driven Red Widow, these intricately plotted and suspenseful spy series are full of international intrigue and surprising twists. -- Stephen Ashley
Former agents are drawn back into a life of espionage in both of these fast-paced and suspenseful spy thrillers. Martini Club features some dark humor, while Gabriel Allon is more angst-filled. -- Stephen Ashley
Israelis on a dangerous mission find themselves involved in a much larger plot filled with complicated issues of international relations in these fast-paced and suspenseful thriller series. -- Stephen Ashley
Though Double O is inspired by the James Bond franchise, and Gabriel Allon is an original tale, readers looking for fast-paced spy thrillers with plenty of action and international intrigue should seek out both engaging series. -- Stephen Ashley
These fast-paced and suspenseful thrillers follow tough agents (CIA in Black Box and an art restorer turned spy in Gabriel Allon) whose dangerous missions force them to engage with complex international politics. -- Stephen Ashley
These series have the appeal factors suspenseful, action-packed, and intricately plotted, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "spy fiction"; and the subjects "intelligence officers," "international intrigue," and "spies."
These series have the appeal factors suspenseful, fast-paced, and intricately plotted, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "spy fiction"; and the subjects "intelligence officers," "international intrigue," and "spies."

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "spy fiction"; and the subjects "intelligence officers," "secrets," and "international intrigue."
These books have the theme "shadow organizations"; the genre "spy fiction"; and the subjects "secret societies," "intelligence officers," and "international intrigue."
NoveList recommends "Red widow" for fans of "Gabriel Allon novels". Check out the first book in the series.
Death in Shangri-la - Zur, Yigal
NoveList recommends "Dotan Naor novels" for fans of "Gabriel Allon novels". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Black Box novels" for fans of "Gabriel Allon novels". Check out the first book in the series.
These books have the genre "spy fiction"; and the subjects "intelligence officers," "assassins," and "international intrigue."
These books have the appeal factors menacing, and they have the genre "spy fiction"; and the subjects "intelligence officers," "assassins," and "international intrigue."
NoveList recommends "Martini Club" for fans of "Gabriel Allon novels". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Double O" for fans of "Gabriel Allon novels". Check out the first book in the series.
These books have the genre "spy fiction"; and the subjects "intelligence officers," "assassins," and "international intrigue."
These books have the appeal factors action-packed and intricately plotted, and they have the theme "shadow organizations"; the genres "spy fiction" and "political thrillers"; and the subjects "intelligence officers," "secrets," and "international intrigue."
NoveList recommends "Sean Reilly thrillers" for fans of "Gabriel Allon novels". Check out the first book in the series.

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Both Nelson DeMille and Daniel Silva peel back the facade of the real world to reveal shocking and disturbing machinations in their works. They are both accomplished storytellers who create complex characters, intricate plots, and stunning climaxes in their novels. -- Ellen Guerci
Both Alan Furst and Daniel Silva write evocative, atmospheric spy thrillers that share elements like moods of bleak melancholy, complex plots, and solid research. However, Furst's are set in Europe during the 1930s and '40s, and Silva's in the present, though an awareness of the past suffuses his novels. -- Shauna Griffin
Martin Cruz Smith will appeal to fans of Daniel Silva, offering all the elements of atmospheric settings, intrigue, and espionage, though not focusing on art history and art restoration. -- Krista Biggs
Brian Freemantle and Daniel Silva pen suspenseful espionage novels featuring smart, complex intelligence operatives who think for themselves. Invariably they're enmeshed in dangerous, sometimes violent, cat-and-mouse games involving terrorists, the KGB, or the CIA. -- Mike Nilsson
These two authors examine the moral consequences of spying and the impact that killing has on those who kill, even for an ostensibly good cause in a grey-tinged world. While moral complexities are at the heart of both authors' works, Daniel Silva's stories move a bit faster than Graham Greene's. -- Shauna Griffin
Fans of intricately plotted espionage fiction will relish the complex, introspective characters and brooding atmosphere found in both writers' work. Rich detail and a fast pace will propel readers into a world of betrayal, deception, and extreme danger. -- Mike Nilsson
Readers who appreciate Daniel Silva's elegant style, ambiguous characters, and bleak atmospheres should try John le Carre. Since le Carre's most popular thrillers were written during the Cold War, they tell a different story, but the mood the layered story and the questions raised are all similar. -- Shauna Griffin
These seasoned thriller writers recount the adventures of lethal men who inhabit the shadowy intelligence world. Intricately plotted and violent, their tales lead through mazes of double and triple-crosses cloaked in a menacing atmosphere of long-held secrets and grave danger. Readers may enjoy the many references to real-world events. -- Mike Nilsson
Another good choice for Daniel Silva's fans is thriller writer Robert Littell, long appreciated for his complex plots, sympathetic characters (good or bad), and details of the espionage game. While his books are less dense and dark than Silva's, readers will find similar themes and characterizations. -- Shauna Griffin
John E. Gardner and Daniel Silva write atmospheric spy thrillers that share similar moods, characterizations, and complex plots. -- Shauna Griffin
For something a little different try T. Jefferson Parker's mysteries and thrillers. In his stand-alone titles especially, Parker writes complicated crime stories that sensitively portray characters who are very similar to Daniel Silva's characters. They are neither heroes nor villains and are caught up in suspenseful, violent situations. -- Shauna Griffin
Another author for Daniel Silva fans to watch is Barry Eisler. His darkly atmospheric tales featuring hit man John Rain combine a literary style with convoluted plots, details of Tokyo's underbelly, and a sympathetic, loner hero who operates on the edge of society. -- Shauna Griffin

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

This is the third spy thriller featuring Gabriel Allon, art restorer and reluctant Israeli agent, following The Kill Artist (2000) and The English Assassin [BKL Ja1 & 15 02], and it is utterly compelling reading. Former journalist Silva is a sophisticated writer with a lean, economical style and a gift for shaping riveting action scenes. In addition, his lead character, Allon, is, at once, fiercely intelligent and infinitely weary, seemingly reluctant to deploy his expert and deadly skills. This time out, Gabriel is asked to investigate the vicious murder of his friend Benjamin Stern, a onetime agent who was researching the role of the Vatican in the Holocaust for a book. Gabriel begins to suspect it is the work of a calculating mercenary known as the Leopard--but who was he working for? All the evidence points to Crux Vera, a secretive, moneyed group of Roman Catholics with ties to the highest levels of power within the Vatican. What's more, Gabriel is certain the pope himself is next on the hit list because of his willingness to throw open the secret archives, which document the extent of the Vatican's complicity with the Nazis. Silva's searing portrait of a church under siege by its own corrupt bureaucracy and corporate publicity machine is particularly resonant. An uncommonly intelligent thriller told with elegant precision. --Joanne Wilkinson

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

"If you think Italians have a long memory, you should spend some time in the Middle East. We're the ones who invented the vendetta, not the Sicilians." So maintains Gabriel Allon, art restorer and Mossad hit man, star of Silva's second thriller series (The Mark of the Assassin, etc.). Gabriel is once again reluctantly dragged from his day job (he's working on a Bellini in Venice) by Israeli spymaster Ari Shamron, who heads a team of sleeper Mossad agents scattered all over the world. This time, it's a revenge mission: one of Shamron's agents (an academic working on an expos about the Vatican's collaboration with the Nazis) has been assassinated. The gunman was working for a secret Vatican society known as Crux Vera. Composed of Roman Curia members and shady rich thugs, this shadow group intends to kill the latest pope to keep him from exposing the Vatican's secret archives. In order to find the gunman (known as "the Leopard," a reclusive European of independent means who hires out his deadly skills to the highest bidder), Gabriel must take up his slain colleague's research, something the Italian and German governments assuredly do not want him to do. Gabriel is hounded all across Europe as he tries to find out the truth about the Nazi collaborators, save the pope and get the Leopard. Silva draws on bizarre WWII secrets uncovered by historians like Susan Zuccotti (whom Silva credits) for his premise. Though the plot sticks close to Silva's well-honed formula, the provocative historical revelations will keep readers enthralled. (Feb.) Forecast: National advertising and a radio satellite tour should insure Silva's usual robust sales. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Library Journal Review

The leaders of the Crux Vera, a church within the Catholic Church devoted to reversing the effects of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, are uneasy about Paul VII, the new pope. Hard on the heels of the conservative Pole, he causes tremendous consternation when he perseveres in a search for the facts about Pius XII's role in the Holocaust. Gabriel Allon, a master art restorer and part-time Israeli agent (seen in The English Assassin), has an old friend whose research is getting close to the truth. When he is murdered, Gabriel is reactivated and joins battle with an assassin nicknamed the Leopard. Silva, who here loads new excitement into the word thriller, will touch nerves with this hypothetical exploration of the Church's silence on these topics. The Vatican, Venice, and Munich are perfectly drawn as the settings for these dark acts of ambition, greed, and revenge, as are the characters, whom you'd scarcely believe live only on the page. For popular collections everywhere.-Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

Another polished and entertaining thriller from the prolific Silva, this one tracking dark secrets in Vatican City. To widely held suspicions that Pope Pius XII was complicit in the Holocaust, Silva adds a compelling premise: What if Pope John Paul's successor, here the fictional Pope Paul VII, made information public proving that Pius XII and the Vatican colluded with the Nazis? (The author notes in a postscript that the Vatican Secret Archives, currently sealed off to historians, may house documents that verify the alleged collaboration.) A swirl of intrigue, pursuit, and assassination is set spinning in the wake of Paul VII's threat. First, someone murders Professor Benjamin Stern in Munich. Investigators there blame neo-Nazis, but Israel's secret intelligence agency thinks something more sinister is afoot. They send art restorer and hit man Gabriel Allon (The Kill Artist, 2000; The English Assassin, p. 15) to investigate. Moving from Germany to Italy and England (in a series of sharply observed scenes), Allon learns that Stern, at work on a book, had uncovered information about Pius XII's trafficking with the Germans during WWII. Crux Vera, a brotherhood secretly operating within the Vatican, will kill to suppress these revelations. So when Crux Vera discovers that Allon is on their scent, they want him taken out and dispatch the Leopard, a professional assassin who finds that killing whets his appetite for kinky sex ("'Politics . . . does make for strange bedfellows,'" Katrine, the Leopard's partner, observes post-tryst). But when Allon evades the Leopard, Crux Vera targets the Pope himself, who is poised to address a convocation of Jews in Rome. A suspenseful assassination scene, replete with surprising reversals, caps the chase, with Allon and the Leopard emerging free to stalk and elude each other once again. Familiar material, for sure, but powered by steady pacing, keen detail, and a strong, ironic finish.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

/*Starred Review*/ This is the third spy thriller featuring Gabriel Allon, art restorer and reluctant Israeli agent, following The Kill Artist (2000) and The English Assassin [BKL Ja1 & 15 02], and it is utterly compelling reading. Former journalist Silva is a sophisticated writer with a lean, economical style and a gift for shaping riveting action scenes. In addition, his lead character, Allon, is, at once, fiercely intelligent and infinitely weary, seemingly reluctant to deploy his expert and deadly skills. This time out, Gabriel is asked to investigate the vicious murder of his friend Benjamin Stern, a onetime agent who was researching the role of the Vatican in the Holocaust for a book. Gabriel begins to suspect it is the work of a calculating mercenary known as the Leopard--but who was he working for? All the evidence points to Crux Vera, a secretive, moneyed group of Roman Catholics with ties to the highest levels of power within the Vatican. What's more, Gabriel is certain the pope himself is next on the hit list because of his willingness to throw open the secret archives, which document the extent of the Vatican's complicity with the Nazis. Silva's searing portrait of a church under siege by its own corrupt bureaucracy and corporate publicity machine is particularly resonant. An uncommonly intelligent thriller told with elegant precision. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 2003)) Copyright 2003 Booklist Reviews

Copyright 2003 Booklist Reviews
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Library Journal Reviews

The leaders of the Crux Vera, a church within the Catholic Church devoted to reversing the effects of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, are uneasy about Paul VII, the new pope. Hard on the heels of the conservative Pole, he causes tremendous consternation when he perseveres in a search for the facts about Pius XII's role in the Holocaust. Gabriel Allon, a master art restorer and part-time Israeli agent (seen in The English Assassin), has an old friend whose research is getting close to the truth. When he is murdered, Gabriel is reactivated and joins battle with an assassin nicknamed the Leopard. Silva, who here loads new excitement into the word thriller, will touch nerves with this hypothetical exploration of the Church's silence on these topics. The Vatican, Venice, and Munich are perfectly drawn as the settings for these dark acts of ambition, greed, and revenge, as are the characters, whom you'd scarcely believe live only on the page. For popular collections everywhere.-Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

"If you think Italians have a long memory, you should spend some time in the Middle East. We're the ones who invented the vendetta, not the Sicilians." So maintains Gabriel Allon, art restorer and Mossad hit man, star of Silva's second thriller series (The Mark of the Assassin, etc.). Gabriel is once again reluctantly dragged from his day job (he's working on a Bellini in Venice) by Israeli spymaster Ari Shamron, who heads a team of sleeper Mossad agents scattered all over the world. This time, it's a revenge mission: one of Shamron's agents (an academic working on an exposé about the Vatican's collaboration with the Nazis) has been assassinated. The gunman was working for a secret Vatican society known as Crux Vera. Composed of Roman Curia members and shady rich thugs, this shadow group intends to kill the latest pope to keep him from exposing the Vatican's secret archives. In order to find the gunman (known as "the Leopard," a reclusive European of independent means who hires out his deadly skills to the highest bidder), Gabriel must take up his slain colleague's research, something the Italian and German governments assuredly do not want him to do. Gabriel is hounded all across Europe as he tries to find out the truth about the Nazi collaborators, save the pope and get the Leopard. Silva draws on bizarre WWII secrets uncovered by historians like Susan Zuccotti (whom Silva credits) for his premise. Though the plot sticks close to Silva's well-honed formula, the provocative historical revelations will keep readers enthralled. (Feb.) Forecast: National advertising and a radio satellite tour should insure Silva's usual robust sales. Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Silva, D. (2004). The Confessor . Penguin Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Silva, Daniel. 2004. The Confessor. Penguin Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Silva, Daniel. The Confessor Penguin Publishing Group, 2004.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

Silva, D. (2004). The confessor. Penguin Publishing Group.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Silva, Daniel. The Confessor Penguin Publishing Group, 2004.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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