Elise Cooper for BLACKFIVE Daniel Silva creates masterpieces by weaving the plot between the world of art and the world of intelligence. He is one of the best political thrillers writers of today. His latest book, The Rembrandt Affair, is a ‘faction book’-completely fictional with a plot rooted in fact. This novel artfully intertwines the Holocaust, a Bernie Madoff type character, the history of looted art, and the Iranian nuclear situation. The protagonist of the book is Gabriel Allon, an art restorer-his part time job and an Israeli spy. He is pitted against the villain, Martin Landesmann, a Swiss businessman who reminds the reader of a murderous Bernie Madoff. All of Allon’s team is back for another action packed adventure. The plot starts with the theft of a painting, a long lost Rembrandt that is being restored. The beginning of the book tales a tragic tale of this paintings bloody past and Silva gives the reader a behind-the scenes-look at the world of art theft. Allon is asked to help recover it but discovers there are international reasons for the paintings theft. Silva explores the crimes of the Holocaust beyond the deathly gas chambers. He informs the reader about how the Pope helped the ***, how the *** stole the Jewish assets, and the psychology of the Holocaust survivors. He stated that “I studied the special psych and the hidden wounds worn by those children that were hidden. I stumbled into a gathering of Holocaust survivors while I was at Yad Vashem, (the Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem). I had a chance to sit and talk to them and listen to their stories.” The theme of the book is greed. As Silva commented to blackfive.net, “The common thread is greed. Keep in mind that on the way to the gas chamber the people were systematically robbed.” The reader is led to understand the theme through the villain, Swiss businessman Martin Landesmann, Saint Martin. As Silva explains, “Bernie Madoff was the inspiration for Martin Landesmann. One of the aspects that fascinated me was that on the surface he was the pillar of the community, beloved and trusted by everyone. He gave away millions to charity; yet, underneath it all he as a criminal.” Another issue hammered home by Silva is what he calls in the book, the “myth of Switzerland”: multi-cultural and tolerant. The portion of the book where Holocaust survivor, Lena Hezfield, describes her horrific ordeal is very emotional and heart wrenching. He fascinatingly describes how the Swiss actively cooperated with the ***, (Swiss banks collaborated with the *** and profited from gold looted from victims of the Holocaust), and how they fought in the 1990’s to prevent the Holocaust victims from recuperating stolen goods. In addition Silva used the Tinner family as a backdrop for the portion of the plot where Landesmann was selling equipment used by Iran to further their nuclear ambitions. In real life the Tinner family helped the Khan network of Pakistan provide information about their nuclear program. However, the CIA was able to turn them against the Iranians that led to sabotaging parts. Silva commented that he wrote this storyline to “be prophet-like. I want to point out that we have got to make decisions quite quickly or this is going to get away from us in a hurry. I do believe that sabotaging the Iranian program in little ways may be not as dramatic as I did it in my book but that covert action against the program is a way to buy our policy makers much needed time.” The Rembrandt Affair is a riverting book. It has captivating characters that the reader forms to either like or dislike intensely. It is not only entertaining but is very insightful with twisting and intertwining sub-plots. The reader will not want to put down this fabulous read.
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Posted
Aug 03 2010, 08:32 AM
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