The Marching Season

Michael Osbourne #2

by Daniel Silva

It is the first uncertain years of the Northern Ireland peace process. In Belfast, Dublin and London three simultaneous terrorist attacks shatter the hope that the bloodshed finally may be over. Although suspicion immediately falls on Catholic Republicans, it quickly becomes clear that the perpetrators are Protestant Loyalists, a new terror group called the Ulster Freedom Brigade. They have but one goal - to destroy the peace process.

Michael Osbourne, the hero of Silva's second novel, The Mark of the Assassin, has quit the CIA, bitter and disillusioned. He is living quietly in New York, struggling with the responsibilities of fatherhood and the tedium of early retirement. But when the President chooses his father-in-law, former US Senator, to be the next American ambassador to Britain, Osbourne is drawn into battle with some of the most ruthless and violent men on earth.

Osbourne is rehired by the CIA with the mission of preventing the Ulster Freedom Brigade from destroying the peace proccess. What Osbourne does not know is that the terrorists have hired the world's deadliest assassin; none other than Jean-Paul Delaroche, the title character in The Mark of the Assassin, to murder the ambassador.

The Marching Season takes place in the backstreets of West Belfast, the rolling hills of Armagh and, as the locale for the assassination a country estate in Norfolk.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Espionage, Spy Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller

Hardcover

First published March 2, 1999

About the author

Daniel Silva was born in Michigan in 1960 and raised in California where he received his BA from Fresno State. Silva began his writing career as a journalist for United Press International (UPI), traveling in the Middle East and covering the Iran-Iraq war, terrorism and political conflicts. From UPI he moved to CNN, where he eventually became executive producer of its Washington-based public policy programming. In 1994 he began work on his first novel, The Unlikely Spy, a surprise best seller that won critical acclaim. He turned to writing full time in 1997 and all of his books have been New York Times/national best sellers, translated into 25 languages and published across Europe and the world. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Series:
* Michael Osbourne
* Gabriel Allon

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This '98 story contained good Silva writing, but lacked a successful conclusion. The prescient Mr. Silva even mentions the nefarious Osama bin laden. Lots of deaths and for what? Billionaires? 6 of 10 stars

[Jim A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rereading Daniel Silva’s early work has been doubly enjoyable. First, the stories were well written, but more importantly to me was to see how Silva drew from the antagonist, Delaroche, from The Mark of The Assassin and The Marching Season, and parlayed him into Gabriel Allon in the future works. While Delaroche admits to being an assassin, he states on more than one occasion that he is not a murderer. Also, Delaroche has talent as a painter and, of course Allon has the cover of being an art restoration expert in that series and considers himself an assassin, not a murderer.

Finally I, as an avid reader, am thankful that Silva abandoned his Osbourne protagonist in favor of Allon. The Israeli assassin and art restorer is much more interesting than another CIA operative. as far as thrillers go.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is still today a very weird (and racist) thought among many people that terrorists are only brown-skinned Arabic or Middle-Eastern Muslims, and that white Christians are solely victimized horribly throughout the world (and in the United States especially) and never the victimizers. This, of course, goes against the facts. (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo..., and also: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/... )

It’s a narrative uncomfortable to a lot of people, but it’s the truth: white non-Muslim men commit most of the world’s terrorist acts. White men have been doing it far longer and more effectively. Anyone who studies European history knows this.

Daniel Silva’s 1999 novel “The Marching Season” (a direct sequel to his novel “The Mark of the Assassin”), focuses on the long and fruitful white terrorist tradition of the United Kingdom involving the age-old hatred and violence between the Protestants and the Catholics. In case you don’t know, those are not Muslim sects. They are Christian sects.

For centuries, the Republicans (Catholics who want nothing to do with England) and the Loyalists (Protestants who want Ireland to unite with England) have been battling it out in Parliament as well as in the streets, oftentimes with bloody consequences. Tens of thousands have died since the 17th century (the century many scholars argue is the official start of what is called “The Troubles”).

Perhaps the most familiar terrorist organization after the PLO and Al-Qaeda, the IRA (Irish Republican Army) has been plotting and committing bombings and assassinations since the late-‘60s. But they aren’t the only terrorist groups at work in the UK.

In 1998, The Good Friday Agreement was reached that essentially cemented the relationships and sovereign rights of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the UK. While many argue that it’s not perfect, it has managed to bring about a semblance of peace between all parties.

Of course, this is a problem for those who profited and capitalized on The Troubles, namely companies and weapons dealers who are funded by war and strife. In Silva’s novel, a fictional group known as the Society works to undermine the Good Friday peace accords by funding an Irish terrorist organization who is against the peace accords.

CIA analyst Michael Osborne, who barely made it out of “The Mark of the Assassin” alive, has been called out of retirement to head a CIA unit in the UK in the hopes of quelling and ending the new terrorist group. Reluctantly, Osborne agrees, but only because his father-in-law has been chosen by the President to be the new Irish Ambassador.

Meanwhile, the assassin known as Delaroche, is still alive and active. Thought to be killed at the end of the last novel, Osborne has had his suspicions. Recent assassinations have had a familiar Delaroche aroma about them, but few people at Langley believe that Delaroche is even alive. The Society, of course, is working to keep Osborne, and his father-in-law, out of the way. Permanently.

Once again, Silva has written a taut, edge-of-the seat suspense thriller in the Tom Clancy mold. In truth, “The Marching Season” has more than a few major similarities with Clancy’s classic novel “Patriot Games”, but at least Silva is copying from the best. (“Patriot Games” is one of my favorite Clancy novels.)

The action and suspense never lets up in this one, and the end almost guarantees a follow-up novel in the Osborne series.

[Scott A. Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a little disappointing. Perhaps Silva gave up on these characters to move on to the Allon books. I kind of liked Osborne and the first book was better. Really not too much more to say. I’ll give his next series a shot though. It’s lasted a long time and must b solid at the very least.

[Pierre Tassé (Enjoying Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the greatest. First book was 4 stars this one 50% as good. Too many different and strange subplots and basically disjointed theme of the story. You had to read book one to not like this one. If you pick this one up without reading book one then you'll find it doesn't really make sense. Pass unless you really really like Daniel Silva and want to tarnish his memory ;)

[George · Rating 1 out of 5]

*** SPOILERS! *** SPOILERS! *** SPOILERS! ***

I am afraid I found "The Marching Season" rather sloppy,
meaning that the scenario was not always convincing
and in some aspects it contradicted the previous book
("The Mark of the Assassin"), for a number of reasons
(in no particular order):

1) Obsourne appears to have forgotten that it knows the
identity of the killer, referring to him only as October, and
not mentioning his real name at all, even though he has
read his file and knows who he is (in fact, he expoilted this
knowledge at the end of the previous book to unerve the
assasin).

2) In the previous book, the Director orders the elimination
of October, to cover up all tracks to his organization. October
manages to escape, pressumably eliminating in the process
his would be killers. However, in "The Marching Season" there
is no information on how October managed to escape. Even
more strange, there is no explanation as to why October
chooses to work again for the guy who set him up. In fact,
the Director is having face to face meetings with October,
without being afraid that the latter will kill him, even though
October has killed for less.

3) In "The Mark of the Assassin", October is about to quit,
having enough money. Even though the loss of his girlfriend
may have made him having second thoughts, it does not
appear that he was so desperate to get back to business,
being forced also to ruin a handsome face. Furthermore,
he goes and kills the plastic surgeant without even trying
to make it look like an accident (the guy was drank and alone
so it would have been relatively easy to do so), thus alerting
the authorities.

4) October continues to use the boat house in Amsterdam
that belonged to his killed girlfirend. I can't believe that he
does so so easily, without being afraid that the authorities
will be able to track it down and put it under observation.

5) The way the organization meets and after each meeting
destroys a villa, is the best way to attract attention. First
of all, it is rather difficult for people who are having senior
positions in intelligence agencies or private/public organizations
to disappear of the face of the earth for 2-3 days, at least
3-4 times a yeat to attend such meetings. Second, the blowing
up of the meeting place is bound to eventually attract attention.
Even if you can get away with it in a remote part of some desert
or jungle, you cannot expect not to raise interest when you
do it in Mykonos, probably the most famous Greek island.
Especially, with the members of the organization having to stay
in different hotels in Chora (the village was too small to house them),
and then trying to find a not that small number of Range Rovers
with dark windows (how many of those can you find in a Greek
island?), march as a convoy to the villa, have the meeting and
then just after departure blow the villa up. I mean, the Greek
police and intelligence services are not top class but their
people are not mentally retarted either.

6) I cannot understand why the people watching the house
with the guns in N. Ireland were still there when the terrorists
went to kill them. By that time, MI5 and CIA knew what the terrorists
would do and therefore they should have removed their
people from around the house, in case they attract attention.

7) Everybody knows that you don't use the famous Downing
Street no. 10 door to get into the PM's house. This is only
used for official visits. There are many other entries to the
house, and much less conspicuous ways to get in. I cannot
imagine a MI5 or CIA person using that door at 3am! A
reporter hanging around would make a story the next day.

8) I find difficult to believe that the Queen knows by heart
the code names of secret operatives. Furthermore, handing
Osbourne his knighthood in a face to face meeting with only
the two around, as if it is a London souvenir, also is not plausible.
I am sure her Majestry in her long career has awarded knighthoods
to a number of secret agents and there must be some formal
procedure about it.

9) Finally, overall I found the story rather boring, just a single
thread of action going on, with mostly predictable turns.
Certainly, not the best moments of Daniel Silva. I wonder if
it is a mere coincidence that Osbourne disapperead after
this second adventure of his to be replace by Gabriel Allon.

Having said the above, I have thoroughly enjoyed the rest of
Daniel Silva's books and I remain a great fun of them.

George

[L.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 stars

I read both books in this series consecutively. I've also read the first 16 books in Silva's Gabriel Allon series (in order). The two books in the Osbourne series take place mostly prior to the Allon series, but characters from the Allon series appear in the Osbourne series. Although I deeply enjoy these books, they are often difficult for me to read due to the amount of hate, intolerance and violence within the plots. Even though this book was published in 1999, it is not difficult to find that fictitious events mirror current global tensions, actions and horrors.

SUMMARY: When the Good Friday peace accords are shattered by three savage acts of terrorism, Northern Ireland is blown back into the depths of conflict. And after his father-in-law is nominated to become the new American ambassador to London, retired CIA agent Michael Osbourne is drawn back into the game. He soon discovers that his father-in-law is marked for execution. And that he himself is once again in the crosshairs of a killer known as October, one of the most merciless assassins the world has ever known.

[Rohit Enghakat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thriller in the background of the Northern Ireland Peace Accords, this is a straightforward story of a CIA agent Michael Osbourne chasing an assassin named October with whom he has a past history. The main characters are these two with Michael's father-in-law, the ambassador to UK who plays a major part in the plot. The disappointing part is there are neither any plot twists nor any edge-of-the-seat action. The only part I liked is that the author has given a background to the Irish conflict involving the Protestants and Catholics. As somebody who was not aware of this, the book has given me some understanding and background of the conflict.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I DON'T HIDE MY REVIEWS, BUT THEY DO CONTAIN SPOILERS.

This is in Silva's line of Michael Osbourne books.

Osbourne is a former CIA agent who has rejoined the service. He's done so because his father-in-law, a retired U.S. senator, has been named to an ambassador post to Ireland, and Osbourne senses danger.

Osbourne never crosses paths with Silva's main protagonist -- on-again, off-again Israeli agent-assassin Gabriel Allon, who stars in most Silva novels.

But the two men do have in common their encounters with commercial assassin, Jean-Paul Delaroche, who was trained behind the Iron Curtain, and is literally a bastard. Initially Delaroche was sent to the West as a "sleeper"(still in his teens) for political missions, but now he's a free-market hired gun.

Delaroche -- who seemed pathologically dispassionate when executing people or dealing with his handlers -- is, sadly, not the worst bad guy in this book. (As an aside, Delaroche likes to paint, just like Allon does/did. These days Allon does art restoration, but little original work.)

Osbourne and Delaroche form an impromptu alliance toward the book's end, as both struggle to be free of the cabal that is trying to rile up Irishmen again to violence (Prods vs. the papists, as usual).
The cabal, it turns out, is a shadowy "working group" of national intelligence services and major criminal and terrorist interests, etc.

These seemingly odd bedfellows use the shadow group to outsource killings that would be too politically sensitive for any government agency to take on, and to instigate negative events that somehow advance a nation's secret agenda. In "Marching Season," for example, the group decides to kill a new peace movement in Ireland that would be "bad" for the illegal weapons industry.

Near book's end, back in the States, Delaroche attempts to assassinate Osbourne's father in law, but Osbourne surprisingly lets the killer escape. That's because Osbourne has figured out who hired Delaroche. Osbourne instead reserves his ire and energy, working behind the scenes to dislodge from American intelligence services the career official (a woman) who was part of the same shadow group, which had commissioned the father-in-law's death. She's the U.S. "delegate" to the cabal, and Allon's revered Israeli boss, Ari Shamron. (It kills me to think that Shamron, who appears in all the Allon books, consorts with such dreck.)

Delaroche eventually repays Osbourne's kindness by unilaterally (without pay) taking out the woman, after she suddenly retires and moves to Europe.

I was touched by the moment in the book when Osbourne muses that he and Delaroche are quite similar after all. It was only chance that assigned Osbourne the role of patriot and Delaroche the role of criminal killer. They use the same skill set for different ends.

The book's close suggests that Delaroche is able to retire from his career as a killer, and even form a meaningful relationship with an Irish woman terrorist who seems to want out from all the death and violence. Knowing Silva, however -- who's expert at re-purposing his characters -- I wonder if the woman, named Rebecca, will go the distance in her relationship with Delaroche.

[Karl Marberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining with plenty of suspense and deception that keeps the reader intrigued.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daniel Silva is the master of the genre and this is another entertaining fun read with thrills, spills as somewhat cartoonlike characters beat eachother black and blue across the world. It does require a certain suspension of belief, especially when the Queen does a cameo, or you will nitpick your way out of what is an enjoyable read.

I read this book twice by accident and the second time was no more memorable.

[Mary Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am sometimes a voracious reader. Vacillate between Ta-Neishi Coates, Allende, Clinton, Comey and Orwell. The writers I cited are interesting and important but not always fun.

Silva knows how to do espionage, thrillers, love interest; and boy it is fun! We do read to know "we are not alone," but sometimes what a delight to simply read.

Kinda like a good John MacDonald mystery but different genre! Of course you need to straddle different eras and mores. Some of us can!

[Bob M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, Silva is good! I had read every one of his novels but this one. They're all good, but this one stood out. Pacing, locations, complexities of character- all there. When I first discovered Silva, I started reading, and usually, out of order. But that's okay. He fills in backstory well.

Looking for a great spy vs. spy? You've found it with this one.

[Buddy Draper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the first Michael Osborne novel quite a long time ago and really enjoyed this follow up. I love the Gabriel Allon novels, but I find myself wishing that Silva had written more with Osborne.

[Alex Perugini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daniel Silva's "The Marching Season" is an enjoyable international spy thriller. It's been a few years since I read the first book, "The Mark of the Assassin", but Silva does a great job catching the reader up on the most important details.

Although it's a sequel, "The Marching Season" has a fresh plot for the reader to experience, that dovetails nicely into the continued plot from the first book. Silva does a great job of writing characters with depth and emotions; I enjoyed reading the perspectives of both the protagonist and antagonist. After two books of waiting, the climax is what made me give "The Marching Season" four stars. I feel the character journeys reached a deserving conclusion.

[LindaJ^ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very early Silva book, the second and last (as of now) of the Michael Osborne series (thank goodness!). Some characters appear in his much more famous and better written Gabriel Allon series. This one is poorly conceived and much makes no sense in light of Osborne #1, especially with respect to the assassin October. The Osborne character is a lightweight compared to Allon. And the secret entity composed of the heads of spy agencies and criminals and others is ridiculous. Glad I did not read the Osborne series until well into the Allon series.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall the writing is good and interesting, but unfortunately the story is flawed. A few times characters did things they shouldn’t have been able to do, just to move the story along. One character in particular changed his behavior to conveniently take the story a direction the author wanted. The ending didn’t really resolve anything. It’s like the author wanted both the good and bad win, which they both did.

[Garlan ✌ · Rating 4 out of 5]

After languishing on my shelf for years (because this book didn't feature Gabriel Allon), I finally pulled the plug and jumped right into a great thriller. This series features Michal Osbourne, American CIA agent who's back in the action after leaving the agency the year prior. Michael is assigned to a case involving the peace accords in northern Ireland, but is soon dragged into a much deeper web of deceit, featuring an old adversary. Lots of action and intrigue. Another solid read from Silva.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took a bit to get going but once it got going had some really exciting action sequences and intrigue! I read this because of the Northern Ireland angle and the Good Friday Accords--and I enjoyed the story of the Ulster Freedom Brigade and the best sequence in this for me was the one in Belfast! Really intriguing appearance of Gerry Adams! Would have liked even more focus on the Northern Ireland conflict.
My complaint is I was less interested in the personal story of Michael Osborne though it won me over towards the end! It makes me CRINGE hard how Daniel Silva describes women!! This book was published a long time ago but still some of the descriptions made me roll my eyes--let's do better men!!

[kokomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

couldn’t not put it down
bring back spy thrillers

[Tracie Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marching Season by Daniel Silva (1999)

WorldCat: (to find it at a local library)
AUDIO: https://search.worldcat.org/title/436...
PRINT: https://search.worldcat.org/title/124...

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS
PRINT:
© March 2, 1999; ISBN: 978-0375500893; Random House; OCLC: 1242423206; 418 pages; unabridged. (Hardcover $10.99 @ Amazon)
DIGITAL:
© January 6, 2004; ISBN: 978-1440627897 ASIN: B001MSMUVQ; Berkley; 513 pages; unabridged. ($7.99 Kindle)
AUDIO:
*** The format I used © November 20, 2009; ISBN: 9780788739729; Recorded Books/Audible; ASIN: B007SXGGKA; OCLC: 43676121; 10 hours and 59 minutes; unabridged. ($22.35 @ Amazon) [This one is not an Audible exclusive but we used our Audible account anyway.]

RECOGNITIONS:
Instant New York Times bestseller

REVIEWS:
Publisher’s Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780...
Multiple reviews at OaklandLibrary.Bibliocommons.com : https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons....

AMAZONS BEST SELLERS RANK
PRINT
Best Sellers Rank: #319,245 in Books
• #28,319 in Literature & Fiction (Books)
Customer Reviews:
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (8,361)
AUDIO
Best Sellers Rank: #20,364 in Audible Books & Originals
• #285 in Espionage Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals)
• #719 in Crime Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals)
• #883 in Political Thrillers (Books)

FILM:
No.

SERIES:
Michael Osbourne. Book 2 (of 2)

CHARACTERS (not comprehensive):
Michael Osbourne – CIA Agent
Elizabeth Osbourne – A lawyer, Michael’s wife
Jean-Paul Delaroche (October) – A KGB trained assassin
James Beckworth – U. S. President
Mitchell Elliott – businessman involved with defense contracts
Douglas Cannon – Michael’s father-in-law and the new ambassador to the Court of St. James

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
SELECTED:
One of the books I’d purchased from my local library’s used bookshop was by this author. I weeded it, and in the process placed the author’s first book on my Libby app’s wish list. When we got a chance, Don and I listened to that and found that we liked the author. This is the third book the author published, so it was next in line.
ABOUT:
Micheal’s father-in-law is offered a position as the new ambassador to the Court of St. James, to promote peace between Protestants and Catholics or Northern Island. Michael comes out of retirement to rejoin the CIA and protect his father-in-law, against Elizabeth’s wishes.
OVERALL OPINION:
Like the first book of the series, this one also kept us riveted.

AUTHOR:
(From Wikipedia) “Daniel Silva (born 1960)[1]
is an American journalist and author of thriller and spy novels.
Silva was born in 1960 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.[2] When he was seven years old, his family moved to Merced, California. He was raised as a Catholic.[3]
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Fresno. He began a graduate program in international relations at San Francisco State University but left when offered employment as a journalist at United Press International (UPI).[4]
Career
Journalist
Silva began his writing career as a journalist with a temporary position at UPI in 1984.[3] His assignment was to cover the Democratic National Convention. UPI made Silva's position permanent and, a year later transferred him to the Washington, D.C. headquarters. After two more years, he was appointed as UPI's Middle East correspondent and moved to Cairo.
Silva returned to Washington, D.C., for a position with Cable News Network's Washington bureau. He worked as a producer and executive producer for several of CNN's television programs, including Crossfire and Capital Gang.
Novelist
In 1994 he began work on his first novel, The Unlikely Spy (1996). The novel debuted on The New York Times best-seller list on January 26, 1997; it remained on the list for five weeks, rising to number 13.[5] In 1997 Silva left CNN to pursue writing full-time.
Since then Silva has written 27 more spy novels, all best-sellers on The New York Times list. Gabriel Allon, an Israeli art restorer, spy and assassin, is the protagonist in all but three of Silva's titles. The series has been a New York Times bestseller since its first installment in 2001.[6][7] Thirteen of the series' titles hit number one on The New York Times list of best sellers (Bibliography, below). Some of his novels involve Islamic terrorism, some involve Russian villains, and some are about historic events related to World War II and the Holocaust. Silva did not come into the Allon series with a significant understanding of the world of art restoration but was able to use a neighbor's expertise to help him turn a spy-assassin into an artist.[3]”
RECOGNITIONS: (from Wikipedia)
2007 – Barry Award for The Messenger
2013 Barry Award for Best Thriller for The Fallen Angel.[12]
January 2009, Silva was appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's United States Holocaust Memorial Council.[13]”
[***ME: This was Silva's 3rd novel., his first, "The Unlikely Spy", having been written in 1996, and his last (so far), "An Inside Job" being published in 2025.
There is the final novel in this Michael Osbourne series, and there are 25 in the Gabriel Allon series.]

NARRATOR:
(From Wikipedia.com) “Frank Muller (May 5, 1951 – June 4, 2008) was a stage and television actor, but was most famous as an audiobook narrator, becoming the narrator of choice for such authors as Stephen King, John le Carré, John Grisham, Elmore Leonard and many others. He suffered diffuse axonal injury from a motorcycle accident in 2001, and subsequently died of his injuries on June 4, 2008 aged 57.”
[ME: I always love Frank’s narrations and am saddened about his early death every time I hear him.]

GENRE:
Spies and Political Thrillers; Fiction; Espionage Thrillers; Adventure Fiction; Assassins Fiction; Northern Ireland Fiction; Terrorists Great Britain Fiction; United States Central Intelligence Agency Fiction

SUBJECTS (Not comprehensive):
Terrorism; Art; Assassins; CIA; Investigations; Northern Ireland; Politics; Corruption;

TIME:
Contemporary (1999-ish)

SETTING(s):
Shelter Island, New York; UK; Northern Ireland

DEDICATION:
“For Ion Trewin, for friendship
and faith, and as always,
for my wife, Jamie, and my children,
Lily and Nicholas”

EXCERPT From 1 BELFAST . DUBLIN . LONDON
“Eamonn Dillon of Sinn Fein was the first to die, and he died because he planned to stop for a pint of lager at the Celtic Bar before heading up the Falls Road to a meeting in Andersontown. Twenty minutes before Dillon’s death, a short distance to the east, his killer hurried along the pavements of Belfast city center through a cold rain. He wore a dark green oilskin coat with a brown corduroy collar. His code name was Black Sheep.

The air smelled of the sea and faintly of the rusting shipyards of Belfast Lough. It was just after 4 p.m. but already dark. Night falls early on a winter’s night in Belfast; morning dawns slowly. The city center was bathed in yellow sodium light, but Black Sheep knew that West Belfast, his destination, would feel like the wartime blackout.

He continued north up Great Victoria Street, past the curious fusion of old and new that makes up the face of central Belfast—the constant reminders that these few blocks have been bombed and rebuilt countless times. He passed the shining façade of the Europa, infamous for being the most bombed hotel on the planet. He passed the new opera house and wondered why anyone in Belfast would want to listen to the music of someone else’s tragedy. He passed a hideous American doughnut shop filled with laughing Protestant schoolchildren in crested blazers. I do this for you, he told himself. I do this so you won’t have to live in an Ulster dominated by the fucking Catholics.
The larger buildings of the city center receded, and the pavements slowly emptied of other pedestrians until he was quite alone. He walked for about a quarter mile and crossed over the M1 motorway near the towering Divis Flats. The overpass was scrawled with graffiti: VOTE SINN FEIN; BRITISH TROOPS OUT OF NORTHERN IRELAND; RELEASE ALL POWS. Even if Black Sheep had known nothing of the city’s complex sectarian geography, which was certainly not the case, the signs were impossible to miss. He had just crossed the frontier into enemy territory—Catholic West Belfast.

The Falls spreads west like a fan, narrow at its mouth near the city center, broad to the west, beneath the shadow of Black Mountain. The Falls Road—simply “the road” in the lexicon of Catholic West Belfast—cuts through the neighborhood like a river, with tributaries leading into the thickets of terraced houses where British soldiers and Roman Catholics have engaged in urban guerrilla warfare for three decades. The commercial center of the Falls is the intersection of the Springfield Road and the Grosvenor Road. There are markets, clothing shops, hardware stores, and pubs. Taxis filled with passengers shuttle up and down the street. It looks much like any other working-class neighborhood in a British city, except the doorways are encased in black steel cages and the taxis never stray from the Falls Road because of Protestant killer squads. The dilapidated white terraces of the Ballymurphy housing estate dominate the western edge of the Falls. Ballymurphy is the ideological heart-land of West Belfast, and over the years it has supplied a steady stream of recruits to the IRA. Bellicose murals stare over the Whiterock Road toward the rolling green hills of the city cemetery, where many of Ballymurphy’s men are buried beneath simple headstones. To the north, across the Springfield Road, a giant army barracks and police station stands like a besieged fortress in enemy territory, which indeed it is. Strangers aren’t welcome in the Murph, even Catholic strangers. British soldiers don’t set foot there without their giant armored personnel carriers called saracens—“pigs” to the people of Ballymurphy.

Black Sheep had no intention of going anywhere near Ballymurphy. His destination was farther to the east—the headquarters of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, located at No. 51-55 Falls Road. As he moved deeper into the Falls, the spires of St. Peter’s Cathedral rose to his left. A trio of British soldiers drifted across the ugly asphalt square in front of the cathedral, now pausing to peer through the infrared sights of their rifles, now spinning on their heels to see if anyone was following them. Don’t speak to them, his handlers had told him. Don’t even look at them. If you look at them, they’ll know you’re an outsider. Black Sheep kept his hands in his pockets and his gaze on the pavement in front of him.

RATING:
5 stars.

STARTED-FINISHED
11/21/2025-11/29/2025

[Carey · Rating 1 out of 5]

The heart of reading is anticipation, and a true review protects that mystery at all costs. A review becomes moot if it steals what you have to look forward to, since its only job is to let you know if the journey is worth the time, effort, and investment. I usually don't do this, but sometimes a book lets me down so badly that I have no choice but to cut it open. I must include major spoilers to truly convey my disappointment. Beforehand, I really enjoyed this novel; it was on track for a high rating. However, the climax was a supernova that obliterated my review. Goodbye four stars, hello one.

The Marching Season is a direct sequel to The Mark of the Assassin. We pick right back up with Michael Osborne, a former CIA operative living with the intense paranoia and PTSD of his last mission. His mental trauma stems from hunting down a world-class assassin codenamed October, whose brutal signature mark is shooting his victims three times in the face. Michael also has a personal vendetta against October: he killed Michael's girlfriend twenty years ago. In the previous climax, October and his female counterpart infiltrated Michael’s own home. After Michael’s wife fled to the guest house, the femme fatale pursued her, only to end up impaled to the wall by a couple of arrows shot by Michael’s wife. Meanwhile, Michael and October engaged in a shootout, but in typical villain fashion, October managed to escape. Because of this, Michael is left completely in the dark about whether his nemesis is dead or alive. Ultimately, Michael decided to retire and focus on his family. This was relieving news to his wife, who hadn't even had a proper honeymoon because of the unpredictable nature of his work.

As a new dad, Michael is dealing with a brutal transition to civilian life. Covert espionage work is the only job he has ever known, leaving him wondering how he will ever use those lethal skills in a normal world. He is completely bored and anxious at home. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is a high-stakes corporate lawyer who is glad to go to her job, coming home every night to tell Michael about her day while he is left just sitting on the sidelines. So when the President reaches out to her father (a retired senator chosen specifically for his experience and expertise) to oversee the peace process between England and Ireland, the opportunity Michael has been searching for arrives. Elizabeth is staunchly opposed at first, but when she realizes her father will be over there, she accepts that it is best to let her husband return to his element. In addition, a quiet normalcy takes over because she does notice how miserable he's been on the sidelines.

With Elizabeth’s blessing, Michael lands in Dublin and Belfast to perform advanced recon on a newly formed Protestant splinter faction staunchly opposed to peace: the Ulster Freedom Brigade. The plot immediately takes a massive, global turn when the UFB reaches out to a shadowy, elitist organization known as The Society. Composed of corrupt politicians and heads of global intelligence agencies, this NWO group agrees to back the local terrorists by supplying them with high-grade weapons. Another valuable asset that they provide is October to carry out an assassination on the new ambassador. This sets Michael’s personal trauma on an inevitable collision course with a global conspiracy.

In this installment, Daniel Silva's writing has noticeably improved. For instance, he recaps some previous events for new readers without overkilling it. He uses vivid descriptions that place you in the Michael Universe. It is a masterful shift away from the anemic Middle Eastern terrorist plots that Michael, and readers of the genre, are usually subjected to. In the Middle East, Michael is the ultimate apex predator who is fluent in the languages, familiar with the terrain, and backed by massive American geopolitical investment. He has an endless web of resources, military bases, and CIA sites to maneuver through. In Ireland, however, he is stripped of his armor and completely vulnerable. The resources here are scant; there are no large American bases, no American tanks, and no air support to call in when things get rocky. For the reader, this is completely new territory that is easy to get invested in, but for Michael, it is a nightmare. He is dropped into a civil war where everyday people are on high alert. Neighbors can instantly spot an outsider just by how they pronounce a street name or a vowel. Without a local accent, Michael has zero ways to blend in, and his cover is blown instantly.

In the beginning, a female terrorist was leaving her suitcase full of explosives on the subway. As she arms the bomb and moves out of the train, she exits the doors. As the doors closed, she heard pounding on the window. It was from a fellow passenger; he was holding her bag. "Your bag!" he was shouting. This specific moment shows exactly how much the author's description has improved:

The expression on the Englishman’s face abruptly turned from mild concern to complete terror as he realized the woman had left the bag intentionally. He lunged toward the doors and tried to pry them open with his hands. Even if the man had managed to arouse attention and stop the train, nothing could be done in one minute and fifteen seconds to prevent the bomb from exploding.

"Damn, that’s a very vivid description. I’m sold!" you say. "How could this book be one star? It must be a mistake, like those Google reviews that complain about cockroaches in their hotel room and rude service but yet still give it five stars! They even have pictures of the roaches, yet a five-star rating still shows up on their profile. Maybe it’s a translation issue or a glitch." I have seen those reviews too, but I assure you this review for The Marching Season is not a glitch or a mistake.






A major spoiler is up ahead—in fact, it will spoil the whole plot—but it is necessary for me to spoil it. It will save you TIME, dear reader. I am about to give you a PSA on this book just like yo homies been tellin' you about the person you're dating! Once again, MAJOR SPOILERS, so quit reading if you are the type of person who loves heartbreak.







The climax is unbelievably sloppy. October hijacks a car that Michael shoots at, causing the fuel tank to explode. Yet, despite being inside a literal fireball, October walks away merely 'feeling the heat' of the burning gasoline. He then leaps off a bridge, landing wrong on his ankle. When he hit the bottom, he saw a guy witnessing the spectacular on a bicycle. October hopped on one foot over to him, karate-chop him in the throat, and hijacked the bike. This is exactly where the narrative becomes completely inane. Reading the endless paragraphs of October and Michael fighting had me laughing out loud, thinking of the repetitive, absurd brawl between Peter Griffin and the Giant Chicken.

The end of the long, drawn-out fight scene has Michael hanging from a cliff, or another bridge, or the Moon (you can tell how interested I am at this point). He's hanging with one hand and October walks up to the edge. He is standing upright, looking down smugly at Michael. One of them has to die. 'Tis the way it is. You would think. Then comes the typical "any last words" segment, followed immediately by negotiations. The words out of October's mouth are, "Let's make a deal." Negotiations happen, and what do you know? They suddenly become friends. Frenemies.

October's pitch is simple: there’s a more powerful foe to defeat, so let's use our resources together. Michael agrees, and I am just completely stumped. This dude has literally murdered the ones you love! He was a core part of a terrorist attack on a jetliner in the previous book. That jetliner attack is the exact reason you had to keep postponing your honeymoon, which pissed the fuck out of your woman. You had to go home and hear her bitch about it, giving you massive migraines for sure! Now it is suddenly time to be best friends because of some "greater enemy" bullshit. This was a massive cop-out.

"It was never personal,” [October] said finally. “It was just business. Do you understand what I’m saying to you, Michael? It was just business.”
“You put me and my family through hell, and I’ll never forgive you for it. But I understand. I understand everything now"

The newly formed "frenemies" manage to hitch a ride by persuading a random driver with stacks of 20s. While sitting in the vehicle, the duo starts talking completely openly in front of the driver about international assassinations and top-secret CIA operations. Then, without warning, there is an abrupt transition to the very next paragraph where Michael is suddenly driving the car and they are the only ones left in it. The driver just vanishes from existence. Did anyone actually bother to proofread this?

Daniel Silva only wrote two Michael Osborne books before abandoning this universe to move on to his Gabriel Allon series (a character who features in nine times more books). Reading this absolute trainwreck of a climax instantly made me vow to never touch base with another Daniel Silva book again. My investment was broken, my intelligence was insulted, and my precious TIME was utterly wasted. I hope you understand, dear readers, why I had to include the major spoiler.

[Sandra Givens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good read from Daniel Silva. Compelling story, especially in today's environment.

[Fernanda Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Já no final do livro, o Delaroche diz ao Osbourne que a única coisa que sabe do Director era que ele era inglês e que tinha uma rapariga nova chamada Daphne, mas na realidade já tinha estado com ele, a última vez em Amesterdão. Ou seja, podia perfeitamente identificá-lo...mas, alguns pormenores à parte é sem dúvida um bom livro.

[Lance Charnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Daniel Silva has become the go-to guy for realistic espionage thrillers; his Gabriel Allon series has been cited by intelligence professionals as an example of how to do the business right. So what in hell happened with The Marching Season?

This was his third published novel; maybe he was still learning the ropes. There's nothing technically wrong with his prose. The settings are well-realized, and some of the ancillary characters present well. That's to be expected of Silva, and that bit he delivers.

The parts you don't expect from him? A secret international cabal manipulating world events for profit, essentially SPECTRE without Blofeld. Hyper-competent, omni-talented secret agent men as the protagonist and one of the villains. Lengthy biographical info-dumps on each character as he/she is introduced (and not just major characters, either). Complex special operations that take mere minutes or hours to assemble, not the days or weeks that Allon (and real life) requires. It was somewhere after Our Hero’s second tête-à-tête with the Queen (yes, the one with the corgis) – or was it his briefing with Tony Blair? or the pally conversation with the President? – that I spent much the rest of the book checking the cover to see if it was written by one of Ludlum’s ghostwriters.

If you must read this, expect a typical pulp thriller, not the work you get with the Allon series or even The Unlikely Spy, Silva’s freshman hommage to Ken Follett. There are some good parts, but there’s a lot that will get your head shaking. I think I’ll give the prequel (The Mark of the Assassin) a pass and go back to the Silva books that have marked him as a successor to Le Carre.

[Rev. M. M. Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daniel Silva wrote two books featuring Michael Osbourne of the CIA before he created Gabriel Allon, the art restorer and spy/assassin. Michael Osbourne is something of a lone wolf whereas Gabriel Allon always works with a team of agents. The Allon books also seem to have a higher body count, but I wasn't really counting. Three characters from the Osbourne books show up in the Allon novels Ari Sharon, who doesn't have much to do here but eventually becomes head of the Office for whom Gabriel works and Grahame Seymour who is the assistant director of MI6; he's more involved in the operations in this book; and Adrian Carter of the CIA, who is Michael's control agent.

The book itself takes a while to get started. It revolves around a breakaway Loyalist group in Northern Ireland that is trying to scuttle the peace process of the Good Friday accords. The plot is to kill the newly appointed American Ambassador to get America out of the negotiations and throw the process into turmoil. Once the plot begins to take shape, the book picks up speed. The Marching Season is the second Osbourne book and it would have helped to read them in order (which I did not do) since there are references made to things that happened in the first book. Silva adds some real people into the story (Tony Blair; Queen Elizabeth; Gerry Adams; Bertie Ahearn and David Trimble (although they have little to do). Itr's surprising that he didn't use Bill Clinton who was the President of the US at the time of the accords, but mazybe he wanted to give his fictional president a more political stance.

Once again, Silva distinguishes himself by his research. Although the book is not a primer on Anglo-Irish relations, one has a better sense of the Northern Irish situation by reading it.

[Barry who enjoys well-written thrillers, mysteries , & espionage & loathes romance, horror & supernat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoy Daniel Silvia's work - in fact, I have read almost every book that he has written, including the entire Gabriel Allan series, other than the most recent. The Marching Season was the second and last book in the Michael Osborne series and it was written in 2004.

The fact that the book was written so long ago made it particularly interesting as it offered a great contrast to Silvia's more recent work. And that contrast was quite striking. The writing was of much the same quality as Silva's more recent books but the plot was not nearly as sophisticated. It involved a secret organization which aimed to control armed conflict on a worldwide basis. It seemed to me like SPECTRE of James Bond fame. As such, it was very unlike the real world situations brilliantly described in Silva's more recent work.

The characters, in the main, were a bit on the shallow side although my bias, as a result of the unlikely plot, may have colored that opinion. Even great writers, as I believe Silva is, must go through a developmental process rather than springing fully fully formed and brilliant from the head of a cabbage.

Having said all that, I would still recommend The Marching Season to readers who enjoy reading novels on espionage, particularly those written by Silva, although, you may want to read the first Michael Osborne book before this one.

[Melsene G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed book 2 in this series after having read all of the Allon books. The narrator does a great job with the accents too. It's interesting to see the genesis of the Allon characters here as is also present in the first installment of the Osbourne series. Similarities exist and include Adrian Carter, Ari Shamron (albeit small), the artist assassin, the countryside hideaway, to name a few. Lots of killing in this one.

The secret society and the director are scary and based on reality, sadly. I kept conjuring up these global societies comprised of oligarchs. Not a pretty thing. It all comes down to money and power.

Here we've got the Irish/English conflict and folks who want to keep the fight going. So many who are for a cause in the end are useful idiots I'm afraid. Silva writes what he knows and it's a scary world out there. Now, I don't think there's a 3rd book in this series so I may be done until Silva releases the next Allon book and I'll have to wait until next year!

[Aastha Garg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Michael Osbourne series by Daniel Silva and I read this one first. This is written on the backdrop of historical conflicts between Ireland and Britain and hence gives the reader a short sneak peak into that part of the history.
I loved how Michael's character has been well set in this book and doesn't necessitate the need to read the books in chronological order.
Like all Daniel Silva's books, it picks up pace from Chapter 1 and is a page turner. The reader travels through continents and countries along with the main characters and the meticulous plot is commendable. The best part is you don't particularly hate the enemy as his thought process and background character has also been dealt in detail.
I will definitely read the next books.

[Tom Tischler · Rating 4 out of 5]

During the early years in Northern Ireland when they were
trying to find peace three attacks in Belfast, Dublin
and London shattered all hope for peace. A new group called
the Ulster Freedom Brigade has shattered the peace process
and they have only one goal. To destroy the peace process.
Michael Osbourne has gotten out of the CIA bitter and
disillusioned but his father in law is chosen to be the next
ambassador to Britain and Michael is drawn into a battle
with some of the most violent men on earth. I believe that
this is one of Daniel Silva's earlier books from around 1999
but I've read all of his books and this one is as good as
his later novels.