A Death in Vienna

Gabriel Allon #4

by Daniel Silva

Art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna to discover the truth behind a bombing that gravely injured an old friend, but while there he encounters something that turns his world upside down. It is a face --- a face that feels hauntingly familiar, a face that chills him to the bone.

While desperately searching for answers, Allon will uncover a portrait of evil stretching across sixty years and thousands of lives --- and into his own personal nightmares ...

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

432 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 2004

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

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

In this 4th book in the 'Gabriel Allon' series, the Israeli agent is on the trail of a Nazi war criminal who's hidden his identity for years. The book can be read as a standalone.



*****

Multi-lingual Israeli spy/art restorer Gabriel Allon is restoring a painting in Venice.....



.....when a bomb destroys the 'Wartime Claims and Inquiries Office' in Vienna, Austria.



Gabriel's friend Eli Lavon is badly wounded and Eli's staff is killed. When Gabriel travels to Vienna to investigate he meets an elderly Holocaust survivor who claims that a prominent, wealthy, local businessman - Ludwig Vogel - is really a Nazi war criminal named Erich Radek.



Before long the elderly Holocaust survivor is murdered......



.....and Gabriel's further inquiries, which require trips to the Vatican and Argentina, seem to confirm that Vogel is indeed Radek.

Gabriel suspects that the bombing and murder were perpetrated to prevent Vogel/Radek from being exposed - and there's a little side-story associated with this presumption.

Along the way Gabriel learns more about his mother, a Holocaust survivor who's been very reluctant to speak about her wartime experiences.



This makes Gabriel even more determined to bring Radek to justice.

During Gabriel's travels there are several attempts on his life but none are successful due to a little help from his friends. These various friends also help Gabriel hatch up a complex scheme to snatch Radek, and this leads to the book's dramatic climax.

As usual in Daniel Silva's writing, the book has a political bent. In this story, the Vatican, the Catholic Church, and Pope Pius XII are depicted as having collaborated with the Nazis and having helped war criminals escape.



Also, Austria is described as having been sympathetic to the Nazis, with people willing to run concentration camps and cover up war crimes. FYI: The parts of the book that described Nazi treatment of the Jews are graphic and disturbing.

There are an array of interesting characters in this thriller, including Gabriel's art mentor, his girlfriend, a clock restorer/assassin, residents of the Vatican, members of Israeli's intelligence service, and more. The story is fast-paced with plenty of action, but there aren't a lot of twists. Spy thrillers aren't my favorite genre but I enjoyed the book. Recommended for thriller fans.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I deal with the real world, not the world as I would like it to be.”

“A Death in Vienna” is Daniel Silva’s 4th book in his Gabriel Allon series, and #s 2-4 form their own sort of mini trilogy dealing with the “unfinished business of the Holocaust”. The aftermath of the horrors of the Nazis, the anti-Semitism they stirred up, and its place in our current world was the subject of those three books, and “A Death in Vienna” is the best of the three.
This text, like the others in the series follow the exploits of art restorer and reluctant Israeli agent Gabriel Allon and although the tried and true formula for the series is present here, of the five books in the series I have read thus far this one is the most cerebral. The truths and horrors it presents are chilling when one considers that anti-Semitism is openly flaunted at times in the halls of the United Nations today.
Mr. Silva used real life events (such as the Birkenau Death March, and the efforts of Bishop Hudal to aide fleeing war criminals) and Holocaust survivor’s testimony to very disturbing effect in this novel, more so than in his previous. A harrowing chapter that details the Birkenau Death March is sobering and necessarily unpleasant reading. He manages to capture the essence of the Nazi’s motivation for this ridiculous last-ditch effort to hide the facts of the Holocaust and the long lasting effects on those who survived it.
The Gabriel Allon series is quick page turning reading, and I enjoy them from time to time. I will pick up the fifth book in the series soon.

[Karl Marberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this series because the stories have just the right amount of complexity. The stories keep you thinking throughout and, in the end, it all ties together nicely. There’s never a dull moment either, with some great characters and dialogue to boot.

This story was pretty powerful, dealing with Allon tying up the loose ends of his family’s suffering during the holocaust. All around top-notch, action-packed, page-turning fun!

[Paul Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling way to remind us of the story of the Holocaust!

Eli Lavon, an old friend of Gabriel Allon, Israeli master spy, lies near death, the victim of an explosion in the Wartime Claims and Inquiries office in Vienna. When Israeli spymaster, Ari Shamron, asks Allon to track down who was behind the bombing and bring them to justice, a twisted international trail of clues and history leads Allon to tales of his own mother's death march to Auschwitz and traces of Sturmbannführer Erich Radek, now living as Ludwig Vogel, a prominent high profile, wealthy and very influential businessman in Vienna. During the latter stages of WWII, when Hitler and all of his senior staff knew that Germany was losing the war to the squeeze between advancing western Allied and Russian forces, it was a sadistic, psychotic Radek's overwhelming and horrifying job to literally eradicate the existence of the Holocaust from history, to erase the evidence that it ever existed, to bury the camps and to destroy the bodies and mass burial sites.

Like many other spy vs spy espionage thrillers set either in the 1940s or set in the present but related to the context of the events of WWII, the plot of A DEATH IN VIENNA is not a simple one - a complex trail of clues and events, intermingling of historical events with current day happenings, a seemingly endless cast of characters, the mystifying motives of political, racial and military imperatives and a literal maze of globetrotting travel and communication. Who's on whose side, why somebody is doing what they're doing, who's gunning for who, who's telling the truth and who's twisting the facts for their own unstated purposes is never obvious and a reader, if they hope to take anything away from the story, will have to pay close attention from first page to last.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that Silva's Nazi thriller stories are acceptable but not great in comparison with the likes of Jack Higgins or even Ken Follett, for example. But (and I believe this is much more important) this remarkable thriller also allows Silva to continue his story of the Eastern European death camps, the brutal genocide that was the Holocaust and the heartbreaking tale of one woman's courageous story. The way in which Silva tells the story of the plight of the Jewish people during the war, far from being a distracting side story or merely a side bar essay, lifts A DEATH IN VIENNA from a routine and probably unremarkable thriller to a moving and entirely outstanding tale of both mystery, passion and heartbreak.

Even if you are not a particularly big fan of the thriller genre, A DEATH IN VIENNA, as the culmination of the series that includes THE CONFESSOR and THE ENGLISH ASSASSIN, is well worth reading for the history and the back story alone. Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite installment in the series so far!

Rock solid airplane reading, with the added benefit of lots (and lots) of travel and fun venues (Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, Munich, Rome, Vienna, ... and Northern Virginia, ahem), some extremely creative use of history, historical research and archives, and art and religion and banking and ... OK ... intrigue and violence and ... Take my word for it, there's a lot going on here.

I admit I was a little slow on the uptake and was relieved (reaffirmed?) when - in the afterward - Silva explained that he'd treated books 2-4 as a trilogy of sorts. It seemed like things were moving in that direction, and I thought the interlocking themes evolved nicely. In retrospect, books 2-4 represent an incredibly ambitious - and surprisingly effective - retrospective on a number of WWII Nazi/Holocaust themes (none of which reflect well on the Austrians, the Swiss, or the Catholic Church, but history is what it is), ranging from the persecution/extermination of Jews, theft and concealment of Jewish owned art, and, of course, sheltering/assimilation and the enrichment of Nazi perpetrators/war criminals after the war, as well as the staying power and resurgence of the far right, etc. In any event, it would be a mistake not to read these three in order.

I'm increasingly intrigued by the market for these books (or, in other words, who buys them). My experience suggests there are a lot more people who might dislike (or be offended by) them than those for whom the underlying themes will resonate. Who knows, maybe folks read them as serial thrillers and don't expend too many neurons focusing on the history.... In any event, I'm glad that Silva keeps writing, and I hope he's making some money off of the series.

And, yes, the protagonist, Gabriel Allon is growing on me, so I'll keep reading. I fear the bar has been raised, so I'm braced for disappointment, but ... to the extent the series keeps going, I'm confident there were plenty of additional high points.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent Daniel Silva book. This one delves into the darkness and horrors of the holocaust. A hard one to put down, highly recommend

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am enjoying Daniel Silva's series on Israeli spy/Art restorer Gabriel Allon very much for the well researched blend of fact and fiction that often gives one pause for thought and encourages the reader to further investigate recent historical events.
A Death in Vienna, the fourth in the series is probably the best so far and definitely carries the most emotional impact. It is the last in a trio of books (Allon #2-4) dealing with Naziism and the Holocaust and concludes 'the business' with a huge exclamation mark.
When Gabriel is called to Vienna to investigate a bombing that severely injures an old friend, he is led down an intricate path that begins with a murder and takes him around the world and back to his own doorstep as the horrific past reasserts itself and leaves him fighting not only for his own emotional well-being, but for his very life.
There is one chapter, a harrowing account of the Death March from Birkenau in 1945 that is a punch to the gut. Indeed, the novel highlights many atrocities including the horrific complicity of the Catholic Church, and in fact, much of Europe, in allowing, as part of Hitler's Final Solution, the persecution and systematic extermination of six million Jews to happen, and then, to help the murderers to cover their tracks as they fled.
This is not your average spy thriller folks. This is powerful stuff.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gabriel Allon is an art restorer



and Israeli spy, haunted by his mother's experience of the Death March from Auschwitz, but oddly not quite haunted as much by his young son's death from a car bomb planted by an avenging Islamic terrorist 12 years earlier. Allon was interrogated immediately after the bomb went off:

"Where's my son?"
"I'm afraid he's dead."
"What about my wife?"

Not even a little pause there after hearing of his son's murder! His wife Leah survived the bombing but lost her marbles and now resides in a mental asylum, freeing Allon to cavort with a sexy Israeli spyess, Chiara.

All the 20-something women here are referred to as "girls" and the Jewish/Israeli or even just the dark-haired ones are all "stubborn and fiery." In one of her few scenes, Chiara "brought coffee and rugelach" to the men. Why Chiara? Not only is she a professional woman, a spy like Allon, but she scored higher on the firing range exam than he did. Now here she is fetching his snack!

There's a squat balding assassin named the Clockmaker we're supposed to dislike because he's trying to kill Allon, but frankly I appreciated that the Clockmaker took a look at Chiara and recognized this was in fact not a "girl," but "a woman with long dark hair."

This is competently written as far as these things go (although there is a reference to "a large swatch of the Ukraine" when clearly Silva is looking for the word swath), but Allon is nowhere near interesting enough to make me want to read any more of the series.

[Susan Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set across Europe and in Israel, A Death in Vienna is a spy tale intent on righting some of the wrongs of The Holocaust. Part-time spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna by The Office (think CIA, but deadlier) to investigate a bombing at the Wartime Claims and Inquiries office. Following clues to the identity of a Nazi officer, Gabriel travels the globe with an assassin hot on his tail.

While this book was very interesting, and I learned more about the atrocities of the Nazis, I can't say it was riveting. I feel that spy novels should keep the reader on the edge of his seat. With this book I could barely bring myself to finish it!!! Maybe I was too preoccupied with new hobbies, but I just couldn't get into this book. My rating: 2/5

[kartik narayanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standard Gabriel Allon stuff. It is enjoyable, so it's fine.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much about European collaborators and empathetic priests for the Nazis. Not near enough growth and vengeance for Gabriel Allon. 2 of 10 stars

[Zbegniew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is 4th novel featuring the protagonist Gabriel Allon, a semi-retired Mossad agent whose day job is now as one of the world's foremost art restorers. The story starts in Venice and includes stops in Argentina, Israel and Munich but as the title suggests it mostly revolves around characters and events in Vienna. The plot concerns a former SS member who has changed his identity and now seeks to bring his hard right-wing brand of politics to Austria. It deals with Austria's lingering anti-Semitism and its tendency to sweep its Nazi past under the rug. The novel also explains all the various ways Nazi war criminals used to escape Europe in the last days of the war. In particular, it describes how the Catholic church was instrumental in providing them with new identities and arranging for them to emigrate to various South American countries, especially Peron's Argentina.

This series has gotten progressively better and I heartily recommend it to any fan of the espionage genre, or to anyone who isn't but who would like to sample it. I found it a quick, fun read. I finished it in two days. There are some fairly graphic descriptions of concentration camp atrocities that may upset sensitive readers.

It is not necessary to read the books in order, although that's what I've done. The first novel in the series, "The Kill Artist," is the weakest of the series in my opinion. But subsequent novels in the series are much stronger. If you want to sample the series, this one would be a good one to try. If you like it, you can always go back and read the previous ones.

[Jonathan K (Max Outlier) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silva demonstrates his prowess and in-depth research with the fourth installment of the Gabriel Allon series. As mentioned in other reviews of the early books, he feigns the formulaic approach in favor of complex, revealing and in some cases, shocking reality

Allon has been restoring an alter-piece in Venice and is told of the terrorist attack in Vienna that nearly kills his longtime friend and colleague, Eli Lavon. His then girlfriend Chiara is instructed by the Office to discretely join Gabriel on his trip. Its here we learn of her superiority to Gabriel with marshal arts and weapons. Noticing how badly injured Eli is due to the impact of the bomb placed inside a computer, the pair become dead set on finding who was responsible. Gabriel meets with Max Klein, a principle of Wartime Crimes and Inquiries where Lavon was visiting the day of the explosion. During the Holocaust recap, Allon can't help but revisit the horrid memories of his parents whose lives were lost during the atrocity.

As the plot plays out, Allon follows a trail that leads him to Herr Vogel and when they meet, Gabriel is haunted by his appearance. Trained as a spy, he shares his concerns with the Office who assists with uncovering truths via Ari Shamron who while no longer the Director, plays a pivotal role with intelligence. Once again, the father/son relationship with Ari and Gabriel is front and center. As we learn the shocking details of the inhumanity by Nazi's, we're reminded that Shamron was responsible for capturing Eichmann. While reviewing intelligence, Allon's memory is jogged when he sees a photo of Erich Radek and realizes Vogel is one in the same. What I found of particular interest was that both Austria and Switzerland shielded Nazi criminals while the Vatican justified funding their escapes. Shocking to say the least

The labyrinth is long and deep; as its traversed a plan to capture Radek at his highly guarded fortress plays out. And this wouldn't be a Silva mystery if it didn't include an assassin referred to as the Clockmaker hunting for Allon while he moves the capture operation forward.

Packed with suspense, plot twists and shocking stories, this is yet another feather in Daniel Silva's cap. For fans of mystery and pacing I recommend you add it to your list

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fourth book in the Gabriel Allon series was published in 2003 and once again we find the art restorer/Israeli agent dealing with surviving Holocaust victims and war criminals nearly sixty years after the end of the war. The clock is running out on these people and with it the possibility of bringing any sort of justice to either the victims or their tormentors.

This entry finds Allon still working on restoring a painting at a church in Venice. While he works there, a bomb explodes in Vienna at the Wartime Claims and Inquiries Office. The head of the office, Eli Lavon, is also a sometime Israeli agent and a friend of Allon. He is seriously injured in the blast and the two women who worked with him are killed.

Ari Shamron, Allon's former boss at the Israeli intelligence agency, arranges for him to go to Vienna to investigate. There he meets an elderly Holocaust survivor who insists that a prominent local businessman named Ludwig Vogel is actually a notorious Nazi war criminal named Erich Radek. Coincidentally, it develops that Radek was one of those at the Nazi death camp at Birkenau where Allon's mother was held. Moreover, his late mother's written testimony implicates Radek as the murderer of two of her friends and as one of her own tormentors. Also, she was an artist and some of her art works based on Birkenau experiences show Radek.

Soon, Allon's informant in Vienna is himself killed and his investigation leads him to believe that the bomb blast as well as the murder of the elderly Holocaust survivor were done to prevent Vogel/Radek from being publicly exposed. Austria is in the midst of an election campaign and the leading candidate for the presidency on the right is actually the son of Radek. To expose him as the son of a Nazi could disrupt the campaign. (Or maybe not. This is Austria, the country that elected Kurt Waldheim, after all.)

Anyway, Allon follows Radek's trail after the war all the way to Argentina, in order to prove that he is who the Israelis believe he is. Then he concocts a complicated scheme to force Radek to go to Israel and to stand trial for his war crimes. The story becomes a thriller as we follow Allon and his team as they implement the plan and try to bring one more old Nazi to justice.

Parts of the book involve descriptions of the treatment of the people in concentration camps, including the written testimony of Allon's mother. These sections are graphic and disturbing and very difficult to read. On the other hand, we also see Allon's developing relationship with his girlfriend, Chiara, another Israeli agent who watches his back in difficult situations here.

The plot is fast-paced and full of action, but I had the sense that, in spite of the action, the character of Allon is rather static. There doesn't seem to have been much growth or development throughout these first four books in the series. Perhaps that will change in future books.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 4th book in the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva. This series is getting better and better as the characters develop and more sub plots are related. This spy series is different to my normal Mystery Thriller genre but rarely fails to deliver. The stories are full of action and intrigue and delivered at a break neck pace and I don't think it will be that long before I start his next instalment.

[Jim A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a re-read for me. I first read this 12 years or so ago.

One of Silva's historical fiction novels. This one dealt with war crimes against the Jews in Europe during WW II and roles played by various entities in helping the war criminals escape death penalty after the war.

For those who like historical fiction, I strongly recommend this Silva offering.

[Maria Carmo · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are books that are excellently written, albeit a bit repetitive... Like a cook who found a good recipe and just uses it with slight alterations. Of course it is enthusing and full of suspense, well written and researched... I am going to go on reading the Allon series and I am sure that I will still find cause to give four stars again.

Maria Carmo,

Lisbon 12 September 2016.

[Nadim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am Shamron and I never forget.
Complex and compelling espionage spy thriller by Daniel Silva depicted the story on a Nazi operation to conceal atrocities of the Holocaust in the world war.

[Jeff P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, a satisfying end to the trilogy.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”--- George Santayana

“History is written by the victors”--- Winston Churchill

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”--- Marcus Garvey

The Holocaust happened. Let’s start with that. Sad that it has to be said, but there are, believe it or not, people in this world who not only don’t know that the Holocaust happened (a product of willful ignorance and lack of education) but that believe that the Holocaust was a hoax, perpetrated by Zionists (a product of Anti-Semitism and nationalistic historical revisionism).

It has been a calculated effort by Nazis, white supremacists, and racists worldwide to foment doubt about one of the most atrocious acts of evil perpetrated in the 20th century. Their purpose is a simple one: create enough doubt in the minds of this generation so that future generations will question the veracity of the historical record of the Holocaust and will therefore not be worthy of being taught in schools. Over time, the Holocaust will become a legend, a myth, an event that never actually happened. This makes it that much easier to ensure that the next Holocaust, the next Final Solution, the next global genocide will be successful. People will be less likely to question it or protest it if they have no historical frame of reference, no event to look back on and say, “never again”. One can’t say “never again” about a fictional incident that “never was”.

George Orwell described it perfectly in his novel “1984”. In that novel, a totalitarian oligarchy keeps its people subdued through economic oppression and a campaign of ignorance. The best way to keep people from rising up is to make them so destitute that they feel powerless to do anything and to make them too stupid to know that they are destitute.

Since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, hate crimes and racist attacks have increased markedly in this country, but the Nazi sympathies and white nationalism that have engendered these attacks have been around for decades. Trump simply gave them a welcome outlet under his presidency, by allowing Steve Bannon, the Alt-Right, Breitbart News, the Nazi Party, and the KKK to endorse him without condemnation. Racist or not, Trump’s silence (or, in some cases, extremely tepid censures) about the rise in racist hate crimes is, at the very least, cowardly and, at the most, a more-than-tacit approval.

Daniel Silva, in his 2004 novel “A Death in Vienna”, creates a frighteningly prophetic scenario in which forward-thinking Nazis during World War II, Holocaust deniers, Nazi-sympathizing higher-ups within the Vatican, and contemporary neo-Nazi politicians work to create a perfect storm of confusion and turmoil within the population with the intent of putting someone exactly like Trump in as president.

Thankfully, Israeli super-spy and art restorer extraordinaire Gabriel Allon is there to save the day. But where’s our hero to save us from Trump?

“A Death in Vienna” is Silva at the top of his form, weaving an intricate plot that is suspenseful, entertaining, and also extremely thought-provoking. Set in Austria, Silva’s novel starts with a chance encounter in a Viennese coffeehouse between an old Jewish survivor of Auschwitz and a man that he is certain was a high-ranking Nazi officer at the camp. This immediately sets off a chain of events that leads Allon to Israel, the Vatican, Argentina, and his own past, as he discovers that his own mother (also a survivor) possesses a clue to his present predicament.

To say more would be spoilers, and this is definitely a thriller in which the less one knows going in, the better, as the plot twists abound.

It should be noted, again, that Silva wrote this in 2004, long before Trump gave any indication of entering politics. The parallels are freaky but perhaps shouldn’t be that surprising. It simply reiterates the importance of studying and preserving our history before a totalitarian regime (like Trump’s) takes it away and/or reshapes it in their favor.

[ANKO · Rating 4 out of 5]

เกิดเหตุระเบิดสำนักงานสอบสวนที่เพื่อนของเกเบรียลทำงานอยู่
เกเบรียลจึงต้องไปสืบว่าเป็นฝีมือใคร
ถ้าถามว่าชอบตอนไหนมากที่สุดของเล่ม น่าจะเป็นบทที่ 16
“คำให้การของอีเรเนอ อัลลอน 19 มีนาคม 1957” ซึ่งจะเป็นการเล่าประสบการณ์ของคุณแม่เกเบรียล ที่ต้องใช้ชีวิตอยู่ในค่ายกักกันนาซี ซึ่งมันสะเทือนใจมากๆ และทำให้เรารู้สึกสนใจเกี่ยวกับประวัติชาวยิว จนต้องไปหาข้อมูลมาอ่านเพิ่มเติม

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A Death in Vienna” is Silva’s 4th book in his Allon series. Unfortunately, I didn't read the first 3 books. However, Silva gave a very brief of Gabriel's background. I didn't feel for a minute that Daniel is a man with superpowers!! Also, the emotions here were "Cold". However, the story was very engaging and I loved the idea of showing Nazis crimes and describing the holocaust.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Death In Vienna, by Daniel Silva, continues the Gabriel Allon series. I’ve read two other entries in this series, both of which were entertaining thrillers. This one, however, was a bit different.

Apparently the conclusion of a sort of trilogy concerning the Holocaust and the complicity of various agencies, including the Catholic Church, that aided Nazi war criminals by providing safe passage to other countries after the war, this novel is less a straight up thriller and more of a historical-fiction-sort-of-thriller.

It still was well written in the author’s linear, page-turning style, but felt less “spy” and more of a political object lesson. If it helps to disseminate greater awareness of the atrocities committed by the Nazis and the subsequent efforts to cover up the former, then it is well worth writing and reading. Perhaps it will even stimulate some readers to investigate the non-fictional aspects of this astoundingly dark time in history.

Allon, the “best” assassin in the Mossad, seems off his game throughout the book, and regardless of the reason, that hampered the story for me. The chase and capture of a war criminal that comprises the majority of the novel felt a bit “by the numbers,” resulting in a 3.5 star rating, rounded down.
Enjoyable nonetheless, fans will want to include this one.

[Ismar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ovaj dio serijala o Gabrielu Allonu pruža interesantne i jezive činjenice o ulozi Austrije i Argentine u stradanju Jevreja tokom Drugog svjetskog rata. Ocjena je nešto niža jer ovaj roman, u odnosu na prethodne, sadrži manju dozu adrenalina svojstvenog trilerima.

[Soraya Zavala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente obra y me encanto conocer más de esta época tan difícil de la historia y todo lo que implicó.

[Pamela Small · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impeccable research. Dynamic characters with authentic dialogue. Engaging writing style with vivid imagery. Excellent. Enlightening. It is an important read. However, the weighted content makes this a difficult read. Very heavy hearted. It is a credit to author Daniel Silva to so deeply impact readers to the horrors of the Holocaust. It is much more in the historical espionage fiction genre rather than escapism thriller- chiller.

[N.L. Brisson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three of the books I have read in the Gabriel Allon series, Daniel Silva tells us in the end notes of A Death in Vienna, are thematically related. They each are “dealing with the unfinished business of the Holocaust.” In The English Assassin Silva looks at “art looting” and the “collaboration of Swiss banks”. In The Confessor he looks at the “role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and the silence of Pope Pius XII. In A Death in Vienna he looks into Aktion 1005 which was “the real code name of the Nazi program to conceal and destroy the remains of millions of Jewish dead” and the activities of Bishop Aloïs Hudal “rector of the Pontificio Santa Maria dell’Anima, who helped hundreds of Nazi war criminals flee Europe.” He tells us that the Vatican still maintains the Bishop acted without the knowledge of the pope. It is unusual for a thriller to have an Israeli subtext, and it takes skill on the part of the author to expose real wrongs while his novel still unfolds as an exciting puzzle for a spy, or spy organization, to solve.

This tale begins with a bomb at the Wartime Claims and Inquiry Office. Eli Lavon, who runs this office is critically injured. His employees, Reveka and Sarah are killed. Eli Lavon is an Israeli but he has a closer connection to the Israeli Secret Service known as the Office. In the early 70’s he worked for them and the skills he possesses are legendary. Gabriel, art restorer and Israeli spy, leaves another Bellini in another Venetian Cathedral to find out why the Wartime Claims and Inquiry Office was bombed and why his friend Eli Lavon is lying unconscious in a hospital in Vienna.

Clues lead Allon to a Nazi hiding under a new name in Vienna. At least he seems to be this certain Nazi, but research is necessary to confirm it, even involving travel to South America. This hidden Nazi basically worked for the Germans as an eraser. Mass graves full of dead bodies were beginning to show signs of what had been hidden under too little earth. It was this man’s job to uncover these putrefying mass graves full of Jewish people who had been gassed or executed and to sanitize them by burning the remains and scattering the ashes. Of course this would also erase any evidence of what the German’s had been doing. This particular Nazi had value because he had devised a way to make a fire that was hot enough to do the sad job. He used Jewish prisoners to do the macabre work and the ashes and bones were moved to local rivers and streams. He never got to erase all of the evidence because the German’s ran out of time and lost the war.

This eraser man, like many Nazi’s saw himself as culturally sensitive because he loved great art and music. Since he did not actually get his hands dirty he apparently did not feel that the inhumanity of what he did compromised his elitism. He accompanied Gabriel’s mother on the Death March out of the “camps”. He killed survivors on the way out if they gave the wrong answer to the question “What will you tell the world and your children?” He once spent on day on a railroad platform forcing a Jewish man to play a classical piece of music over and over again. This Nazi on the rise asked arriving prisoners if they knew the name of the music. If they didn’t know he shot them.

Does such a man deserve to be stalked and taken off to prison in Israel? Almost any human being would say yes. But for Gabriel this one is very personal.

[Mafs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good (literary) surprise and a tough reminder that sometimes fiction is a classroom for reality.
Very well-researched and appealing, it got me hooked from almost the begging. Although it got me on my nerves a couple of times by objectifying female tertiary female characters, I'll never forget the intense story of Gabriel's mother on that death march from the nazi concentration camp and how she represents lots of strong women and people who had to endure the horrors of Holocaust.

I'm definitely reading all the other books in the Gabriel Alon's series, especially the other two which, along this one, are part of the Holocaust's Trilogy, as I just found out.

[Nuno Peralta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A minha estreia com Daniel Silva e fiquei conquistado. Já andava há algum tempo para o ler, mas foi sempre ficando para segundo plano. Agora que, por razões profissionais, conheci Viena, achei por bem pegar neste livro. Em boa hora o fiz! História com cabeça, tronco e membros, ficção mas com um fio condutor agarrado à História real e personagens muito bem conseguidas.
E agora, já sei que se seguem os restantes livros de Gabriel Allon... :)

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely done espionage fiction, featuring art restorer and former Israeli agent Gabriel Allon. The plot deftly mixed historical facts and globe trotting action. Listened to the audio version which was narrated by John Lee who did an excellent job with all different character's nationalities.