For those who have read Moscow Rules and interested in discussing it...

[Kerry]

Have now finished reading Moscow Rules and I thorougly enjoyed it! I agree with another persons comment in another thread that the writing is becoming prescriptive, however, that said - it is always such a pleasure to find a book that keeps you wanting to turn the next page :-)

I was a bit confused at the end of the book as something happened around 273 that made me think...ohhh! wait for it - someone is being deceived...but what I was thinking never happened. It is the part where Elena is telling Gabriel about the quiet lunch she had with Olga Sukhova so she could tell the world about Ivan's 'arrows'. I was thinking to myself that there could have been no way Ivan would not have known about her lunch with Olga. Elena couldn't go anywhere without her bodyguards and without Ivan knowing her every move - she even needed to make out she was having an affair to get away and see Gabriel. How then could she have lunch with the famous Olga, who is linked with Boris Ostrovsky and Aleksandr Lubin and Ivan still not figure out where the leak came from???? I though there was going to be ANOTHER twist at the end and was kinda disappointed when it never happened. Daniel Silva is usually such a careful writer and this section is a complete contrast to the rest of the book.

I would be interested to hear other ppls POV on the issue if it is something that they noticed and were puzzled by as well.

[Nell]

I was somewhat disappointed in the last book of the Gabriel Allon series but how could it possibly meet my unrealistic expectations? After his previous spellbinding novels, perhaps Silva was exhausted with his intent to satisfy his readers!

[D.K.]

I enjoyed this book a great deal. I think mainly because because Gabriel was put in a totally different environment. I love where Gabriel commented that he rather fight terrorists than to face the Russian FSB. He seemed more vulnerable in this novel than others.

[Jac]

I agree with Kerry. It wasn't explained how she could've escaped her bodyguards and hide the friendship to Olga from Ivan's.

I've already read the next "chapter" in Allon's unpeaceful life and i dare say it's better than "Moscow Rules".

I anxiously await the release of "The rembrandt affair" in paperback... till then i'm going to give Michael Osbourne adventures a try...

[Angie]

Kerry wrote: "Have now finished reading Moscow Rules and I thorougly enjoyed it! I agree with another persons comment in another thread that the writing is becoming prescriptive, however, that said - it is alway..."

Great finding of a plot hole! I remember imagining the scene and thinking that Olga must have arranged the meet--perhaps hiding her true identity from the guards? Also, the author left it unclear how intensely Elena was guarded while Ivan was away (at least before the events of the novel). I'd like to think that Elena had lunch with Olga while Ivan was spending time with one of his mistresses. : )

[Kirk]

In my working years I called books like these "airplane books": to be purchased as paperbacks in airport bookshops, read on planes, and left for another passenger or the flight attendant when finished.

One thing I do like is a hero who, in this episode at least, is middle aged. Of course he still fires a pistol with a totally unrealistic degree of accuracy (even with one eye unusable) and of course has a sideline as a masterful painter, two things that I find rather improbable.

The opening scene about Lubin's reception at the hotel is pretty unlikely as well in my view.

[David]

I just finished the book a few days ago and my big beef was it was slow, too slow for a thriller.

Except for some action in the first chapter or two, the first 350 pages were all set-up for the last 150.

And Silva spent way too many words setting the scene in many chapters. Did we really need to know the history of the Egyptian Obelisk at the Vatican?