JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

The Heist by Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon, art restorer and occasional spy, searches for a stolen masterpiece by Caravaggio in #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva’s latest action-packed tale of high stakes international intrigue.

Sometimes the best way to find a stolen masterpiece is to steal another one…

I think this is actually the first ‘spy fiction’ novel I’ve ever read. It’s fast-paced and a globe trotter. This story is not just about stolen artwork. Gabriel Allon, whose wife is pregnant with twins, is asked to help when Jack Bradshaw is found murdered. Bradshaw was known for ‘dodgy dealings’ and stealing and selling expensive artwork. As you can probably guess, Bradshaw is not the only body that’s discovered in this story.

Sometimes I found the novel to be quite confusing, and I think ‘spy stories’ work best as movies because they’re much easier to follow. The plot was fast-paced and the characters seemed to be able to figure out things and come up with these elaborate plans in two pages, and then the reader is left with questions that they feel don’t get answered. A few times I had to backtrack and reread certain pages because their conversations were ripe with lingo I didn’t understand and were almost short-hand.

Although I think the middle section of the novel was unnecessarily complex, I was intrigued by the conclusion of the story. Unexpected events occurred, and the ending was surprising.

This was the first Daniel Silva novel, and I recommend it only to people who have read his work before or people who have read a fair bit of spy fiction previously. Otherwise, it’s a little hard to get used to the pace and you feel like you’re reading the second book in a trilogy without having read the first.

My Score: 7/10

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I always know when I’m reading a brilliant book because it influences my mood, and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl made me feel frustrated and angry for the 48 hours that I was reading it.

The novel is about Nick’s wife, Amy, who goes missing on the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary. The first third of the novel functions like any crime/thriller. Someone goes missing (presumed dead), and the first suspect is questioned (usually the husband). But when you get to Part B (the second third of the novel), you’re inundated with twists and horrible acknowledgements from both characters. Part C adds to the suspense in a ‘how will this novel end?’ kind of way. I can’t say much without ruining those twists, so I’ll keep my review vague.

You realise quite quickly that this novel is not like most crime/thriller novels. The characters have depth, and their motivations and background is explained well. Flynn switches point of view between Nick and Amy (this seems like a spoiler, but Amy’s point of view is from the past in the form of diary entries), and the transition is handled quite smoothly. Flynn has established their voices really well, and they don’t intertwine and ever feel like similar characters.

The only downside to the novel is that neither character seems relatable. Nick is a cheater (sorry for the slight spoiler, but you learn this pretty early on), and Amy is a manipulative bitch (excuse the language). It’s hard to know which character you like more, because I felt like I didn’t really like either character. Still, I wanted to know what happened to Amy. And Gillian knows how to write a great thriller.

My Score: 9/10