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| Moscow Rules | 
 enlarge | Author: Daniel Silva
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $9.15
You Save: $17.80 (66%)
New (67) Used (68) Collectible (15) from $8.14
Avg. Customer Rating:  92 reviews
Sales Rank: 886
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 433
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.7
ISBN: 0399155015
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780399155017
ASIN: 0399155015
Publication Date: July 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New!!! bce
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| Customer Reviews:
 engaging spy thriller July 24, 2008
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Art restorer Alessio Vianelli also known in some secretive circles as Israeli master-spy Gabriel Allon is on his honeymoon with his second wife Chiara in Umbria when his friend and undercover associate Uzi Navot meets with him at an Assisi, Italy restaurant. Uzi, a senior official for the Israel secret intelligence service, informs Gabriel that Russian arms dealer Ivan Kharkov is selling weapons to al-Qaeda. The assumption is obvious that a planned major terrorist attack is forthcoming, but none of the western espionage agents knows which cell or where. Gabriel insists on investigating.
The tip came from inside Moscow as Ivan's wife Elena warned the west. Gabriel believes she is the only avenue to who specifically her spouse is selling the weapons to; she must be recruited in order for her to obtain Kharkov's ledger sheet. Unknown to Gabriel and his associates is that the former Russian Colonel and his associates have grandiose schemes to return Russia to its Soviet Empire glory days and thanks to western, Chinese, and Indian thirst for oil, money is no longer an obstacle.
The Allon counterespionage series is one of the best spy thriller sagas on the market today; however his latest escapades in Moscow is fast-paced, but lacks the moral underpinnings that make the enemy seem human. Perhaps it is because MOSCOW RULES follows the fantastic THE SECRET SERVANT, which placed the spy thriller quality bar at stratospheric levels especially with the extraordinary explanation on how a person metamorphosis into a terrorist. In spite a shaky ending, Daniel Silva's tale showcases a different no longer bleak Moscow in which oil money and America's economic woes has made many think they can revisit and win the Cold War especially influential ruthless former military colonels.
Harriet Klausner
 Silva rules July 22, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Daniel Silva's latest Gabriel Allon thriller is about the art restorer/spy's efforts to stop the sale of Russian weapons to al-Qaeda, which could lead to the deadliest terrorist attack on the U.S. since 9/11. The arms dealer is Ivan Kharkov, former KGB officer and currently a wealthy, ruthless practitioner of organized crime in modern Moscow, where a new crop of Stalinists is becoming a growing threat to Russia's oldest nemesis, the United States. (This part of the novel, concerning the return of traditional Stalinist principles and sentiments to present-day Russia as a way to reclaim past glories and global dominance, reminded me of Martin Cruz Smith's novel "Stalin's Ghost." Very interesting subject matter for a spy story, and it's done well in both books.) Allon uses his art background to gain access to Kharkov's wife Elena, an art collector, but nothing is easy after that. I think Silva writes some of the fastest-paced novels in the genre, and I raced through this one in one day. Tremendously exciting and highly recommended.
Also recommended:A Stranger Lies There - winner of the Malice Domestic Award for best first mystery, it has a great protoganist in Tim Ryder, a former 70's radical whose past comes back to haunt him one morning in the form of a dead body on his front lawn.
For the Love of Money July 26, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
With elements pulled from the front pages of major newspapers worldwide, author Daniel Silva delivers a twisting, intellectual thriller that operates where oil is king.
A former KGB colonel has amassed a massive fortune in the resource wars, but has his sights set on a deal that will change the landscape of the world stage and allow a terrorist organization to emerge from the shadows & gain influence as a legitimate power.
Former Mossad agent Gabriel Allon - the franchise main character in the Silva novels - must put the numerous jigsaw puzzle pieces together before the ticking time bomb explodes.
The Moscow Rules are supposedly a series of CIA-inspired rules of engagement for spies in Moscow during the Cold War. The rules include: assume nothing; never go against your gut; everyone is potentially under opposition control; don't look back, you are never completely alone and go with the flow, blend in.
The remaining rules are: vary your pattern and stay within your cover; lull them into a sense of complacency; don't harass the opposition; pick the time and place for action and keep your options open.
Silva expertly applies the rules to the chase, which is a race with a pace that does not abate.
 A Descent Into Hackdom August 16, 2008
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
The earlier books had a intriguing mixture of character and tradecraft. Unhappily, now, Silva is just phoning it in, lazily dredging up old characters from past novels for no apparent reason other than to repeat similar functions and fill up pages. No new conflicts from them, particularly Sarah, no advancing of plot, or more intriguingly, their relationship with Allon. The villain has become the same brutal venal character; only the name changes. But much worse, MOSCOW RULES features the luckiest Deus ex Machina since Aristophanes. Without 'spoiling' the very fortuitous climax, all the previously hard won respect for Allon's ingenuity and skill is not exploited; instead, the vaunted team just leaves town, and the only thing that saves Allon and those that depend on him is the lamest break in the history of airport thrillers. The Allon Series has clearly run its course. Even the copy editors Silva so graciously thanks don't seem to care too much anymore either as a non-sequitur -- an apparently dropped line from Allon on page 166 where Seymour confusingly speaks twice in a row, anwering a question that was not asked -- caused me to reread the exchange five times before realizing I was reading a typo. No matter, the dialogue that is coherent is flat and lazy, with too many scenes of characters telling each other information that they both already know simply for the sake of the audience. And please save the political rants: yes, Stalin, was certainly a murderer, but at least give the Russian people their due, as do all historians, for taking the millions of casualties -- civilian and military -- which bought the Allies the time to defeat Hitler. But in Silva's rigid world, everything now is black and white. If this review seems uncharitable, it's only because the first few books of the series showed such great promise and passion. Unique characters, worthy and motivated adversaries. However, the last couple, particularly The Secret Servant and Moscow Rules, are the last bloated gasps of a series that should be put to rest. Mentioning these efforts from Silva in the same breath as Greene and LaCarre is a joke.
Wonderful spy thriller July 28, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I loved Moscow Rules. It is by far the best book I have read this year. Moscow Rules is my favorite of the Gabriel Allon novels. The characters are wonderful. Reading this novel, I felt like I was catching up with old friends. The plot moves at a fast pace with never a dull or wasted moment. I can't wait an entire year for another journey into this mysterious, dangerous, sexy world Mr. Silva has created.
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