Daniel Silva’s 22nd novel, THE NEW GIRL, again stars Gabriel Allon, the iconic art restorer, spy, assassin, and chief of Israeli intelligence. This time Allon forms an alliance with a most unexpected partner, in a complex story of intrigue, betrayal, and revenge.

Khalid bin Mohammed (or KBM as he is known) is the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. He established his worldwide reputation as a social and religious reformer. That is, until the brutal murder of a dissident journalist that KBM is believed to have sanctioned. Then, KBM’s young daughter, who is secretly attending a boarding school in Geneva, climbs into her usual limousine to head home and is never seen again.

Distraught over the kidnapping KBM contacts Sarah Bancroft, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, who has also advised KBM in his art purchases. KBM knows that Sarah once worked for Gabriel Allon, and KBM pleads for Allon’s help in rescuing his daughter.

But why would Allon aid a Saudi Muslim, whose home country is bent of Israel’s destruction?

Silva employs his usual method of relaying events as though they occurred in the recent past, and then details the events through the eyes of those involved. It is a method that has served him well in previous Allon novels, and continues to work in this latest adventure.

By now Allon has settled into his administrative role as the chief of Israeli intelligence, but still insists upon occasionally working in the field. So it comes as no surprise to his family and his fellow intelligence officers that Allon seriously considers helping KBM find those who stole his daughter and returning the young girl to her father.

Silva readers will remember Sarah Bancroft from previous novels. Along with Bancroft, a few other characters reemerge in this latest work. They include members of Allon’s reliable intelligence network, Allon’s aging but insightful predecessor and mentor, and the notorious title character from Silva’s THE OTHER WOMAN (2018).

And Silva again incorporates actual events into his plot. The murder of the dissent journalist is based upon the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as Silva readily confesses in his brief Introduction. An Author’s Afterword further explains what is fact and what sprang from Silva’s imagination.

If there is a fault with this latest work, it is the narrative structure. While most of the plot is devoted to the kidnapping, a second related mission takes up most of the second half. Silva’s devotion to detail and verisimilitude causes this second task to drag on longer than it should and it feels a bit anticlimactic.

But this is a small price to pay for the pleasure of once again spending a few hours in Allon’s competent and suspenseful company. THE NEW GIRL is a worthy addition to this excellent series, and again demonstrates why Silva is among the very best of today’s contemporary espionage authors. —Alan Cranis

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