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    The Confessor
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    The Confessor
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    The Confessor
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    The Confessor

    Written by Daniel Silva

    Narrated by Arliss Howard

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Detective Gabriel Allon returns in this stunning thriller of ancient and modern betrayal, long-buried secrets and unthinkable deeds. In Munich, writer Benjamin Stern enters his flat to find a man leafing through his research. When Stern confronts him, the man shoots him, murmurs a few words in Latin, gathers the papers and leaves. In Venice, art restorer and Israeli agent Gabriel Allon reads a message saying that Stern is dead; can he leave immediately? At the Vatican, a priest named Pietro paces in the garden, pondering the discoveries he has made, the enemies he will make, and the journey he must undertake. Silva weaves these three threads into a multilayered mystery peopled with memorable characters and distinguished by rich prose.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 4, 2003
    ISBN9780375419317
    Unavailable
    The Confessor
    Author

    Daniel Silva

    Daniel Silva is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Unlikely Spy, The Mark of the Assassin, The Marching Season, The Kill Artist, The English Assassin, The Confessor, A Death in Vienna, Prince of Fire, The Messenger, The Secret Servant, Moscow Rules, The Defector, The Rembrandt Affair, Portrait of a Spy, The Fallen Angel, The English Girl, The Heist, The English Spy, The Black Widow, House of Spies, The Other Woman, The New Girl, The Order, and The Collector. He is best known for his long-running thriller series starring spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon. Silva’s books are critically acclaimed bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than thirty languages. He lives with his wife, television journalist Jamie Gangel, and their twins, Lily and Nicholas.

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    Reviews for The Confessor

    4/5

    500 ratings25 reviews

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    • 5/5
      What is not to like with a Gabriel Allon book. This is one of my favourite series, and in each one I have read Daniel Silva tells a great, and believable, story. This book has some history, a mixture of intrigue, politics and religion. This one revolves around the Catholic Church, the Second World War and the death of an academic in Germany. This leads to an adventure that takes place right across Europe. It grabs you from the first page and never lets you go. I strongly recommend this book and the series.
    • 4/5
      Gabriel Allon, our favorite art restorer/Israeli assassin, is back, this time on the hunt for the killer of one of his former colleagues in Israeli espionage. Benjamin was a professor working on a mysterious book at the time of his murder, and Gabriel suspects the killing was an attempt to keep the book from being published. The investigation takes him from Munich to Rome to Venice France and back again, as his findings threaten to expose some explosive secrets of the Catholic Church. The plot is complicated and heavy with conspiracy as usual, as well as the copious amounts of gore you can expect when the main character is a professional assassin. Perhaps a little heavy-handed, which keeps it from rising to the level of previous entries in the series.
    • 4/5
      This was the third book I have read in the Gabriel Allon series and it was easily my favorite. The story was a page-turner and kept me wanting to find out what was coming next. This particular story involves the Catholic Church and its relationship with Germany during the Holocaust period in WWII. Rather than just portray the Church as full of bad guys, Silva did a good job of creating characters both good and bad throughout the novel.

      I am now hooked on this series and look forward to future books.
    • 5/5
      Sooner or later most of the thriller series that are not domiciled in a single location or country end up with a Vatican/secret society installment. Silva's series had always been a prime candidate for that - and that is exactly what this third novel is. Meet Mario Delvecchio, a 51 years old restorer in Venice, working on a Bellini altarpiece and being his usual lonely self, even when the team that is restoring the rest of the church. Until he gets some news from Munich arrive that is - a friend of his is killed and it seems like the book he had been writing is missing. The Italian master is Gabriel Allon, an assassin for the Israeli secret services. Ari Shamron, his ex-boss, knows how to pull the right strings and before long the art is (temporarily) abandoned and Gabriel is racing across Europe. And the pursuit takes him from Rome to London and from France to Germany. Somewhere along the line, he ends up with half of the police force of Europe trying to get him (for various reasons), discovers a secret Catholic society that had been instrumental in some of the decision made by the Popes and meets a Pope - who turns out to be an interesting character. Of course there is a lot more - a beautiful woman, an assassin and an old secret from the early days of WWII. When I read a book from this series for the first time, I was not sure if I really want to read a series about an assassin. But it somehow works - Allon is not perfect but he does not pretend to be; he kills because it is his job - and he pays the price for it. This book is not an exception (including almost managing to die) and the story is as compelling as the previous two in the series. The plot should not have worked - it is so overused that I was not sure I can read one more book on the topic without being bored. And yet it works - partially because the Jewish and Catholic faith had been the historical counterparts in a long war; partially because Silva can write. Including managing to pull a surprise ending when you do not expect it - one that is not necessarily needed but without it, the book will be incomplete - even if I would not have thought so if it was not there at all.I can see the end of this book changing some things in the fictional world of Gabriel Allon. I will be interested to see how Silva handles that going forward. And I wonder if we will meat the Pope again - the pair of a Jewish assassin and a Catholic Pope sounds like someone's dream (or nightmare for some people) but the two men are very similar in a lot of ways. Overall another great book by Daniel Silva.
    • 4/5
      The author's note at the end gives some historical background. At one point I was unhappy about what seemed to be an unnecessary coincidence, but it turned out to be the catalyst for the entire story. In other words, everything comes to a satisfying conclusion. Gabriel Allon is a very good assassin. I am reminded of the police in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, who don't kill people needlessly and happily, but rather kill people needlessly and then agonize about it. Gabriel does try to minimize the deaths of the less guilty, but he does put himself and others in situations that lead to trouble while trying to locate evildoers.
    • 5/5
      espionage, thriller
    • 5/5
      As always Daniel Silva delivers a thrilling story that keeps you looking forward for more
    • 4/5
      It was more on finding the truth and do something about it, that all the secret needs to reveal and gave justice to those who suffers. I also love that first appearance mu Ciara, oh man!! They are my perfect OTP in Silva world of Gabriel Allon series.
    • 3/5
      Too Dan Brown-y, conspiracy within the Vatican. High body count of course but none of it seems to matter much. Okay, important redemption theme.
    • 5/5
      Best one I've read yet.
      These just keep getting better and better.
    • 4/5
      An entertaining thriller full of references to the Pope Pius VII's actions during World War II. Lot of characters from Italy, Germany, and Israel. It was credible enough to prompt me to research what the history surrounding how the Pope was silent during the Holocaust. Story includes reference to secret societies embedded within the Vatican. This one called 'Crux Vera' which is supposed to analogous to Opus Dei. This is the second book by Daniel Silva that I have read; and ti was good enough to motivate me to see what else he's written.
    • 4/5
      The Confessor. Daniel Silva. 2004. I read a later book in this series about Gabriel Allon sometime during the year and decided to start with the first one and read through the series. Gabriel is an art restorer who is also a member of the Israeli secret unit on counter-terrorism. He is in Venice working on an altar piece when a Jewish scholar who is working on a mysterious book is killed. Daniel is called away and eventually uncovers a cabal in the Vatican who is trying to control the Vatican and the pope. They were also responsible for selling out the church to the Nazis. The book is fascinating and exciting. However, the bibliographical sources listed in the back are pretty anti-Vatican so take the “facts” about cooperation with the Nazis with skepticism
    • 4/5
      Very good. But made me sad to realize the correlation between the Vatican's complacency (at the least!) during WWII & the Holocaust & today's Roman Catholics disillusionment with the Church. Their continuing denials & silence regarding the culpability & errors made during times of world crises, has created the cynicism of their followers. It is this continuing archaic stance on most modern "political" issues that's caused so many to turn away from the Church.

      The Vatican & Catholic church today are against so many things - birth control, women priests, gay rights, married clergy, abortion, sex education, etc - that as a Catholic, I don't know what they stand for anymore.
    • 3/5
      Book #3 in the Gabriel Allon series. These books illuminate complex political, social and racial matters--this one around the Vatican's participation in WWII's holocaust. Who knows how much is true and how much is Silva's fiction? It highlight's one Pope's effort to atone for previous sins and the conflict within the bureaucracy. There are bad guys and good guys, sometimes hard to keep apart in the audio version. The plot is multi-layered, building at the end to a bland gunfight you knew had to happen.
    • 4/5
      Another outstanding entry in the Gabriel Allon series by Silva. The history of the Catholic church and its position during the Holocaust made for a fascinating read interwoven with Silva's characters. Great ending too.....
    • 4/5
      I have to admit I broke one of my reading rules with The Confessor. Normally, I read a series in order from the beginning. However, The Confessor is the third installment in Daniel Silva’s long running series starring art restorer and sometime Israeli agent Gabriel Allon. Basically it was the first in the series that I had on the shelf, and after reading it I very quickly went out and ordered the first two…and all the rest that I didn’t already have waiting on the shelves. Yes, it was that good! Allon writes with a sophisticated style with rich details and deep characters that is missing from most spy craft thrillers. Allon is a troubled agent who wants to put his old life behind him, but he is not cliché. He will be there for his country when the need arises, as it does in The Confessor. The plot is multilayered and unpredictable. The action is intense when it should be without being overdone. Frankly, The Confessor is a perfect example of how to do a thriller the right way. A great story by Daniel Silva and am looking forward to the rest of the series.
    • 5/5
      The Confessor by Daniel Silva is the third installment in the fictional adventures of the reluctant Israeli agent Gabriel Allon. Working as art restorer Mario Delvecchio, Allon is called one more time into service to investigate the mysterious murder of his friend Benjamin Stern. As the investigation progresses, Allon discovers that Stern has been working on a book, that once published would cause a scandal in the Vatican and do great harm to the Roman Catholic Church.

      At the Vatican, the new pope vows to uncover the truth about the church's response to the Holocaust. Powerful forces, especially the secret society known as the Crux Vera, within the Roman Catholic Church are not happy about the Pope’s initiative and are willing to go to great extremes in order to stop it. Gabriel is pulled into the internal struggle through his investigation which takes him around Europe, discovering the hidden secrets of the past.

      This novel is also thought provoking. What was the church’s role during the Holocaust? The story and characters are gripping and I was drawn in from the beginning chapter. The author is very accomplished in presenting his story in an interesting and tightly wrapped manner. I consider the Gabriel Allon series to be one of my very favorite and one I consistently preorder because they just keep getting better and better. I've read the entire series but am currently listening to them in audio, impeccably narrated by John Lee.
    • 4/5
      I'd read a previous Gabriel Allon novel a while back & remember it being a fairly decent read. I could say the same about this one. The story evolves around yet another corruption within the Catholic Church, although also includes the supposed role of this corruption during the Jewish roundup during WWII. It was an interesting take, as I'd not really read anything tying these two together before. I listened to the abridged audio, and most of my criticisms may be attributed to that. For me, there were lots of character names that I had trouble keeping track of & I sometimes had trouble remembering if it was a good guy or a bad guy. I was a little disappointed with the climax. The story built up pretty well, but then the climax came all a bit quickly & without so much drama. Again, this may have been due to my reading of the abridged audio. I do think Gabriel Allon is an interesting main character, although character development is sketchy. You get the feeling there's a lot about this guy you don't really know, and it would be nice to see him open up a little.
    • 3/5
      Interesting story but the anti-Catholicism is palpable and grossly misinformed. Looks like Silva read "Hitler's Pope" and didn't question any of it. I'd recommend that he look into the Pave the Way Foundation, a Jewish organization, which, though it didn't set out to, has discovered reams of evidence that Pius XII was anything but "Hitler's Pope."
    • 4/5
      Third in Gabriel Allon series we finally get to see some more information about art restoration. However, we are interrupted by Catholicism evil plot to hide WWII treatment of the Jews. Although, this is a typical fast paced, action packed espionage international series, I'm ready for long rest after this 3rd novel. The character is sad and flat with no further development. Interesting characters from novels one and two don't return. Romantic interests seem one-sided. The serial plot needs more depth.
    • 3/5
      Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon books are generally good late-night reading on a weekend. While the first half of the book held my interest, I found the denouement abrupt and unsatisfying. It's as if Silva tired of the plot and just wanted to end it. That said, I'll keep reading since I have enjoyed the other books in the series.
    • 5/5
      As I felt with Angels & Demons, it's incredibly odd to be reading this book after the death of Pope John Paul II, especially since I think the comments on Lucchesi being a caretaker pope have matched what some have had to say re: the new pope, whose name, I'm ashamed to say, I don't even recall.As for the twist in why he wanted to bring the actions to light, I found that amusing. When they first mentioned the little boy asleep in Sr. Regina's lap, I figured him to be someone but for some reason it never clicked that it could be Lucchesi. I smiled when we learnt it though because it was all falling into place. I like it when an author allows that to happen rather than thinking we need a baseball bat to the head to "get" it."'But I was here,' Shamron said with conviction. 'I was always here. And I remember it all.'" I have no idea why, but that got Guns 'n' Roses' (yes, their cover, not the Stones' original recording) version of 'Sympathy for the Devil' in my head. Doesn't fit the plot at all, but it went through my head and stuck.This book also raised some interesting questions. Yes, it's a novel but the fact remains that the church didn't take much action during the holocaust, which is pretty sad. Whether they truly helped Eichmann escape to Argentina, I don't know, but if they did, I think it's horrible that they aided a known war criminal.I actually preferred this one to the various Dan Brown books because while it dealt with Crux Vera as a 'secret society' the book didn't get bogged down in conspiracy theories and CV functioned as a part of the story without BEING the story.As for the end, both with them catching up with the Leopard and Carlo Casagrande's suicide, I was ambivalent. I understood to some extent why the latter had to happen, but I almost wish neither had, I prefer open ended endings.
    • 4/5
      The writer Benjamin Stern is shot to death in his apartment in Munich. His friend Gabriel Allon is sent to find out why. Stern had collected material about a scandal in the Vatican, concerning complicity in the killing of the Jews during World War II
    • 5/5
      Silva seems to have finally put all of the pieces in place.
    • 4/5
      This is a very good book. Conspiracy theories a plenty! I'm going to pickup the other two books in the series. The Kill Artist and The English Assasin!