The Marching Season

I feel a little bad about rating this 2-1/2 stars, but I just didn't feel like it measured up to average. It was a very "vanilla" thriller, or a not very original story. You had all the basic ingredients: the spies, the good guys, the bad guys, the guys you couldn't really tell whether they were good or bad, and the all-pervasive secret society ("The Pentaverate"... the 1993 Pentaverate, not the remake).

I really like Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series, but this wasn't nearly as good. None of the characters drew me in with the possible exception of the assassin Delaroche. There was also a ton going on in this book, but at the end most of it was never wrapped up. Like this was going to be part of a series, and then all the loose threads show more would be put back in play. I liked the ending, but it left more questions than answers so in a lot of respects there was no conclusion that came with the ending (if that makes any sense).

Also, quite strangely, I wasn't sure if this was a Gabriel Allon book or not when I started reading it because Jean-Paul Delaroche sounded like the same character. And part of "The Pentaverate" in this book is also a central character in the Allon series.

I finished, but I was not all that thrilled reading it. show less

This was a pretty typical spy thriller, nothing too special (although I did appreciate that the 'villains' of the piece weren't Arabs for once), but gets the job done. Silva does make an effort to give his main character and main antagonists an interior life, but I'm not sure how successful he really is in that effort. Ultimately, I was only mildly disappointed to find Michael Osbourne doesn't appear in a third book.

I guess if Mark of the Assassin was three stars, this one was probably three and a half, or maybe three and a quarter. Good but not great, but I did like Michael a lot more in this book. The plot again was high quality, but Silva still indulges in way to much detail, including places that need minimal to no detail, and that always throws a book off for me. Interesting twist at the end, with Michael and Delaroche, which I didn't see coming, which was nice. Tied up a few loose ends nicely too.
One thing I wonder about the book is how Silva talks about people in code names, as if you don't know who they are (Picasso) and then had a big reveal later, when in reality you know who that person is the whole time. Do people really need that big show more reveal to figure what is going on, or was it just some weak literary trick that I missed or something?
Eh, the books are ok, not bad for a quick, lazy summer read or something, but there are a lot of others I'd probably pick up first. show less

This 1999 work is Daniel Silva's third book, and the 2nd in his Michael Osbourne series. I read it in abridged form (compliments of Reader's Digest) and found it somewhat wanting. The plot is as follows. Peace is about to break out in Northern Island, but a secret organization seeks to disrupt the process by assassinating the new US Ambassador to that country. This organization -- the Society of International Development and Cooperation -- has no political agenda; they simply seek to foment conflict to advance their own shadowy economic interests. The hired assassin is Jean-Paul Delaroche (nicknamed "October"), a KGB trained agent who is an old enemy of the CIA's own assassin, Osbourne. Last time the duo met, October's lady-love wound show more up dead, killed by bow and arrow by Osbourne's own lady.

So with this history behind them, Osbourne and October match efforts and wits; October seeks to kill the ambassador, who (in a strategically stupid move -- since they know he's been targeted) is brought to the house where Osbourne's wife and children are staying. Towards the end, once Osbourne has disarmed and wounded October, he grants the latter his life in return for information on who the highly placed turncoat is in the CIA. A terrorist assassin like October may murder hundreds without compunction and simply for the money, but under his high code of morality, when he makes a promise (i.e., utters a few verbalizations) he keeps it. And of course Osbourne doesn't take the opportunity to kill October, to save his future victims. . So Osbourne finds out the identity of the CIA double agent, and October and Osbourne both live to kill again.

In my opinion, there are too many characters, too much implausibility, and too many scenes obviously constructed for effect. In addition, the work didn't lend itself well to abridgement, since the characters flew by too fast to become familiar. show less

The Marching Season picks up where Daniel Silva's The Mark of the Assassin leaves off. Michael Osbourne has recovered from his wounds received in his encounter with the assassin, Jean-Paul Delaroche, code named October, and is now bored and yearning for activity. Delaroche's hand wound received from his encounter with Osbourne has healed but has left "an ugly, puckered scar ... which he could do nothing about ... except to conceal it." The Society for International Development and Cooperation has thrived and has paid Delaroche for another assassination, that of the leader of Hamas, Ahmed Hussein. In killing Hussein, Delaroche has changed his modus operandi and has avoided his customary three shots to the face. Hussein's assassination is show more another successful venture for the Society which seeks "to promote constant, controlled global tension through covert operations." The group also is moving to subvert the treaty by assisting a newly formed Protestant terrorist cell, "the Ulster Freedom Brigade" (UFB) which has already committed one assassination and two violent bombings.
When Senator Douglas Cannon, Osbourne's father-in-law is appointed as President Beckwith's ambassador to the Court of James, the UFB is thwarted in an assassination plot against him. The group is erased except for its head of intelligence, Rebecca Wells. The society arranges for her to team up with Delaroche who now has had his appearance change drastically by plastic surgery. The society fears for interference from Osbourne and decides to eliminate him. Monica Tyler, head of the CIA and a member of the Society, agrees.
This novel is somewhat over-the-top in its denouement, but it is a good read. show less

I have come to enjoy the Gabriel Allon series of spy stories from Daniel Silva. The Marching Season is not exactly part of that canon, but it does share some characters and has another character who could have served as an extended character study for Gabriel.

This book and the Allon series are connected through the story of Adrian Carter, a CIA operative who becomes head of the CIA, a role continued in later books. Also present is Ari Shamron, Gabriel Allon’s boss at the Mosad. In Marching Season, he is a minor character, still in charge of Mosad Operations, and a character of dubious moral fiber. The third thread that connects the two is a mysterious assassin, known primarily by his cover name, October. Like Allon, he is an artist, show more as well as an accomplished assassin, has a physique like a cyclist and can pass for different nationalities.

The Marching Season stands on its own merits, and stands very well indeed, but these similarities were too noticeable not to comment on. Silva’s writing style is as fluid as his more recent works. Despite his penchant for detail, I found it annoying from a technical point that he constant used “clip” in place of “magazine” for the device that holds bullets in an automatic weapon. This technicality did not bring down the rating, however.

The plot is well constructed and plausible, but there were not enough twists to really elevate this story beyond four stars. If you are a fan of Gabriel Allon, this will fill in some of the backgrounds of the characters in that series. If you like old school spy novels, this is a good addition to your bookshelf: very little in the way of gadgets but lots of stalking, intelligence gathering and trying to outguess the other guy. show less

Wow, great book. I'm glad I took Vince Flynn's recommendation and started reading Daniel Silva because his books are outstanding. This one was tense from start to end, and I thought it ended on an unexpected, yet great note. Maybe someday Silva will revisit the world of Michael Osbourne. On to Gabriel Allon next....