House of Spies

by Daniel Silva
526 pgs  (Gabriel Allon series #17)

House of Spies, the 17th book in Daniel Silva's "Gabriel Allon" series, picks up right where The Black Widow left off. Saladin, the ISIS terrorist who has so far managed to stay one step ahead of Gabriel and his team, has successfully attacked Washington D.C., and as this book begins, he successfully attacks London. Gabriel, and his counterparts at the CIA and MI6 have only a couple of clues to follow in their efforts to stop him before he's able to attack again.

Gabriel's investigation leads him to Morocco, to a drug kingpin and arms dealer named Jean-Luc Martel. Martel's girlfriend Olivia Watson runs an art gallery, which is used to launder Martel's money. It's Martel who provided Saladin with the weapons used in London and Gabriel must devise a plan to use him and Olivia to get to Saladin.

While House of Spies isn't the best book in the series, it's a fine entry. It's definitely not the book to start with if you're unfamiliar with the series, especially because it's a direct continuation of the last one. But as a fan of the series, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next one.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆