Name: The Order
ISBN: 9780008280826

Daniel Silva

From Daniel Silva, author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers The New Girl and The Other Woman, comes a stunning new action-packed thriller of high stakes international intrigue featuring the enigmatic art restorer and master spy Gabriel Allon.

The Order

Jeff Brown 

You don't KNOW how difficult it is to give a Silva book a 1-star.

The initial basis of the book is that the Pope is murdered. ........ intriguing ..... But this is also the third book based on the Vatican. I think Silva has overdone this setting for his books.

And maybe two hours of the audiobook were about a non-existent book of Pontius Pilate that is found, hidden because he didn't want it to become the fifth gospel of the Bible. He admits that he was the sole person who killed Jesus, which is contrary to the four gospels, and the book asserts that its absence is the main reason that led to Anti-Semitism.

There is a big anti-Catholic vibe in the book as well. The Order is a group of nationalists that want one of their members to become Pope and damage the Catholic religion.

Where's the intrigue? Where is the group of Israeli specialists that work with Gabriel Allon (they made a brief appearance for several pages, then disappeared).

And where's the real Gabriel Allon??? All he did was sit there while the Cardinals told all their secret society stories.

It's not a *bad* book, if it was written by any other author, and if you like your intrigue to be only of a religious nature.

Silva, you made your name on international spy novels. Go back to that and stay away from this stuff.

Sahi K

This was pretty different and tame when compared to the author’s usual high stakes terrorism plot lines. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it. And I especially loved the afterword where he gives a detailed explanation separating fact from fiction, along with many references to other history books which I wouldn’t mind looking up one day.

Daniela Pereira

I liked the subject on this book , but sometimes I thought a bit confusing 😑

Simon Harrison

Massive amounts of preposterous fun, just what I was looking for - although Father Joshua was possibly a step too far past credibility. 

That's Allon #21 and Allon #20 done in a few days. Time to wind back to the start, and say goodbye to my sanity for a few weeks.

#1 New York Times Bestseller * #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller From Daniel Silva, the internationally acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author, comes a riveting new thriller featuring art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon. It was nearly one a.m. by the time he crawled into bed. Chiara was reading a novel, oblivious to the television, which was muted. On the screen was a live shot of St. Peter's Basilica. Gabriel raised the volume and learned that an old friend had died ... Gabriel Allon has slipped quietly into Venice for a much-needed holiday with his wife and two young children. But when Pope Paul VII dies suddenly, Gabriel is summoned to Rome by the Holy Father's loyal private secretary, Archbishop Luigi Donati. A billion Catholic faithful have been told that the pope died of a heart attack. Donati, however, has two good reasons to suspect his master was murdered. The Swiss Guard who was standing watch outside the papal apartments the night of the pope's death is missing. So, too, is the letter the Holy Father was writing during the final hours of his life. A letter that was addressed to Gabriel. While researching in the Vatican Secret Archives, I came upon a most remarkable book ... The book is a long-suppressed gospel that calls into question the accuracy of the New Testament's depiction of one of the most portentous events in human history. For that reason alone, the Order of St. Helena will stop at nothing to keep it out of Gabriel's hands. A shadowy Catholic society with ties to the European far right, the Order is plotting to seize control of the papacy. And it is only the beginning. As the cardinals gather in Rome for the start of the conclave, Gabriel sets out on a desperate search for proof of the Order's conspiracy, and for a long-lost gospel with the power to put an end to two thousand years of murderous hatred. His quest will take him from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, to a monastery in Assisi, to the hidden depths of the Secret Archives, and finally to the Sistine Chapel, where he will witness an event no outsider has ever before seen--the sacred passing of the Keys of St. Peter to a newly elected pope. Swiftly paced and elegantly rendered, The Order will hold readers spellbound, from its opening passages to its breathtaking final twist of plot. It is a novel of friendship and faith in a perilous and uncertain world. And it is still more proof that Daniel Silva is his generation's finest writer of suspense and international intrigue.