Despite my lukewarm enthusiasm for suspense thrillers, I follow a few writers in this genre, including local greats Deon Meyer and Rudi van Rensburg. However, my hands-down favourite has to be Daniel Silva. With Portrait of an Unknown Woman, published this year and received from Jonathan Ball, Silva once again proves his genius. Redeeming himself after his lockdown botch, The Cellist, the author has roared back with a classically Silvan nuanced nail-biter as Gabriel Allon’s passion for art leads him into a high-stakes chase to catch the world’s greatest art forger.
Breaking away from the world stage of international espionage, Silva’s latest novel takes the reader on a thrilling journey exploring the complexities – and the dark side – of the art world. Gabriel Allon has resigned from his role as Israeli intelligence chief and has settled with his family in Venice. His wife, Chiara, is in charge of the Tiepolo Restoration Company, while Gabriel takes a much-needed break, digesting and processing the myriad traumas of his violent past. Of course, this period of uncharacteristic restfulness only lasts until Julian Isherwood contacts Gabriel and asks for help looking into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the rediscovery and lucrative sale of a centuries-old painting.
Gabriel soon discovers that something isn't quite right with the piece in question, a portrait of an unidentified woman attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck. And before he knows it, the former spy chief is once again drawn back into a high-paced, high-risk challenge, this time to uncover a potential scandal at the pinnacle of the art world.
As Gabriel plots his strategy of deception – that is, to imitate ‘the greatest art forger in the world’, I found myself swept up and fascinated to learn about how the so-called sophisticated art arena is plagued with unscrupulous dealers routinely deceiving their customers, and how deep-pocketed, callous investors treat masterpieces and centuries-old classics as though they were just another commodity.
Portrait of an Unknown Woman offers a clever, original plot based on sound research and penned in his typical elegant and sophisticated style. Even the most seasoned suspense aficionados, I suspect, would rank Silva’s latest novel in the top echelons of heist fiction. Personally, this newest offering came as a relief after the seemingly rushed job of The Cellist and renewed my estimation of him as the top dog when it comes to international intrigue and suspense. Don’t miss this one.
