The Cellist: A Novel

Written by Daniel Silva

Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

From Daniel Silva, the internationally acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author, comes a timely and explosive new thriller featuring art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon.

Viktor Orlov had a longstanding appointment with death. Once Russia’s richest man, he now resides in splendid exile in London, where he has waged a tireless crusade against the authoritarian kleptocrats who have seized control of the Kremlin. His mansion in Chelsea’s exclusive Cheyne Walk is one of the most heavily protected private dwellings in London. Yet somehow, on a rainy summer evening, in the midst of a global pandemic, Russia’s vengeful president finally manages to cross Orlov’s name off his kill list.

Before him was the receiver from his landline telephone, a half-drunk glass of red wine, and a stack of documents.…

The documents are contaminated with a deadly nerve agent. The Metropolitan Police determine that they were delivered to Orlov’s home by one of his employees, a prominent investigative reporter from the anti-Kremlin Moskovskaya Gazeta. And when the reporter slips from London hours after the killing, MI6 concludes she is a Moscow Center assassin who has cunningly penetrated Orlov’s formidable defenses.

But Gabriel Allon, who owes his very life to Viktor Orlov, believes his friends in British intelligence are dangerously mistaken. His desperate search for the truth will take him from London to Amsterdam and eventually to Geneva, where a private intelligence service controlled by a childhood friend of the Russian president is using KGB-style “active measures” to undermine the West from within. Known as the Haydn Group, the unit is plotting an unspeakable act of violence that will plunge an already divided America into chaos and leave Russia unchallenged. Only Gabriel Allon, with the help of a brilliant young woman employed by the world’s dirtiest bank, can stop it.

Elegant and sophisticated, provocative and daring, The Cellist explores one of the preeminent threats facing the West today—the corrupting influence of dirty money wielded by a revanchist and reckless Russia. It is at once a novel of hope and a stark warning about the fragile state of democracy. And it proves once again why Daniel Silva is regarded as his generation’s finest writer of suspense and international intrigue.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Jul 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9780062835031

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.

Reviews for The Cellist

[Cheri · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The long political diatribe at the end was a tiresome and ugly intrusion into what was supposed to be a fictional world. The fictional ending was also uncharacteristic and a disappointment for the latest in an otherwise first-rate series.

[Carey Pallister · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I have read all Daniel Silva’s books but I could not finish this one. The technical details about corrupt banking was tedious and boring.

[Jimmy Parris · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I’ve been a huge fan of this series, but this storyline definitely seemed recycled. And I could’ve done without the politics. I honestly had trouble finishing this one. I’m hoping this is a one off.

[Melody Brenna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Up to date on the latest global political scenarios, intertwined with the finest music and art historic nuance, intelligence in multiple geographic and cultural alliances VS enemies.

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[Donna · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love Daniel Silva books fot the 3 or 4 Ive read. This book was good but Id like to give it 5 stars but I struggled and gave ut 4. There was "something" missing here. Not enough Mossad, not enough "spy" and too much cello specifics (Silva showing off?) give Silva less. I listened to it in 2 shots and it just lacked enough of a story. Frankly, it had lots of potential and all missed. If I keep trying to squeeze a story and review out of this audiobook (it was up to it's great narrations) and I feel like I could move it down to a 3. I know this us not a well wriyten rebiew but Bottom Line if you love Silva youll like the book. A Silva fan loves a Silva anything really. AND I do REALLY APPREC IATE Silva's honesty about our most recent or past electioms and his feelings re Russians, danger to USA, and
troubles Trump caused and could cause. I dont know exactly how far our Jan 6th problems had ocurred when he cut off the personal commentary.

[Benjamin Sinitean · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is by far the worst work of Daniel Silva.
His political leanings are the main point of the book -
not the fictional plot, which was poorly executed.

The book is terrible. Don't waste your time.

[Erin D. Gilsbach · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I have long been a fan of Daniel Silvia’s books. Gabriel Allon is a great character. I absolutely cannot recommend this book, though. I wasted many hours on it only to find that it abruptly and awkwardly shifts about 2/3 of the way through from an interesting international spy thriller with few, if any, U.S. references, to an elongated and unimaginative anti-Trump rant. Regardless of the U.S. reader’s political leanings, I think we can all agree that’s a topic that has become extremely tiresome. The rest of the country has moved on, but this author clearly has not. Perhaps he should try his hand at non-fiction political commentary. Injecting extended anti-Trump rhetoric into what otherwise might have been an interesting plot only served to make it seem dated and obsessive. I wasted a large amount of time on this book only to find it suddenly becomes unreadable towards the end.

[Alice Grix · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not as brilliant as his usual offerings but still a really good read. Also frightening with regards to American policies.

[william harris · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked how the author wove in current events like the Covid-19 virus and the American political scene. However, I thought that the shooting near the end was less plausible, not because of who did it but how it came about.

[lbswiener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Cellist is a book that is insufferable in certain parts. It is long and goes on and on with nothing happening insofar as plot goes. The story follows global politics prior to and during the 2020 presidential election. The conclusion of the book is worth the slow moving parts. The author succinctly sums up the United States political situation during the 2020 election proving that the Russians really did meddle in the U.S. election. Four stars were given to this book.

[pgchuis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a re-write of the last one I read, 'The Heist', but with boring and complicated sections about money-laundering. The use of real-life characters in all but name didn't really work for me and I skimmed the last third. I am done with this series.

[drmom62 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Except for being carbon copy of previous Gabriel Allon novels this one comes across as being extremely clichéd for the second half of the book

[judygibson-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm a bit disappointed by this one. As I read the early parts of the book I was impressed as always by the crispness of Silva's writing--setting a scene in a paragraph or a character in a sentence. But then, but then he spends pages, chapters, explaining international banking and the intricacies of money laundering....aagh!I know, it was critical to the story but it was painful reading. The action scenes seemed almost a token afterthought.

[robeik_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is set in a time when the Russian president and his oligarchs were flexing their power, the west was floundering not only because of COVID-19 but also because they did not know how to handle the US President. The last aspect does not really become evident until the last third of the book. Anyway, the story centres on a international money laundering, and a plot to beat those involved in it at their own game.This is the the fifth or sixth book in this series that I have read, and it stands out to be a disappointing book. That's a pity; I enjoyed all the rest. The main problems for me was that there was far too much information on the banking details, that COVID-19 gets inserted unnecessarily into the story at regular intervals, and eventually it becomes obvious that the author has a political message to convey. There is very little character development; people from the previous books get mentioned here and there. That's find for readers of previous books, but not so if this is the first book someone has read.Overall, it comes across as a book that needed more time to be polished, finished off and edit; perhaps a product of a world in 2020 in which there was a high level of anxiety and turmoil.

[shazjhb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not his best

[jthierer_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't realize this was part of a series when I snagged it from the library, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it was readable as a standalone (I didn't think I could get through the other 20 before I had to return it). I liked that this was smarter than your average thriller, but I did think it was hampered by the extended ending (the entire portion set in DC could have been dispensed with in my opinion). I'll be starting this series from the beginning and hoping they are all this good.

[sblincoln-479351 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The usual twists, turns, and puzzles. This one includes some wonderfully drawn scenes with great characters. The focus on money laundering included some convoluted financial discussions that for me were not all that fascinating. In general, though, while there are other books in the series I've enjoyed more, this is still a good strong read and an excellent contribution to my summer reading list.

[anniemod · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How to be a spy while a pandemic is raging everywhere? Just ask Allon - it did not even slow him down. Viktor Orlov, the Russian oligarch who saved Gabriel and Chiara's lives once, is killed in his own house. Even if anyone had any suspicion of who was responsible, the method itself makes sure that everyone knows - Kremlin finally extended its hand and silences its ex-child. That murder gets the Israelis involved; what Viktor had been doing in his last days gives them the weapon they need. A woman working for the dirtiest bank in the world had been leaking documents to a journalist - and the journalist asked Viktor to look at them. As it turns out, this is the proof everyone had been looking for to prove who owns and operates the Russian money in the West. And Allon finds a way to make her into a spy. Silva had used the plot before (including the discovered painting...) - so some parts of it sounded familiar. But there are also enough differences not to sound as a repetition. Add Anna Rolfe (still unhappy with Gabriel - and being helpful because the woman who leaked the secrets is a talented cellist), the Swiss and French police, Keller and Sarah Bankroft (now dating), the whole Israeli team (complete with Natalie now), a few Russian journalists we had met before, Ari Shamron and the Allon family and the book feels like a reunion - the series gets more and more tangled in this secondary characters to the point of being overcrowded in places. Silva's world had always paralleled ours - except for the Vatican story, most of his world can almost fit in our world. This one takes it to an extreme - while the Russian president depiction had always been a very slightly veiled representation of the actual occupant of Kremlin, the US one had been a bit more removed. The last few books moved it a bit closer but this book pulls all the stops - there are no names (not for the presidents anyway - but Liz Cheney name IS there) but the 6th of January and QAnon and other details and comments are there and can as well be from a news article. Of course, there is the usual note about everything being fictional... The later part of the book feels rushed - especially the Washington story. According to Silva's note, that was not supposed to be the end of the book - he rewrote a lot of it when the US Capitol get attacked. It ties into the story and it actually works but it feels too close to home to be comfortable. Still a good entry in the series. I am curious where we are going from here though - Allon cannot keep getting shot for much longer...

[norinrad10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like many of his contemporaries, Silva has been writing his character-driven tales for decades. At this point, you know what you are getting when you pick up a book featuring his protagonist, Gabriel Allon. And to his credit, Silva seldom disappoints.This latest entry was a little bit different though. After reading the author for several decades, I'd always found the Alllon adventures to have a right-leaning tint. In this one, Silva does a full swing to the left. Using the characters to comment on current events despite them taking place in a fictional setting.The swing makes the story no less thralling, and casual readers probably won't notice. For the more dedicated reader, it'll take a little adjustment, but one worth making since once again Silva has produced a top-notch international thriller.

[ericlee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gabriel Allon has gotten older since the last time I read a Daniel Silva novel. The legendary art restorer / assassin is now the head of the Mossad (not called the Mossad in the book) and his opponents in this story are ruthless, powerful men: Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump (who are not called Putin or Trump). The Cellist is so closely tied into the real world that, as Silva admits in an afterword, he was forced to re-write the book’s ending following the events in the U.S. Capitol on January 6th this year.Silva’s a good writer, the book is well researched and well paced. But there was too much, I thought, of the kitchen sink in it. There was art restoration, classical music, dodgy international bankers, references to World War II and the Holocaust, brave journalists, Russian oligarchs, Novichok poisoning, Q-Anon, and more. Many, many characters appear, some with brief walk-on parts, and even the eponymous cellist is not given much of a back story or explanation for her admirable heroism.Still, any book that casts the Russian President as a modern-day Ernst Stavro Blofeld can’t be all bad, can it? (He does everything but stroke a cat.)

[miss.mesmerized · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A poisoned Russian dissident, an investigative journalist on the run and a non-descript German banker. Linking these three is not easy for Gabriel Allon but he will most certainly not just watch when one of his friends who once saved his life is killed with Novichok. The traces soon lead to Isabel Brenner who works at RhineBank in Zurich, the world’s dirtiest bank. Apart from calculating risks and laundering money, she also plays the cello like a professional. Deceived by her misogynist co-workers, she starts to leak information about the “Russian Laundromat”, the bank’s way of cleaning Russian oligarchs’ rubles. It does not take long for her to be convinced to work with Gabriel Allon to bring the bank and the Russians to fall. Their main target is Arkady Akimov but he himself is actually only a small figure, it is somebody much bigger and much more influential who is behind the Russian money. In the twenty-first novel of the series about the legendary Israeli spy and art restorer turned into director-general of the world famous intelligence service, Daniel Silva focusses on another current topic: the political influence which money can buy, especially money which was acquired illegally and washed through layers of fake firms by banks which are only too willing to profit. The author also managed to incorporate the Covid restrictions as well as the challenges to the American democracy that we have witnessed in January 2021 making it highly topical.The cellist is a remarkable character, on the one hand, she is a highly intelligent cool mathematician who knows how to juggle with numbers and money. On the other hand, as a woman, she experiences the misogynist behaviour of her colleagues in a dominantly male business and despite her skills is prevented from unfolding her full potential. She finds solace in music, the cello she can play on her own and the impact the tone has on her own mood but also on others is amazing.The Russians are an old but nevertheless still interesting topic in spy novels. It is not the cold war scenario of piling up destructive weapons anymore, the war between the systems is fought a lot more subtly today. Nerve agents like Novichok have become broad knowledge and the fact that money makes the world go round is also well-known. Having the financial means leads to the necessary power to rule the world, regardless of democratic systems and boundaries which only seem to exist on paper.Silva proves again that he is a masterful storyteller. He brilliantly interweaves different plot lines to create a high paced and suspenseful novel. Still after so many instalments, one does not get exhausted by the protagonist since the author always finds a completely new story to tell.

[thewanderingjew_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The Cellist, Daniel Silva, author; Edoardo Ballerini, narratorI knew from the get-go, that this novel was going to promote the current left-wing philosophy and trash the former President Trump along with those who support him. Just from the dedication of the book to the Capitol Police officers on 1/6/21, without mention of the only murder victim, Ashli Babbitt, the author showed his completely one-sided view of the woke mob that promotes our current cancel culture. However, I hoped that the dedication would be the only presentation of such a biased point of view. I was to be grossly disappointed. The book is basically about a painting that is sold to a former Russian oligarch, Viktor Orlov, hated and hunted by the Russian powers that be. He is murdered, unwittingly, by a courier who passed him pertinent financial documents that were contaminated with a nerve agent. These documents concerned his investigation, and intended exposure, of a corrupt bank acting as a money launderer for a corrupt Russian group of investors. Gabriel Allon becomes involved because Victor had saved his life, and now he wants to find out who had stolen Victor’s. When he discovers ties to Russia, he uses the cultural world of art and music, and a subtle unfulfilled honey trap, to ensnare the close associate of the Russian President. He is making the illegal financial transactions that Viktor discovered and is amassing a fortune for him. Allon wants to destroy them both. However, in addition to the Russian corruption, the author wants to use the novel to destroy former President Trump and his supporters, by making unfounded accusations against him. He proceeds to actually laud the newly elected American President who bears a strong resemblance to the one, that in reality, many believe is demented and was illegally elected. Although Silva professes that few of the characters are real, their counterparts are so obvious as to be laughable. Trump, however, is mentioned by name in the novel. Shame on this author who gives no credit to the man who brought peace and a unique and new partnership to Israel and several former enemies, as well as a lifesaving vaccine effort to save the world. Silva departed from his normal style in order to voice his political views and to indoctrinate his readers with them. It is a pity that he focused only on the violence of January 6th, while he completely ignored the left wing’s approval and support of the months and months of BLM and Antifa incidents that encouraged the creation of autonomous zones, murders, rapes, riots and looting. He ignored the recently discovered and proven information that exposed the FBI’s collusion regarding the events of 1/6/21. Anti-Trumpers imagined wild scenarios and conspiracy theories and set about to create them with planted agents and informers who accelerated the marchers’ passion and encouraged the escalation that led to the violent rhetoric, inappropriate displays and the break-in on that day. They actually instigated it. Why would Silva choose to attempt to shame and alienate so many of his readers by presenting manipulated facts and half-truths that they truly take issue with, for good reason? This election was highly abnormal and suspect.Because he dislikes President Trump, the man that many voters still believe was rightfully elected but robbed by events that took place in the middle of the night, that were never properly investigated, he apparently decided to trash him with a novel in which he manipulates information to paint as dark a picture of Trump as possible, even proposing that he is a Russian asset or a corrupt businessman, without proof. He twists facts and often presents them without appropriate attribution so that it is totally his own insinuation of ideas and his interpretation of them. His personal animus persuaded him to present a lot of ideas that are simply false. Many people may agree with his misinformation, false implications and even outright untruths, because that is the way many people get their “facts” today, from storylines and implications in novels, and he knows it and should not be encouraging it.The author’s political beliefs, presented subtly throughout the novel and then loudly at the end, are totally inappropriate. He knows that we have the freedom to disagree in this country, at least we did before the party he supports gave us identity politics, cancel culture and a biased press. I am amazed that so talented an author, with such a beloved Jewish main character, would succumb to use his own personal bias to present him in a way that would displease many Jewish readers who know that President Trump was one of the strongest advocates for Israel’s legitimacy and security.It is, however, for that reason that I gave this novel only one star instead of three. The “trash Trump diatribe”, at the end, just clinched it for me. The novel had no reason to include it, nor did the subtle mention of negative right-wing incidents belong between the pages. Silva knows in his heart of hearts that Allon, a beloved Israeli character, would admire Trump, as a majority of Israelis do and did, for all he did for them. It is also a well-known fact that the right wing of politics is far more supportive of Israel and the Jewish population than the left wing which contains the very well-known and vocally hostile-to-Israel, growing Squad, that is led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. To disparage Trump and the Republicans with name calling, while never mentioning the remarks or events promoted by the anti-Semitic Squad of the Democrat Party, is a travesty. I cannot recommend a book that promotes propaganda, half-truths and manipulated descriptions to damage one party unfairly over another. The novel inspires the Israel-haters and Jew-haters of the left wing that surely will love it, as it promotes the Trump Derangement Syndrome. Yet it is the Democrat Party that has a habit of accusing everyone of their own sins. They are the ones that set the stage. They did not accept an election in 2016, and they did not concede in Georgia, So if you want authoritarian fascists, don’t look right, look left in their mirror.I have previously enjoyed Gabriel Allon novels, but this is my last. This is also my last Silva book. I will not read books that promote propaganda at the expense of the narrative.

[mmitchell262 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book followed Mr. Silva's predictable formula. The only difference is this one continously hitting us over the head with current events from his leftist perspective only. I had a hard time finishing this book, but I always finish a book once I start it. I couldn't wait to finish this one. First ever 1 star rating I have given. I do have to say that the part about the new President being hard on the Russians (or any foreign power) is a brilliant piece of fiction!

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Identify the potential atrocity, assemble the team, discover and turn a bright woman who has one foot on borderline illegal activities and the other on the desire to right the wrong, murder, politicizing, finger pointing, clandestine this and that and Voila - The Cellist. I admit to being riveted despite the formulaic format. Silva doesn’t hold back an inch or a second in castigating former President Trump, the horrors of the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol Attack as well as the malignity of Putin and his attempted control of the U.S. elections. Once again Silva has his finger on the pulse of politics and current affairs.

[judiex · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Viktor Orlov was one of the wealthiest men in the world. He made his fortune the usual way in Russia: unscrupulously. Using his mathematical genius and understanding of how the Russian system worked after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he began buying profitable state-owned oil and steel companies. His fortune, however, also brought on assassination attempts. When Russia got a new president after Boris Yeltsin, Orlov did not want to cooperate with Vladimir Vladimirovich who wanted possession of those companies. Orlov refused until three Israeli intelligence agents being held captive in Russia were released. One of them was Gabriel Allon.Orlov moved to England and began to rebuild his fortune. His first purchases were newspapers including an anti-government one in Russia. Not surprisingly, that made him an enemy of the president and lead to his fatal poisoning..A woman, well-connected in the art field, was the last person seen leaving his apartment and became the prime suspect. Allon knew her and believed she had been set up.Allon traveled to England and, working with members of the intelligence departments there and in other countries, was determined to find the real killer(s) and get revenge for Orlov’s death.Rather than going in with guns blazing, he realized that since accumulating money to get power was the goal, he would have to follow the money to see where it lead. The most promising entry point was RhineBank, a fictional adaptation of Deutsche Bank, a giant organization that specialized in money laundering. Allon decided bringing down the bank would create enough chaos to destroy its backers who were heavily involved in financial affairs particularly of political figures, throughout the world, including in the US. While THE CELLIST mentions previous jobs done by or for Allon, many new characters are introduced and play major roles.The book takes place in the present time. The Covid-19 virus is spreading throughout the world and forcing people to change their plans and schedules to accomplish their goals. Having the use of private jets, more isolated locations, and limited numbers of people present at any one time helps.The original end of the book was dropped after the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. It works but doesn’t quite seem plausible.THE CELLIST is somewhat more technical than Silva’s previous books but it basically plausible. Daniel Silva uses not only historical events but also warns of the dangers being faced by people and government trying to destroy democracies. It is well-written and kept my interest while explaining financial maneuvers. Because of one part of the climax, I would give this 4.5 stars if possible.