A Death in Vienna This is another Gabriel Allon adventure and history lesson set mostly in modern day Europe. And this completes the author’s series of novels dealing with the unfinished business of the Holocaust. In Vienna, the head of the Wartimes Claims and Inquires office (an Israeli operation) is critically injured in an explosion meant to kill him. Once again, Gabriel is taken off an art restoration project in Venice, given false ID by the Israeli Mossad, and sent to investigate the attempted murder. While in Vienna, he sees a face he recognizes from the past. He’d seen the face in his mother’s artwork from many years ago. He somehow knows Ludwig Vogel is not who he says he is and starts to pursue his real identification. Gabriel is soon on a road filled with hatred and deception, possibly headed for revenge. In the tangled web of intrigue, Gabriel learns the depth of the atrocities of WWII and how this one man in particular who is still alive will go to any length to keep his secrets buried. Ludwig, of course, has many people in high places in his pocket, and threats meet Gabriel everywhere he goes. This is an involved plot with many characters, but it reads easily and well. You won’t be disappointed. And finally…a book with an appropriate ending. |