Travis Simpkins: "The Rembrandt Affair" by Daniel Silva

"The Rembrandt Affair" by Daniel Silva

Putnam Publishers, 2010

Review by Travis Simpkins

In The Rembrandt Affair, the tenth installment in the Gabriel Allon series of Espionage/Art Crime novels, author Daniel Silva delivers a tour-de-force of research and storytelling. A priceless long-lost portrait by Rembrandt has been stolen, and the art restorer to which it was trusted was murdered during the theft. Although retired from the Office, Israeli Special Agent Gabriel Allon is called upon to aid in the search for the missing masterpiece. Reluctant at first, Gabriel Allon's fascination with the case turns to obsession as the dirty details and secrets regarding the painting's history come to light. Stolen from Holocaust victims by a ruthless Nazi during World War II, held by a Swiss bank during the post-war hideout and possessing a devastating secret in it's relined canvas, the Rembrandt painting has ties to one of the most horrific genocides in human history... and it holds a key that could destroy one of the world's most prominent businessmen, a seemingly-venerable man who has hidden ties to one of the modern world's biggest terrorist threats. It is a painting so dangerous that men are willing to kill for it. From Cornwall to Paris, Holland, Argentina and Lake Geneva, the fast-paced events play out in entertaining and intriguing fashion, conjured up on the yellow legal-pad of Daniel Silva. Gabriel Allon remains one of the great characters and paradoxes in modern fiction, possessing both the gentleness to lovingly restore fragile paintings, and the brutality to kill targets at will (with his bare hands, if need be). Interesting characters abound in the book, including the beautiful Zoe Reed, a British reporter that gets pulled into the fiasco. Although the events, characters and associations are fictional, some obvious parallels can be found in reality. Silva invented the long-lost Rembrandt, but admits that if the painting existed, it would look like Rembrandt's "Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels," which resides in London's National Gallery. The villain in the book, Martin Landesmann, bears more than a passing resemblance to Bernie Madoff (who was embroiled in scandal at the time). The book mentions a "Rembrandt Committee" which seems to allude to Ernst van de Wetering's Rembrandt Research Project (RRP). The book is well-written, without a doubt, but one of it's greatest virtues rests with the research and attention to detail that Silva assigns to the subject. The Rembrandt Affair is a wonderful effort all-around, one of the best in the Gabriel Allon series, and is well worth the time spent reading it.