An Inside Job, Daniel Silva, author, Edoardo Ballerini, narrator
1-There is a daunting list of characters introduced immediately. Do not let it deter you from reading this story about organized crime, the art world, the Vatican, and a bit of politics. There are many who try, but few authors are able to succeed in writing a novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat, page after page, with wonderful wit and a smooth rolling dialogue, like Silva.
2-The charismatic and very talented Gabriel Allon has retired from his espionage work in Israel and is now restoring a Titian painting in Venice, Italy, where he lives contentedly with his wife and twins. His peaceful day is interrupted by his discovery of a decomposed body floating in the waters of Venice.
3-Soon it is discovered that the body is that of Penelope Radcliff, a young American woman who had only just ended her work as an art intern at the Vatican. She believed she had discovered a missing Leonardo Da Vinci in the storeroom of the Vatican Museums. Was this why she had died? Had she told anyone else about her discovery? Allon, fearful of another scandal erupting at the Vatican, contacts his dear friend Luigi Donati who is still reeling from a major Vatican scandal that was hidden at the time of his election to Pope.
4-When Allon realizes that someone has actually stolen the suspected valuable artwork from the storeroom at the Vatican, it is determined that it had to have been an inside job. Only someone at the very top of the ladder could have accessed the area and removed it. Could it really be a lost Leonardo? Had Penelope really made this enormous discovery? Pope Luigi Donati, an honorable and true symbol of the clergy gives Allon permission to investigate it thoroughly but hopes he can keep the Vatican scandal-free. That, however, may be impossible. Allon is also true to his established honorable character.
5-Soon, the plot thickens as threats and actual violence increase around those involved. The Camorra, a violent and vengeful part of the Italian mob seems to be very much involved with someone of high standing and great respect in the papacy. This person has not only helped them to steal the painting, but he has also “cooked” the books to hide his own accounting fraud and extraordinary need for money to repay his debts to the mob. He has endangered the very financial stability of the Holy See.
6-A plan is devised to steal the painting back from the criminals by switching it with a fake. When it succeeds, the corrupt Cardinal, now in deeper financial and criminal trouble, informs the Camorra. They do not forgive or forget, and they take revenge and attempt to murder Donati, Allon and others who were involved.
7-Pope Donati and a dear friend from his former life, Veronica Marchese, are both shot at a celebratory sermon in St. Peter’s Square. The news about this event is broadly interpreted in what has become the exaggerated standard of the media that is justified and used in order to gain attention regardless of the veracity of the reporting.
8-Soon, the solution is to go after and arrest the members of the Camorra and to steal the fake painting back from the mobster who has it. Hopefully, the arrests and this theft, if it succeeds, will bring an end to the mob violence and need for vengeance.
9-Will they be able to keep the multiple scandals from reaching the Vatican? Will the debt incurred by the rogue Cardinal Matteo Bertoli, sostituto for the Secretariat of State, destroy the Church? What changes will have to take place?
10-The ending is a bit thin. In addition, departing from custom in the past, Silva has inserted more political views into this novel with references to the far right, Ukraine, immigration, the oligarchs, and climate. Some readers may object to this inclusion and the inferences about church corruption. Sometimes, it does detract from the simple enjoyment of Gabriel Allon’s always exciting and interesting life, with its familiar cast of characters that entertain us. In this book, as in all the books of this series, it is still a pleasure to read.