Ransom is the 26th (so far) in Daniel Silva’s spy series starring the legendary Israeli spy and art restorer, Gabriel Allon. I fell in love with the series years ago because Silva so successfully melds art, art history, and thrillers and because, unlike other spy heroes such as James Bond, Allon has a strong moral compass and is not a serial philanderer. The series follows Allon in his role as a spy for decades, culminating in his assumption of the head of the Israeli spy system and, ultimately, his retirement five years later. He moves to Italy with his wife and twin children and resumes art restoration and finds a new career as an art forger. The novels after Allon’s retirement are more art-related and deal with him finding stolen art works while calling in favors from the Italian carabinieri and other former colleagues. Ransom moves a bit backwards in that it doesn’t deal with art except peripherally when billionaire Edward Knight begs Allon to find his kidnapped wife, Alice Winter.
Once again, Allon calls in favors from his former colleagues to solve the disappearance. In doing so, he finds Alice is not who she appears to be but rather a woman with secrets. Nor is Edward. This is a typical Daniel Silva novel in that it is full of twists, turns, red herrings, and copious international corruption.
I have read all 26 in this series (and everything else Silva has written) and heartily recommend them if you’re into international thrillers, suspense, and intrigue and a hero that has more depth than those of the usual thrillers.
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Ransom (Harper, July 14, 2026) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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