The Cellist, Daniel Silva, author; Edoardo Ballerini, narrator
I 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.