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The Unlikely Spy
#1
New York Times
bestselling author Daniel Silva’s celebrated debut novel,
The Unlikely Spy,
is “A roller-coaster World War II adventure that conjures up memories of the best of Ken Follett and Frederick Forsyth” (
The Orlando Sentinel
).
“In wartime,” Winston Churchill wrote, “truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” For Britain’s counterintelligence operations, this meant finding the unlikeliest agent imaginable - a history professor named Alfred Vicary, handpicked by Churchill himself to expose a highly dangerous, but unknown, traitor. The Nazis, however, have also chosen an unlikely agent. Catherine Blake is the beautiful widow of a war hero, a hospital volunteer - and a Nazi spy under direct orders from uncover the Allied plans for D-Day...
“In wartime,” Winston Churchill wrote, “truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” For Britain’s counterintelligence operations, this meant finding the unlikeliest agent imaginable - a history professor named Alfred Vicary, handpicked by Churchill himself to expose a highly dangerous, but unknown, traitor. The Nazis, however, have also chosen an unlikely agent. Catherine Blake is the beautiful widow of a war hero, a hospital volunteer - and a Nazi spy under direct orders from uncover the Allied plans for D-Day...
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First published December 24, 1996
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About the author
Daniel Silva
183 books9,457 followersDaniel Silva was born in Michigan in 1960 and raised in California where he received his BA from Fresno State. Silva began his writing career as a journalist for United Press International (UPI), traveling in the Middle East and covering the Iran-Iraq war, terrorism and political conflicts. From UPI he moved to CNN, where he eventually became executive producer of its Washington-based public policy programming. In 1994 he began work on his first novel, The Unlikely Spy, a surprise best seller that won critical acclaim. He turned to writing full time in 1997 and all of his books have been New York Times/national best sellers, translated into 25 languages and published across Europe and the world. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Series:
* Michael Osbourne
* Gabriel Allon
Series:
* Michael Osbourne
* Gabriel Allon
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,182 reviews
January 2, 2023
UPDATE Jan 2022 ... I read it again and it's just as good ... this time I was reading it for background on spies and spy techniques, as part of my research for my novel-in-progress dealing with US/China relations in the Nixon years ... still true: Trust no one. Believe no one. Nothing is as it seems ... does that apply to Nixon, Kissinger and Premier Zhou Enlai?
***
Quite simply this is as good a spy novel as I have ever read, including Le Carre. Silva's characters and plot are complex and sometimes confusing, but that's the point of espionage and counter-espionage, and ultimately all becomes clear. In addition, the action scenes are superb, often sustained over many pages.
The story covers one major aspect of the deception surrounding which beaches the Allies would land on at D-Day in 1944. The stakes could not be higher, and even though we know how it turned out, Silva keeps the suspense at the highest level.
Trust no one. Believe no one. Nothing is as it seems.
***
Quite simply this is as good a spy novel as I have ever read, including Le Carre. Silva's characters and plot are complex and sometimes confusing, but that's the point of espionage and counter-espionage, and ultimately all becomes clear. In addition, the action scenes are superb, often sustained over many pages.
The story covers one major aspect of the deception surrounding which beaches the Allies would land on at D-Day in 1944. The stakes could not be higher, and even though we know how it turned out, Silva keeps the suspense at the highest level.
Trust no one. Believe no one. Nothing is as it seems.
January 11, 2018
Not all spy fiction is the same. I separate spy fiction in to two camps. One is the more familiar “male fantasy” action-adventure story in which the hero is ridiculously uncomplicated, possesses almost supernatural strength and agility, and has access to the most state-of-the-art surveillance technology and weaponry. Ian Fleming’s James Bond and Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne are examples of this type. This camp, due to its popularity, has, over the years, almost become a parody of itself, with everything from TV’s “Alias” to “The Kingsman” movies, as well as children’s films like “Spy Kids” and “Despiccable Me”, poking fun at the genre.
The other camp is, perhaps, a more mature and realistic approach to spy fiction. Generally more cerebral and less action-oriented, this camp of spy fiction looks at the minutiae of espionage, as well as the ethics and the human costs involved. John Le Carre is probably the best known writer of this type of spy fiction. His heroes are not supermen but professorial old men who spend most of their time in an office. They very rarely carry guns.
Daniel Silva’s debut novel “The Unlikely Spy” falls very much into the latter camp of spy fiction.
Set during World War II, “The Unlikely Spy” attempts to answer a question that has baffled historians and scholars for years. Prior to the invasion of Normandy, which led to the turning tide of the war for the Allied Forces, British intelligence knew that German intelligence knew that something was up. The Brits were aware that the Germans knew about massive concrete structures being placed in the waters off the French coast, an operation necessary to create a false harbor that would alleviate the planned invasion. This operation was known as Mulberry. If the Germans knew about the concrete structures, it was possible that they knew about the invasion plans, and if they knew about the invasion plans, thousands of lives were at stake.
Thankfully, U.S. intelligence intercepted messages from Japan to Germany which concluded that the Germans had no idea about the invasion. The Germans believed that the concrete structures were going to be used for a large antiaircraft structure and not a false harbor.
Given the number of imbedded German spies in Britain and the U.S. and given the massive number of people working on the proposed invasion plans, it is a miracle that information did not manage to leak to the Germans. It was a logistical nightmare to keep the plans a secret.
Silva begs the questions: What if the Germans did know about the potential invasion? How would they have not known? And, if they did know, how and why did they ultimately decide to dismiss the intelligence, giving the Allies a major advantage and, most likely, costing Germany the war?
All of these questions are, of course, unanswered and unanswerable by history, owing to the classified top-secret nature of Operation Mulberry and its subsequent intelligence gathering.
Silva, of course, offers a fascinating fictional answer, one involving a history professor named Vicary---hand-picked by Winston Churchill personally to lead a spy-catching program within British intelligence; a gorgeous German spy who has been a “sleeper” cell in England for years; an American engineer; British mobsters; and two warring German spy programs vying for Hitler’s admiration.
The plot is convoluted, but it seems plausible, given the nature of duplicity and deception of espionage work. To say more would reveal too many spoilers, and I feel that I have said too much as it is.
Silva’s brilliance is creating characters that are believable and sympathetic, even when they are doing horrible things. His characters may be spies and soldiers and assassins, but he never devolves into a dehumanizing “us vs. them” mentality, to which the James Bond/Jason Bourne camp of spy fiction frequently resorts. Silva’s characters are human and thusly flawed and fragile, caught up in the chaos of their times and forced to do things for what they believe is the right cause.
The other camp is, perhaps, a more mature and realistic approach to spy fiction. Generally more cerebral and less action-oriented, this camp of spy fiction looks at the minutiae of espionage, as well as the ethics and the human costs involved. John Le Carre is probably the best known writer of this type of spy fiction. His heroes are not supermen but professorial old men who spend most of their time in an office. They very rarely carry guns.
Daniel Silva’s debut novel “The Unlikely Spy” falls very much into the latter camp of spy fiction.
Set during World War II, “The Unlikely Spy” attempts to answer a question that has baffled historians and scholars for years. Prior to the invasion of Normandy, which led to the turning tide of the war for the Allied Forces, British intelligence knew that German intelligence knew that something was up. The Brits were aware that the Germans knew about massive concrete structures being placed in the waters off the French coast, an operation necessary to create a false harbor that would alleviate the planned invasion. This operation was known as Mulberry. If the Germans knew about the concrete structures, it was possible that they knew about the invasion plans, and if they knew about the invasion plans, thousands of lives were at stake.
Thankfully, U.S. intelligence intercepted messages from Japan to Germany which concluded that the Germans had no idea about the invasion. The Germans believed that the concrete structures were going to be used for a large antiaircraft structure and not a false harbor.
Given the number of imbedded German spies in Britain and the U.S. and given the massive number of people working on the proposed invasion plans, it is a miracle that information did not manage to leak to the Germans. It was a logistical nightmare to keep the plans a secret.
Silva begs the questions: What if the Germans did know about the potential invasion? How would they have not known? And, if they did know, how and why did they ultimately decide to dismiss the intelligence, giving the Allies a major advantage and, most likely, costing Germany the war?
All of these questions are, of course, unanswered and unanswerable by history, owing to the classified top-secret nature of Operation Mulberry and its subsequent intelligence gathering.
Silva, of course, offers a fascinating fictional answer, one involving a history professor named Vicary---hand-picked by Winston Churchill personally to lead a spy-catching program within British intelligence; a gorgeous German spy who has been a “sleeper” cell in England for years; an American engineer; British mobsters; and two warring German spy programs vying for Hitler’s admiration.
The plot is convoluted, but it seems plausible, given the nature of duplicity and deception of espionage work. To say more would reveal too many spoilers, and I feel that I have said too much as it is.
Silva’s brilliance is creating characters that are believable and sympathetic, even when they are doing horrible things. His characters may be spies and soldiers and assassins, but he never devolves into a dehumanizing “us vs. them” mentality, to which the James Bond/Jason Bourne camp of spy fiction frequently resorts. Silva’s characters are human and thusly flawed and fragile, caught up in the chaos of their times and forced to do things for what they believe is the right cause.
November 6, 2011
I must admit that I really wanted to like this book. Despite its faults, I was going to give it four stars, but the ending of it left me quite unfulfilled. Here are some of the biggest problems I have with it:
1) Implausibility. (a) A van drives through a blacked-out village in a rainstorm at night. A man opens the door of his house and sees that a man is driving the van and a woman is sitting next to him. How can he see that in those conditions? (b) Small spoiler warning: A teenage girl falls in the North Sea in a rainstorm at night. She pops up once, gasps for air but "swallowed a moutful of seawater instead." She starts sinking. A nearby boat sees her disappear for the second time and now "there was nothing, no sign of her at all." A man dives into the water, and pops up again to remove his life vest. Then he dives down and rescues the girl. How can he find her when she started sinking a while before and it is dark on surface, let alone in the depths?
2) Muddled characters. Several characters behave completely out of the character that has been painted of them by the author. Perhaps this is just me misunderstanding the descriptions given, but at the very least the author does a poor job of communicating them.
3) Lack of fulfillment. MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: In the end, you find out that the thrilling storyline you have been following is nothing but a pawn in a bigger scheme. And caring about what the main protagonist has been working so hard to achieve seems rather silly, because it's all rather meaningless.
I was planning for this to be a lead-in for me reading the Gabriel Allon series, but honestly now, I think I'll pass.
1) Implausibility. (a) A van drives through a blacked-out village in a rainstorm at night. A man opens the door of his house and sees that a man is driving the van and a woman is sitting next to him. How can he see that in those conditions? (b) Small spoiler warning: A teenage girl falls in the North Sea in a rainstorm at night. She pops up once, gasps for air but "swallowed a moutful of seawater instead." She starts sinking. A nearby boat sees her disappear for the second time and now "there was nothing, no sign of her at all." A man dives into the water, and pops up again to remove his life vest. Then he dives down and rescues the girl. How can he find her when she started sinking a while before and it is dark on surface, let alone in the depths?
2) Muddled characters. Several characters behave completely out of the character that has been painted of them by the author. Perhaps this is just me misunderstanding the descriptions given, but at the very least the author does a poor job of communicating them.
3) Lack of fulfillment. MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: In the end, you find out that the thrilling storyline you have been following is nothing but a pawn in a bigger scheme. And caring about what the main protagonist has been working so hard to achieve seems rather silly, because it's all rather meaningless.
I was planning for this to be a lead-in for me reading the Gabriel Allon series, but honestly now, I think I'll pass.
May 25, 2010
Disclaimer: I'm a sucker for WWII and / or spy books
Before I start - this is not a "Gabriel Allon" book as mentioned on Amazon's book title.
"The Unlikely Spy" is a fast paced page turner, set mostly in days preceding the Normandy invasion in WWII. The story's unlikely hero is a university professor named Alfred Vicray who was recruited by none other then Winston Churchill himself to work for the British MI5.
Vicary is a spy catcher - he does his job well until realizing that a small group of German sleeper agents trained by Abwehr officer Kurt Vogel are still in Britain. The threat is that the German agents could discover the secrets to the invasion and allow the Germans to setup a proper defense line (or call the invasion off) and the invasion would fail.
Chief among the German spies is Anna Katerina von Steiner, known in Britain as Dutch tourist Catherine Blake. Catherine is an attractive woman and a top notch spy who has been a sleeper agent in London for six years - now she has been activated by Vogel.
Let the mind games and puzzles begin....
The plot twists and turns very cleverly and the ending caught me by surprise. Even though this is a big book, the narrative is told masterfully, the twists keep coming and it's hard to stop reading.
The characters in the book are well drawn, they each are painted in shades of gray -the German spies have some redeeming qualities and the English MI5 agents are not depicted as saints doing G-d's work.
Before I start - this is not a "Gabriel Allon" book as mentioned on Amazon's book title.
"The Unlikely Spy" is a fast paced page turner, set mostly in days preceding the Normandy invasion in WWII. The story's unlikely hero is a university professor named Alfred Vicray who was recruited by none other then Winston Churchill himself to work for the British MI5.
Vicary is a spy catcher - he does his job well until realizing that a small group of German sleeper agents trained by Abwehr officer Kurt Vogel are still in Britain. The threat is that the German agents could discover the secrets to the invasion and allow the Germans to setup a proper defense line (or call the invasion off) and the invasion would fail.
Chief among the German spies is Anna Katerina von Steiner, known in Britain as Dutch tourist Catherine Blake. Catherine is an attractive woman and a top notch spy who has been a sleeper agent in London for six years - now she has been activated by Vogel.
Let the mind games and puzzles begin....
The plot twists and turns very cleverly and the ending caught me by surprise. Even though this is a big book, the narrative is told masterfully, the twists keep coming and it's hard to stop reading.
The characters in the book are well drawn, they each are painted in shades of gray -the German spies have some redeeming qualities and the English MI5 agents are not depicted as saints doing G-d's work.
March 13, 2012
Spy novels are not books that I usually read, but this one is engaging and I enjoyed it. It really is a historical novel, I guess, because the facts about WWII on which the book is based are true. It certainly is more interesting learning about WWII by reading this novel than a history book! The story line was based on the preparations for D-Day and the building of an artificial harbor from concrete that was floated across the English Channel so when they landed at Normandy, they would have a harbor. The other part of the story was based on the Allies plan to give Hitler false information through German spies so that he would think that the invasion of France was going to take place in Calais. It was a brilliant ploy by the Allies. Loved learning about this history through reading this novel. Was frequently flipping over to Wikipedia to check out if what I was reading was based on fact and most of it was. Good story. Occasionally a little too much R-rated sex for me (which I didn't think was necessary for the storyline), but otherwise a good book.
June 23, 2016
I'm gonna keep this short. I despise this long, boring snore of a story. 0 of 10 stars
October 21, 2018
A very good spy novel which takes place at the end of World War 2, where a sleeper agent of the Nazis is finally "awoken" to find out about the plans for the allied invasion of Europe. She has been assigned a target whose intelligence she is to obtain.
Then there are the men and women of the Allied intelligence forces whose are in the running to stop the Nazi secret agents and they will have to do an Herculean task to find out who they are chasing and how this sleeper agent will be used to obtain the secrets the Allied forces do not want to nazi high-command to know.
And there is of course the intrigue of the Nazi High-command where Himmler and his friends want it all and most certainly distrust anything the head of the Abwehr Secret service Admiral Canaris will have to offer for information.
This is a very well written book that keeps you on your toes to the last pages and nothing seems to be as expected. There are plans within plans. Really enjoyable read.
Then there are the men and women of the Allied intelligence forces whose are in the running to stop the Nazi secret agents and they will have to do an Herculean task to find out who they are chasing and how this sleeper agent will be used to obtain the secrets the Allied forces do not want to nazi high-command to know.
And there is of course the intrigue of the Nazi High-command where Himmler and his friends want it all and most certainly distrust anything the head of the Abwehr Secret service Admiral Canaris will have to offer for information.
This is a very well written book that keeps you on your toes to the last pages and nothing seems to be as expected. There are plans within plans. Really enjoyable read.
May 17, 2018
The Unlikely Spy is a sensational spy thriller, that had my head spinning until the very end!
The Unlikely Spy is an unlikely hit, for a mostly unknown author 'Daniel Silva' back in 1994. Surprisingly, the work represents Silva's first published book, and it was a massive success with critical acclaim! It's so peculiar how an author's first work can be one of his very best! The reason why is simple: this book freaking rocks!!
The Unlikely Spy involves one of WWII's most guarded secret: the invasion of Normandy and D-Day! Much like Follett's brilliant 'The Eye of the Needle', Silva uses the central theme of D-Day's invasion as the fabric for his masterful spy story. History shows us the multiple layers of deception used by the Allies to fool the Nazi as to where the European invasion would take place. Silva uses the construction of 'floatable' harbors, as the pivotal secret the Allies must keep from our maniacal Nazi devils. Yet nothing is as it seems!!
"In wartime, the truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."
- Winston Churchill
The realism of WWII and espionage is portrayed masterfully in The Unlikely Spy . The levels of deceit from both British and Germans almost resemble a game of 'cat and mouse'. Silva introduces memorable characters in both sides of the ally. In one side, there's 'Catherine Blake',a beautiful German spy who's a sleeper operative in Britain, and take a key part of the charade. The British characters are also fantastic, specially 'Alfred Vicary' a University professor who gets 'suckered' into the war machine, and ends up working for British secret agency MI5. The narrative is told in the third POV, and becomes very effective in building the suspense in each side. What's so striking is how 'life' was during the great war; nightly bomb raids, constant mandatory 'blackouts', and a true sense of paranoia in the British people, always on the lookout for spies!
The book was relatively long clocking at over 500 pages, but the exposition and cadance of the story were pitch perfect! The character development took some time, but I really felt sympathy for some of the characters. Even German spies were portrayed as 'humans', trapped in the German-Nazi war machine, and some were even coerced to spy for the villainous regime. The action and building suspense is incredible, and in the end the culmination of all the deception is handed to the reader in a golden plater! The Unlikely Spy is a masterful and worth while spy thriller!
4 1/2 Stars
The Unlikely Spy is an unlikely hit, for a mostly unknown author 'Daniel Silva' back in 1994. Surprisingly, the work represents Silva's first published book, and it was a massive success with critical acclaim! It's so peculiar how an author's first work can be one of his very best! The reason why is simple: this book freaking rocks!!
The Unlikely Spy involves one of WWII's most guarded secret: the invasion of Normandy and D-Day! Much like Follett's brilliant 'The Eye of the Needle', Silva uses the central theme of D-Day's invasion as the fabric for his masterful spy story. History shows us the multiple layers of deception used by the Allies to fool the Nazi as to where the European invasion would take place. Silva uses the construction of 'floatable' harbors, as the pivotal secret the Allies must keep from our maniacal Nazi devils. Yet nothing is as it seems!!
"In wartime, the truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."
- Winston Churchill
The realism of WWII and espionage is portrayed masterfully in The Unlikely Spy . The levels of deceit from both British and Germans almost resemble a game of 'cat and mouse'. Silva introduces memorable characters in both sides of the ally. In one side, there's 'Catherine Blake',a beautiful German spy who's a sleeper operative in Britain, and take a key part of the charade. The British characters are also fantastic, specially 'Alfred Vicary' a University professor who gets 'suckered' into the war machine, and ends up working for British secret agency MI5. The narrative is told in the third POV, and becomes very effective in building the suspense in each side. What's so striking is how 'life' was during the great war; nightly bomb raids, constant mandatory 'blackouts', and a true sense of paranoia in the British people, always on the lookout for spies!
The book was relatively long clocking at over 500 pages, but the exposition and cadance of the story were pitch perfect! The character development took some time, but I really felt sympathy for some of the characters. Even German spies were portrayed as 'humans', trapped in the German-Nazi war machine, and some were even coerced to spy for the villainous regime. The action and building suspense is incredible, and in the end the culmination of all the deception is handed to the reader in a golden plater! The Unlikely Spy is a masterful and worth while spy thriller!
4 1/2 Stars
June 8, 2017
This was a darn good read. Packed with scythe-sharp prose, fantastically mundane imagery, a large cast of likable characters each with their own flaws and conflicts. The WWII espionage scene comes alive and flys out through the pages. The fairly complex plot entertains and educates. A must read for those who enjoy period and spy novels.
September 26, 2016
"The Unlikely Spy" is one of the best if not the best spy novel I've read. Daniel Silva craftily selects a university professor of European history as his protagonist, the Unlikely Spy. He's brilliant and turns out to be up to the task. Historically based, the story moves between various locations in the UK and Germany during the build up to the Allied Invasion of WW II. MI5 and 6 stop at nothing to keep the location for D Day secret including the deception of their own teams, and likewise the Abwehr will do anything to learn the secret. They both realize the winner of this spy vs. spy battle, will win the war. Double cross actions and double agents galore to keep the reader glued to the page. Be sure and fasten your seat belt, you will need it.
March 16, 2014
I liked many aspects of this book. I really enjoyed the descriptions of life in England during WWII - rendered with vivid detail. Learning about spy craft during that era was also very interesting. I had vaguely remembered that the Allies had tricked the Germans into thinking that the invasion was going to take place at Calais. So learning many of the details of the planning made the book particularly engaging. I was going to give the book 4 stars until things began to unravel for me in the end.
SPOILER ALERT
The whole story line, told in thrilling fashion at times, loses its impact every time Silva has a character say that the whole war can be lost if they don't catch this new ring of spies. Every reader knows the Germans lost the war. No suspense there.
The escape in the black van to the coast in blackout conditions seemed highly implausible. The involvement of the drunk father and the love struck teenager seemed a clumsy addition to the story to enable our handsome American an heroic end.
There were way too many graphic sex scenes that did not propel the story in any way. Call me a prude, but it felt quite gratuitous and unseemly.
Finally, in the twists and turns revelations at the end, we learn that all the hard work of the one character we really care about was for naught, as he was just a pawn in a much larger espionage game. A very unsatisfying conclusion.
All in all, still a well written story that was hard to put down at times.
SPOILER ALERT
The whole story line, told in thrilling fashion at times, loses its impact every time Silva has a character say that the whole war can be lost if they don't catch this new ring of spies. Every reader knows the Germans lost the war. No suspense there.
The escape in the black van to the coast in blackout conditions seemed highly implausible. The involvement of the drunk father and the love struck teenager seemed a clumsy addition to the story to enable our handsome American an heroic end.
There were way too many graphic sex scenes that did not propel the story in any way. Call me a prude, but it felt quite gratuitous and unseemly.
Finally, in the twists and turns revelations at the end, we learn that all the hard work of the one character we really care about was for naught, as he was just a pawn in a much larger espionage game. A very unsatisfying conclusion.
All in all, still a well written story that was hard to put down at times.
February 25, 2016
Este foi o 1º primeiro livro que experimentei do autor Daniel Silva, e gostei bastante. Prendeu-me desde o principio, fiquei logo fascinado e intrigado com uma espiã alemã e também em relação aos outros espiões. Todos sabemos acerca do Dia D, o ataque dos Aliados na Normandia que contribuiu para acabar com a 2ª Guerra Mundial. Mas a questão central do livro é: como é que os Aliados enganaram os Nazi? Como os fizeram convencer que o ataque seria em Calais em vez na Normandia? Os espiões alemães estavam escondidos e infiltrados em Inglaterra e ainda havia os portos Mulberry que dariam muito nas vistas...
Achei prazeroso e inteligente o esquema de espionagem para enganar os Nazi como se fosse um jogo de xadrez, sendo a melhor parte de acompanharmos os passos, a ação e os sentimentos dos espiões (embora estes sejam fictícios), e a escrita do autor é bastante acessível e fluente.
Recomendo para quem gosta de espionagem e do tema de 2ª Guerra Mundial.
Informações sobre a Operação Overlord- aqui
Achei prazeroso e inteligente o esquema de espionagem para enganar os Nazi como se fosse um jogo de xadrez, sendo a melhor parte de acompanharmos os passos, a ação e os sentimentos dos espiões (embora estes sejam fictícios), e a escrita do autor é bastante acessível e fluente.
Recomendo para quem gosta de espionagem e do tema de 2ª Guerra Mundial.
Informações sobre a Operação Overlord- aqui
January 16, 2009
After I read Moscow Rules, I checked Silva out and went back to the beginning of his career to start with this one. It takes place in World War II and we'd just seen the Tom Cruise movie so this fit right in with what was on my mind. Fascinating plot, lots of violence, perfect book for my husband, who enjoyed it after I did. I liked it too. Since it takes place in England, it took me back to my stay there many years ago, and the references to Suffolk made me homesick for Great Bealings, Woodbridge, Suffolk (back when Evan was 2, 3, and 4, Bobbi). Totally off the topic: it's fun to look at the dust jacket picture of Silva then and now. He's gotten older, big surprise. Anyway, I recommend this one. It did not contain any meaningful life lessons (don't trust ANYBODY???), but it was very entertaining. I'll be reading more Silva novels.
May 20, 2014
Flat-out THE BEST World War II spy novel that I have ever read. If you only read one WWII spy book in your life, make this one it. I read it in three days and didn't want to put it down. Simply tremendous.
May 17, 2019
¡NO.ME.JOROBES.DANIEL.SILVA!
No, hombre, no. No se puede hacer eso en el desenlace de un libro. Lo que no sé es como explicarme sin hacer spoilers.
A ver, imaginaros esos libros en los que te meten unas imágenes complejas, una trama complicada…y al final resulta que es un sueño. O esos “deus ex machina”, ese arte de birlibirloque o ese informático que lo arregla todo con un hackeo. Eso, para mí, es hacer trampa por parte del autor. No te pueden conducir por tramas complicadas y luego salirte con una explicación que, plis-plas, lo resuelve todo o lo cambia todo. NO te pueden llevar por un camino para luego, sin pistas, una resolución abrupta o contraria al camino que llevabas.
Bueno, pues algo parecido es lo que sucede con este libro. Parecido. O eso me parece a mí.
Eso sí, la trama de espías en el mejor estilo de las de ingleses y alemanes en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. La trama en sí como las mejores de Follet o Le Carré. Y el ambiente en el que te envuelve con la narración, también muy bueno. La cosa es la típica –pero ya digo que muy buena- de los espías infiltrados para conseguir el secreto de dónde iba a ser el desembarco del día D. Que ya sepamos dónde iba a ser no ayuda tampoco al misterio de la novela, claro. Que salga Cannaris –y sepamos cómo acabó-, tampoco.
Los personajes bien desarrollados pero no he logrado conectar con ninguno. En vilo te mantienen, eso sí. Por ello se lee fácil y con ganas…pero si le sumamos el final que a mí me ha horrorizado, pues se quedaría en un poco más de tre estrellas pero Nome apetece darle la cuarta, por tramposo.
No, no he empezado muy bien con Daniel Silva, a pesar de la fama que tiene actualmente y a pesar del “notón” que tiene esta novela en GR. Si alguno de mis amigos de GR con el que suela coincidir en gustos me recomienda alguno de este autor vale, le retomaré. Si no, aparcado “sine die”.
No, hombre, no. No se puede hacer eso en el desenlace de un libro. Lo que no sé es como explicarme sin hacer spoilers.
A ver, imaginaros esos libros en los que te meten unas imágenes complejas, una trama complicada…y al final resulta que es un sueño. O esos “deus ex machina”, ese arte de birlibirloque o ese informático que lo arregla todo con un hackeo. Eso, para mí, es hacer trampa por parte del autor. No te pueden conducir por tramas complicadas y luego salirte con una explicación que, plis-plas, lo resuelve todo o lo cambia todo. NO te pueden llevar por un camino para luego, sin pistas, una resolución abrupta o contraria al camino que llevabas.
Bueno, pues algo parecido es lo que sucede con este libro. Parecido. O eso me parece a mí.
Eso sí, la trama de espías en el mejor estilo de las de ingleses y alemanes en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. La trama en sí como las mejores de Follet o Le Carré. Y el ambiente en el que te envuelve con la narración, también muy bueno. La cosa es la típica –pero ya digo que muy buena- de los espías infiltrados para conseguir el secreto de dónde iba a ser el desembarco del día D. Que ya sepamos dónde iba a ser no ayuda tampoco al misterio de la novela, claro. Que salga Cannaris –y sepamos cómo acabó-, tampoco.
Los personajes bien desarrollados pero no he logrado conectar con ninguno. En vilo te mantienen, eso sí. Por ello se lee fácil y con ganas…pero si le sumamos el final que a mí me ha horrorizado, pues se quedaría en un poco más de tre estrellas pero Nome apetece darle la cuarta, por tramposo.
No, no he empezado muy bien con Daniel Silva, a pesar de la fama que tiene actualmente y a pesar del “notón” que tiene esta novela en GR. Si alguno de mis amigos de GR con el que suela coincidir en gustos me recomienda alguno de este autor vale, le retomaré. Si no, aparcado “sine die”.
October 17, 2022
Because Mr. Siva's book follows along with historical events in this book, made it a page-turner.
I was reading another book about Great Britain's fight with Hitler, a true story, it was confusing to read both at the same time.
This was because Mr. Silva also used these events and people that I had to stop reading his book until I finished the other book.
This story follows MI5's work trying to find and catch a ruthless spy. She had been put in place six years before the attacks began.
Now enters an American, Peter Jordan, who was working on a top-secret project. His wife had died some years earlier and Catherine, a German spy, knew this and moved in on him to start a relationship and steal secrets from him.
Now the story really takes off. Catherine is able to steal the secret plans and MI5 has to work fast to keep these secret papers out of Germany's hands.
While reading this story I began to think that MI5 had a mole in their ranks.
The ending is a real twist that some will not see coming, including me.
I was reading another book about Great Britain's fight with Hitler, a true story, it was confusing to read both at the same time.
This was because Mr. Silva also used these events and people that I had to stop reading his book until I finished the other book.
This story follows MI5's work trying to find and catch a ruthless spy. She had been put in place six years before the attacks began.
Now enters an American, Peter Jordan, who was working on a top-secret project. His wife had died some years earlier and Catherine, a German spy, knew this and moved in on him to start a relationship and steal secrets from him.
Now the story really takes off. Catherine is able to steal the secret plans and MI5 has to work fast to keep these secret papers out of Germany's hands.
While reading this story I began to think that MI5 had a mole in their ranks.
The ending is a real twist that some will not see coming, including me.
August 21, 2017
This is a great debut novel. It could have been a complete mess in the hands of a lesser talent.
The espionage story is set against the real story of the preparations for what was to be the D-Day invasion and the extreme actions on both sides to conceal and expose the plans for the maneuver
that everyone knew was coming.
The characters are incredible and the suspense is taut throughout. As you're reading, you need to decide who is the most unlikely spy!
The game itself is summed up in this exchange ...
"It's just credits and debits? Is that how you look at it? Like one giant accounting sheet? I'm glad I'm out! I don't want any part of it! Not if it means doing things like that. God, but we should have burned people like you at the stake a long time ago." ...
"You don't really feel that way, do you ... ? You liked it. You were seduced by it. You liked the manipulation and deception. ... you realize everything you ever believed in is a lie and my world, this world, is the real world."
"You're not the real world. I'm not sure what you are, but you're not real."
"You can say that now, but I know you miss it all desperately. It's rather like a mistress, the kind of work we do. Sometimes you don't like her very much. You don't like yourself when you're with her. The moments when it feels good are fleeting. But when you try to leave her, something pulls you back."
"I'm afraid the metaphor is lost on me, ..."
"There you go again, pretending to be superior, better than the rest of us. I would have thought you'd have learned your lesson by now. You need people like us. The country needs us."
--Dan Silva, "The Unlikely Spy"
The espionage story is set against the real story of the preparations for what was to be the D-Day invasion and the extreme actions on both sides to conceal and expose the plans for the maneuver
that everyone knew was coming.
The characters are incredible and the suspense is taut throughout. As you're reading, you need to decide who is the most unlikely spy!
The game itself is summed up in this exchange ...
"It's just credits and debits? Is that how you look at it? Like one giant accounting sheet? I'm glad I'm out! I don't want any part of it! Not if it means doing things like that. God, but we should have burned people like you at the stake a long time ago." ...
"You don't really feel that way, do you ... ? You liked it. You were seduced by it. You liked the manipulation and deception. ... you realize everything you ever believed in is a lie and my world, this world, is the real world."
"You're not the real world. I'm not sure what you are, but you're not real."
"You can say that now, but I know you miss it all desperately. It's rather like a mistress, the kind of work we do. Sometimes you don't like her very much. You don't like yourself when you're with her. The moments when it feels good are fleeting. But when you try to leave her, something pulls you back."
"I'm afraid the metaphor is lost on me, ..."
"There you go again, pretending to be superior, better than the rest of us. I would have thought you'd have learned your lesson by now. You need people like us. The country needs us."
--Dan Silva, "The Unlikely Spy"
April 23, 2013
I last read a Daniel Silva spy-thriller in May, 2012. As the cliché says, “So many books; so little time!” I just finished his mammoth (724 pages) first WWII thriller THE UNLIKELY SPY (ISBN 978-0451209306, paperback, $9.99). The story takes place in the U.S., U.K. and Germany from the late 1930s to the landings in Normandy. Some of the characters are real (Winston Churchill and German spymaster Admiral William Canaris). Most are not. Silva has been favorably compared to Ken Follett and Robert Harris as a writer of spy fiction.
The Allies are preparing to build the Mulberry Harbors designed by the British to be artificial harbors for unloading men and materials from ships to support the Normandy invasion. But how do you hide massive concrete platforms from the prying eyes of Nazi spies and aerial reconnaissance? That is the problem facing British MI-6 and SHAEF. If you ever travel to Normandy you can see remnants of these artificial harbors in Arromanches and its museum.
The action goes back and forth from the U.S. to Germany to England where Canaris’ sleeper network of spies awaits, and then carries out, its mission. There are double agents and double crosses to satisfy the most avid WWII spy-thriller fan. Watch how the agents of good and evil make their moves and countermoves. Good guys and bad guys die, as do a few innocent civilians.
Go! Buy! Read!
The Allies are preparing to build the Mulberry Harbors designed by the British to be artificial harbors for unloading men and materials from ships to support the Normandy invasion. But how do you hide massive concrete platforms from the prying eyes of Nazi spies and aerial reconnaissance? That is the problem facing British MI-6 and SHAEF. If you ever travel to Normandy you can see remnants of these artificial harbors in Arromanches and its museum.
The action goes back and forth from the U.S. to Germany to England where Canaris’ sleeper network of spies awaits, and then carries out, its mission. There are double agents and double crosses to satisfy the most avid WWII spy-thriller fan. Watch how the agents of good and evil make their moves and countermoves. Good guys and bad guys die, as do a few innocent civilians.
Go! Buy! Read!
September 22, 2017
This is my first reading of a Daniel Silva book and I was impressed. Noted for his Gabriel Allon series, I believe this is among his first writing attempts before the series. "The Unlikely Spy" focuses on the months leading up to the D-Day invasion, the Germans frantically trying to find out where the invasion will take place and the British frantically trying to misdirect the Germans. it spans the globe from Long Island to Germany. Silva does a wonderful job conjuring up the atmosphere in London during the war: the bombed out buildings, blacked out neighborhoods, smoke-filled pubs, bomb-cratered public parks. Characters are suitably stressed, sleep deprived, and under nourished, with clothes reeking of cigarette smoke or drenched by the incessant London rains. And since it's a spy novel there are numerous betrayals, double agents and double crosses. Cameo appearances by Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower remind you of the historical significance of the plot proceedings. Silva takes his time telling the story, perhaps a little too much time as he milks every drop of tension from the story that he can. That didn't stop me from turning the pages as fast as I could. A very good book by Daniel Silva and I look forward to starting the Gabriel Allon series - 17 volumes and counting. Can't wait.
March 8, 2016
Totally excellent. Five stars is hard to reach...
Long without being boring. Believable. Meticulous research. No one was too much of a hero or stereotype.
Some delicious parts of this book involve how it leaves you wondering. There are hints of a greater game than the piece you get to see. That gets resolved at the end, but not quite. It was unclear what role the "Broom" character played and whether he too was a double agent, or perhaps a triple. Basil Boothby too made me wonder to whose allegiance he actually played.
There are hints to the future Soviet infiltration of British intelligence, and "Broom" may in fact be a reference to Blunt, Burgess, Philby or a composite of the five. Truthful yet wrapped in a fictitious story.
I was left wondering at several points who the unlikely spy was. Was it the German woman with little allegiance to Germany itself? Was it the American who may have been duped according to Basil Boothby's explanations, or was it the main character, Alfred?
I could read this one again. History, psychology, tradecraft, some judgement of character.
Long without being boring. Believable. Meticulous research. No one was too much of a hero or stereotype.
Some delicious parts of this book involve how it leaves you wondering. There are hints of a greater game than the piece you get to see. That gets resolved at the end, but not quite. It was unclear what role the "Broom" character played and whether he too was a double agent, or perhaps a triple. Basil Boothby too made me wonder to whose allegiance he actually played.
There are hints to the future Soviet infiltration of British intelligence, and "Broom" may in fact be a reference to Blunt, Burgess, Philby or a composite of the five. Truthful yet wrapped in a fictitious story.
I was left wondering at several points who the unlikely spy was. Was it the German woman with little allegiance to Germany itself? Was it the American who may have been duped according to Basil Boothby's explanations, or was it the main character, Alfred?
I could read this one again. History, psychology, tradecraft, some judgement of character.
August 7, 2012
I've read and enjoyed a few of Silva's books before, but they have all starred his Mossad agent/art restorer, Gabriel Allon. This book is not part of the Allon series, but nonetheless a well-written historical thriller about all the information and disinformation leading up to the Normandy landings. We listened to it in the car on 15 disks!
The Unlikely Spy is a spy novel written by Daniel Silva, set during World War II, and published in 1996. While some of the exact characters and events may be fictional, the book is based on very real events- the attempt by the Allies to use British intelligence to cover up the true plans for D-Day. The deception plan was called Operation Fortitude, and Double Cross also played a role. Specifically, the book has a backdrop (a subset of Fortitude referred to as Fortitude South). (Wiki)
The Unlikely Spy is a spy novel written by Daniel Silva, set during World War II, and published in 1996. While some of the exact characters and events may be fictional, the book is based on very real events- the attempt by the Allies to use British intelligence to cover up the true plans for D-Day. The deception plan was called Operation Fortitude, and Double Cross also played a role. Specifically, the book has a backdrop (a subset of Fortitude referred to as Fortitude South). (Wiki)
December 13, 2014
I'm going to give this 5 stars with reservations. It is certainly a book that anyone who is a spy/espionage enthusiast should have read, or at least have on their to-read list. It is a masterful work of historical fiction. It shows a great deal of research and actual historical detail. That being said, it is a very long book...at least by my standards. At times it tends to get bogged down in detail and side-story. One of its greatest strengths is its detail in creating characters, which ironically is a weakness because it does tend to plod at times in character side-stories.
However, all-in-all, this is a really wonderful story, far better than the Ken Follett novel, Eye of the Needle.
However, all-in-all, this is a really wonderful story, far better than the Ken Follett novel, Eye of the Needle.
March 20, 2013
I picked this up by chance at my used book store. I don't like Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon thrillers so at first didn't even look at this, but when I saw it was a WW II thriller about German spies in England I bought it and was pleasantly surprised. He's no Alan Furst but the plot is strong, the characters well drawn and except for one or two errors (his lady spy uses liner on her eyes which I'm sure didn't exist in 1944--at least they didn't call it liner then. It was probably cake mascara painted on with a paintbrush if she used it at all), but this is trivial. I could not even find fault with the writing considering the genre. A good read--and his debut novel too. A pity he doesn't drop Gabriel Allon and write a few more stand alone novels.
February 22, 2019
Incredible
Hard to believe that this was written so early in Daniel Silva's career. It is actually much better than the first few books of the Gabriel Allon series. The depth of the characters - even the “minor” ones, is perfect. The way each are introduced with just the right amount of backstory and at just the right time. The plotting - the storytelling is almost incomparable.
How could anyone possess the talent and tenacity to write like this?
Hard to believe that this was written so early in Daniel Silva's career. It is actually much better than the first few books of the Gabriel Allon series. The depth of the characters - even the “minor” ones, is perfect. The way each are introduced with just the right amount of backstory and at just the right time. The plotting - the storytelling is almost incomparable.
How could anyone possess the talent and tenacity to write like this?
July 23, 2025
[3.5 rounded down now that I've tried another Silva book]
I met an actual FBI agent on vacation one summer who recommended this author if I was interested in spy thrillers. So obviously, I had to read one. This is his first book, written in 1996.
It’s possible my expectations were too high based on the source of the recommendation. I felt a bit disappointed.
This book isn’t technical, but what makes it a bit hard to read are all the characters. It felt like every chapter introduced another character with a little backstory. Then most were only in the book for a short period.
Add to that I felt there wasn’t much character resolution at the end. All of a sudden a few of the main characters are just dead. Which feels abrupt when prior you were privy to some of their thoughts and actions.
The book was convoluted and long. The pace picked up in the last 100 pages or so but by then it was too late for me.
There were a few good parts and interesting themes to think about (see below) and I may try his other series but not really the book I was looking for.
Brief Summary and Characters
It’s WWII on the precipice of D-Day, the turning point in the war.
Therefore, the secret of D-Day is of utmost importance and must be protected at all costs. The Germans will do anything to know where the Allies plan to attack and they have the sleeper spies installed in the Allied Forces to obtain such information.
Here are a few of the main characters:
- Sir Alfred Vicary: “a fussy, bookish little man”; leader of the task force to expose the German spies and operating a complex system of turned agents delivering false information back to Germany
- Catherine Black (aka Christa Kunst aka Anna Katerina): “strikingly beautiful… she had used her looks as a weapon her entire life.”; forced to spy for the Germans to protect her father she uses her beauty and charm to seduce men for information; a traumatic childhood experience has enabled her to be the detached killer her job requires
- Kurt Vogel: “he planned to steal the most closely guarded secret of the war with a woman, a cripple, a grounded paratrooper, and a British traitor”; part of the German intelligence organization who trains and runs spies
- James Porter (aka Horst Neumann aka Nigel Fox): the second German spy working with Catherine to transfer her information back to Berlin; hiding in a small coastal island trying not to get caught and preparing a way for them to escape should the need arise
- Jenny Colville: “she had been stripped of her childhood, her time of innocence, forced to confront the fact very early in life that the world could be an evil place”; daughter of an abusive father in Porter’s small town hideaway; becomes enamored with Porter and will be forced to reconcile the man with the truth
- Peter Jordan: widowed British engineer brought on to help design the concrete harbor D-Day requires to be successful in storming the beaches of Normandy; the man Catherine Blake is tasked with seducing in order to steal information
- Wilhelm Franz Canaris: part of a different section of the German intelligence operation but works closely with Vogel; both men distrust either and suspect treason
- Basil Boothby: unlikable supervisor of Vicary; threatens to fire Vicary if he doesn’t deliver quick results; Vicary suspects Boothby is hiding something
SOOOO…. Catherine is working Peter Jordan for secrets and Vicary, while suspicious of his own team, is in a cat-and-mouse game with Vogel and Canaris trying to control what information gets through the spy networks at play and protect the most vital attack the Allied Forces is planning.
[If you are interested in D-Day, check out the historical fiction book All The Lights Above Us by M.B. Henry]
Historical Truth
I don’t know a whole lot about D-Day so I can’t determine how well he followed history in his story, but the historical aspect was really interesting.
Operation Fortitude was real. This was a campaign to spread false information that would convince the Germans they were planning to attack a different port and that they had more troops than they actually did. They created fake planes that appeared real from the sky, set up a whole bunch of tents, and played plane sounds from the loudspeakers. At the very least it created uncertainty.
The portable harbor was real. I had never heard of this before. What a feat in engineering! To create huge floating concrete stations that could be hauled across the channel and sunk near Normandy beach to act as a port and help deliver supplies and equipment was quite the elaborate and complex plan. It sounds like it may not have been worth the resources put into it, but hindsight is 20/20. Seems like a good contingency plan.
In a brief google search I couldn’t find much to indicate any special spy operations for this particular project other than the general secrecy of it.
It was a great historical event to shape a spy novel on! I really liked how Silva incorporated that and was able to make the reader feel the gravity and urgency of keeping such a major secret.
One question I had while reading was how much each country spent during WWII. HERE is what I found. [links found in original post]
Interesting Themes
There were a couple themes in the book that were interesting to think about. Vicary, a professor at a university reflects on patriotism:
“Patriotism. During his lifetime of study he had concluded it was the most destructive force on the planet. but now he felt the stirring of patriotism in his own chest and did not feel ashamed. We are good and they are evil. our nationalism is justified.”
These days being a patriot is basically an abomination.
It seems to take a major war or tragedy to create unity towards one cause. But he makes a good point. Patriotism becomes destructive when it creates an us vs them system. Painting good and evil with broad strokes. It also becomes destructive when it attempts to elevate one country above another by merit.
There is no perfect country, no perfect culture, no perfect political system. There are definitely some that are better than others in pretty major ways, but what’s most important is people.
However, you look at WWII and you look at the ways patriotism inspired people to do some pretty heroic things. Patriotism is a complex label.
Second:
“Vicary liked the character studies in mysteries and often found parallels to his own work— why good people sometimes did wicked things.”
I guess the complicated part of this sentence is how you define ‘good.’ But WWII is an unending pile of psychological material in how far someone will go when pushed to their mental limits or faced with harm.
What leads people to do wicked things? They don’t just wake up one day and decide to kill someone. What progression happens to make a good person do a bad thing. That’s the simple question but there are many layers and depths to this theme.
In regards to the book Vicary is probably the primary character study in this thing. After all, people who give certain orders, though they aren’t holding the gun, are indirectly responsible for death and destruction.
There are also the two spies who are required to kill to obtain secrets or conceal their real identities. The age-old question- is sacrificing one life for the good of many just?
War changes people. It awakens self-preservation in a dangerous way. And it changes their perspective on what’s important.
After a few years working in espionage Vicary has a realization:
“When he stood back and looked at his life objectively, it was missing something: laughter, tenderness, a little noise and disorder sometimes. It was half a life, he realized. Half a life, half a home, ultimately half a man.”
[If you like to explore the psychology of morality and ethical dilemmas check out books by Steven James (thrillers) or Randy Singer (legal thrillers)]
Grosvenor House
Fun Fact: the Grosvenor House mentioned in this book is a hotel right by Hyde Park. I had the privilege of staying there for a week in 2015 so that was pretty cool. Here’s a very non-professional Shutterfly collage of it: [Picture in original post linked above]
What I Didn’t Like
What colored my reading of this book and makes me question whether to read more from him are mostly the sexual content and the f-words.
Because of the nature of Catherine’s plan of seduction there are several sexual encounters that are detailed, some more than others, but are fairly graphic (especially one somewhat kinky one). Some of these occur in the present time and some of them are flashbacks to Catherine’s past.
It seemed like all the female characters were only in the book for sex. They all seemed vapid and content to be call girls, taking pride in it. We see some resistance to that, but it’s a far cry from all the WWII novels that depict the women heroes of the time and their desire to be more than their looks.
There are also several homosexual characters in the book, which seems odd for a book from the 90s? But they are called sexual deviants so it’s not completely progressive.
The other main issue I had with the book was the introduction of so many characters that kind of fall off the grid in the end.
For example, we seem to be gradually getting a fuller picture of who Catherine is and what made her into what she is, but I didn’t feel like we got any sort of resolution with her.
Same with Peter Jordan. In the beginning we see his life with his wife and then her car accident. But in the end I don’t feel like I got to see the full arc of his character.
Vicary and Boothby have a conversation in the end that acts as an epilogue of sorts but that wasn’t a very satisfying way to wrap things up and explain.
If the book primarily followed Vicary this would make more sense, but since we spend so much time being with other characters I think Silva should have finished all the storylines better.
Recommendation
I’m not sure how to recommend this one.
I asked some other readers about this author. Daniel Silva has written a series (starting with The Kill Artist) surrounding a character named Gabriel Allon who is an Israeli operative and art restorer. I’m thinking I might give Silva another try eventually and go with this series. With a series we will see more character development and I’m intrigued by the art aspect as well.
Maybe my recommendation for you, if you’ve never read Silva, would be to start there instead of The Unlikely Spy.
If you already know you like Daniel Silva, you’ve either already this book or you’ll probably like it, but I have absolutely nothing else to compare it to so what do I know?
[Content Advisory: lots of f-words, some graphic sexual encounters as mentioned above]
Shelf Reflection Book Review Blog
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I met an actual FBI agent on vacation one summer who recommended this author if I was interested in spy thrillers. So obviously, I had to read one. This is his first book, written in 1996.
It’s possible my expectations were too high based on the source of the recommendation. I felt a bit disappointed.
This book isn’t technical, but what makes it a bit hard to read are all the characters. It felt like every chapter introduced another character with a little backstory. Then most were only in the book for a short period.
Add to that I felt there wasn’t much character resolution at the end. All of a sudden a few of the main characters are just dead. Which feels abrupt when prior you were privy to some of their thoughts and actions.
The book was convoluted and long. The pace picked up in the last 100 pages or so but by then it was too late for me.
There were a few good parts and interesting themes to think about (see below) and I may try his other series but not really the book I was looking for.
Brief Summary and Characters
It’s WWII on the precipice of D-Day, the turning point in the war.
Therefore, the secret of D-Day is of utmost importance and must be protected at all costs. The Germans will do anything to know where the Allies plan to attack and they have the sleeper spies installed in the Allied Forces to obtain such information.
Here are a few of the main characters:
- Sir Alfred Vicary: “a fussy, bookish little man”; leader of the task force to expose the German spies and operating a complex system of turned agents delivering false information back to Germany
- Catherine Black (aka Christa Kunst aka Anna Katerina): “strikingly beautiful… she had used her looks as a weapon her entire life.”; forced to spy for the Germans to protect her father she uses her beauty and charm to seduce men for information; a traumatic childhood experience has enabled her to be the detached killer her job requires
- Kurt Vogel: “he planned to steal the most closely guarded secret of the war with a woman, a cripple, a grounded paratrooper, and a British traitor”; part of the German intelligence organization who trains and runs spies
- James Porter (aka Horst Neumann aka Nigel Fox): the second German spy working with Catherine to transfer her information back to Berlin; hiding in a small coastal island trying not to get caught and preparing a way for them to escape should the need arise
- Jenny Colville: “she had been stripped of her childhood, her time of innocence, forced to confront the fact very early in life that the world could be an evil place”; daughter of an abusive father in Porter’s small town hideaway; becomes enamored with Porter and will be forced to reconcile the man with the truth
- Peter Jordan: widowed British engineer brought on to help design the concrete harbor D-Day requires to be successful in storming the beaches of Normandy; the man Catherine Blake is tasked with seducing in order to steal information
- Wilhelm Franz Canaris: part of a different section of the German intelligence operation but works closely with Vogel; both men distrust either and suspect treason
- Basil Boothby: unlikable supervisor of Vicary; threatens to fire Vicary if he doesn’t deliver quick results; Vicary suspects Boothby is hiding something
SOOOO…. Catherine is working Peter Jordan for secrets and Vicary, while suspicious of his own team, is in a cat-and-mouse game with Vogel and Canaris trying to control what information gets through the spy networks at play and protect the most vital attack the Allied Forces is planning.
[If you are interested in D-Day, check out the historical fiction book All The Lights Above Us by M.B. Henry]
Historical Truth
I don’t know a whole lot about D-Day so I can’t determine how well he followed history in his story, but the historical aspect was really interesting.
Operation Fortitude was real. This was a campaign to spread false information that would convince the Germans they were planning to attack a different port and that they had more troops than they actually did. They created fake planes that appeared real from the sky, set up a whole bunch of tents, and played plane sounds from the loudspeakers. At the very least it created uncertainty.
The portable harbor was real. I had never heard of this before. What a feat in engineering! To create huge floating concrete stations that could be hauled across the channel and sunk near Normandy beach to act as a port and help deliver supplies and equipment was quite the elaborate and complex plan. It sounds like it may not have been worth the resources put into it, but hindsight is 20/20. Seems like a good contingency plan.
In a brief google search I couldn’t find much to indicate any special spy operations for this particular project other than the general secrecy of it.
It was a great historical event to shape a spy novel on! I really liked how Silva incorporated that and was able to make the reader feel the gravity and urgency of keeping such a major secret.
One question I had while reading was how much each country spent during WWII. HERE is what I found. [links found in original post]
Interesting Themes
There were a couple themes in the book that were interesting to think about. Vicary, a professor at a university reflects on patriotism:
“Patriotism. During his lifetime of study he had concluded it was the most destructive force on the planet. but now he felt the stirring of patriotism in his own chest and did not feel ashamed. We are good and they are evil. our nationalism is justified.”
These days being a patriot is basically an abomination.
It seems to take a major war or tragedy to create unity towards one cause. But he makes a good point. Patriotism becomes destructive when it creates an us vs them system. Painting good and evil with broad strokes. It also becomes destructive when it attempts to elevate one country above another by merit.
There is no perfect country, no perfect culture, no perfect political system. There are definitely some that are better than others in pretty major ways, but what’s most important is people.
However, you look at WWII and you look at the ways patriotism inspired people to do some pretty heroic things. Patriotism is a complex label.
Second:
“Vicary liked the character studies in mysteries and often found parallels to his own work— why good people sometimes did wicked things.”
I guess the complicated part of this sentence is how you define ‘good.’ But WWII is an unending pile of psychological material in how far someone will go when pushed to their mental limits or faced with harm.
What leads people to do wicked things? They don’t just wake up one day and decide to kill someone. What progression happens to make a good person do a bad thing. That’s the simple question but there are many layers and depths to this theme.
In regards to the book Vicary is probably the primary character study in this thing. After all, people who give certain orders, though they aren’t holding the gun, are indirectly responsible for death and destruction.
There are also the two spies who are required to kill to obtain secrets or conceal their real identities. The age-old question- is sacrificing one life for the good of many just?
War changes people. It awakens self-preservation in a dangerous way. And it changes their perspective on what’s important.
After a few years working in espionage Vicary has a realization:
“When he stood back and looked at his life objectively, it was missing something: laughter, tenderness, a little noise and disorder sometimes. It was half a life, he realized. Half a life, half a home, ultimately half a man.”
[If you like to explore the psychology of morality and ethical dilemmas check out books by Steven James (thrillers) or Randy Singer (legal thrillers)]
Grosvenor House
Fun Fact: the Grosvenor House mentioned in this book is a hotel right by Hyde Park. I had the privilege of staying there for a week in 2015 so that was pretty cool. Here’s a very non-professional Shutterfly collage of it: [Picture in original post linked above]
What I Didn’t Like
What colored my reading of this book and makes me question whether to read more from him are mostly the sexual content and the f-words.
Because of the nature of Catherine’s plan of seduction there are several sexual encounters that are detailed, some more than others, but are fairly graphic (especially one somewhat kinky one). Some of these occur in the present time and some of them are flashbacks to Catherine’s past.
It seemed like all the female characters were only in the book for sex. They all seemed vapid and content to be call girls, taking pride in it. We see some resistance to that, but it’s a far cry from all the WWII novels that depict the women heroes of the time and their desire to be more than their looks.
There are also several homosexual characters in the book, which seems odd for a book from the 90s? But they are called sexual deviants so it’s not completely progressive.
The other main issue I had with the book was the introduction of so many characters that kind of fall off the grid in the end.
For example, we seem to be gradually getting a fuller picture of who Catherine is and what made her into what she is, but I didn’t feel like we got any sort of resolution with her.
Same with Peter Jordan. In the beginning we see his life with his wife and then her car accident. But in the end I don’t feel like I got to see the full arc of his character.
Vicary and Boothby have a conversation in the end that acts as an epilogue of sorts but that wasn’t a very satisfying way to wrap things up and explain.
If the book primarily followed Vicary this would make more sense, but since we spend so much time being with other characters I think Silva should have finished all the storylines better.
Recommendation
I’m not sure how to recommend this one.
I asked some other readers about this author. Daniel Silva has written a series (starting with The Kill Artist) surrounding a character named Gabriel Allon who is an Israeli operative and art restorer. I’m thinking I might give Silva another try eventually and go with this series. With a series we will see more character development and I’m intrigued by the art aspect as well.
Maybe my recommendation for you, if you’ve never read Silva, would be to start there instead of The Unlikely Spy.
If you already know you like Daniel Silva, you’ve either already this book or you’ll probably like it, but I have absolutely nothing else to compare it to so what do I know?
[Content Advisory: lots of f-words, some graphic sexual encounters as mentioned above]
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May 10, 2023
If you loved Ken Follet's 'Key to Rebecca' you are absolutely going to love this book too. Plot within a plot! I had to restrain myself through the week days lest i sat through this book the whole day. Riveting page turner!
January 15, 2020
It was a good spy novel that kept me guessing (usually wrong). It is set in England during WWII so it's British MI5 vs the Nazis. I thought the chase of the Nazi spies as they were trying to escape England went on a little long, but it doesn't really hurt the story.
This is not a Gabriel Allon novel.
This is not a Gabriel Allon novel.
January 31, 2019
Very engaging! I learned so much, and found this a thrilling read to boot. Now I’m looking up characters in the book to see who was real and who wasn’t, and coming up with new books to read in the process..... as if I need more!🤣
February 4, 2014
When I started this book, I was hoping for a small break from some of the non-fiction I had been reading. I was looking for a thriller in the same vein as Robert Ludlum or David Baldacci. Instead, I got a history-heavy suspense novel – and I didn’t mind one bit.
The author’s challenge in this book was trying to maintain a level of tension to hold the reader’s interest, even though the ultimate outcome of the story was well known (the Germans were unprepared for the Allied invasion at Normandy; if that’s a spoiler for you, stop reading this review and pick up a history book). So, the main thrust of the book, was how do we get there? That will only matter to the reader if they care about the characters, and one of the strengths of the book was in how Daniel Silva built up his characters. The protagonist, Alfred Vicary, a university professor turned MI-5 agent, felt very real to me.
Sure, there were some parts of the book that were a little slow and seemed to drag, but I felt that they were more the exception than the rule. He did a lot of other things right, so it was easy to forgive him for those, especially when you consider this was his debut novel.
Every few months, Rick Riordan (author of the Percy Jackson series), recommends some books that he has enjoyed on his website. So, thank you, Mr. Riordan for steering me towards this book. If you’re looking for something new to read, find out what authors are reading; they usually have good taste.
The author’s challenge in this book was trying to maintain a level of tension to hold the reader’s interest, even though the ultimate outcome of the story was well known (the Germans were unprepared for the Allied invasion at Normandy; if that’s a spoiler for you, stop reading this review and pick up a history book). So, the main thrust of the book, was how do we get there? That will only matter to the reader if they care about the characters, and one of the strengths of the book was in how Daniel Silva built up his characters. The protagonist, Alfred Vicary, a university professor turned MI-5 agent, felt very real to me.
Sure, there were some parts of the book that were a little slow and seemed to drag, but I felt that they were more the exception than the rule. He did a lot of other things right, so it was easy to forgive him for those, especially when you consider this was his debut novel.
Every few months, Rick Riordan (author of the Percy Jackson series), recommends some books that he has enjoyed on his website. So, thank you, Mr. Riordan for steering me towards this book. If you’re looking for something new to read, find out what authors are reading; they usually have good taste.
February 4, 2021
Well written and researched. The chapters were short and interesting. So, it was easy to read.
The characters were developed well enough to identify and empathize with.
I learned a few lessons. It's very hard to quash our humanity even when it's detrimental to the mission. Both German agents died because of mistakes made due to their feelings and sentiments. This was in contrast to Vicary who didn't allow that to get in his way because of a greater mission. Therefore, he orders every one on the boat to be shot.
I have two issues. One: Even though the characters are well developed the author leaves their perspectives for long stretches during the story which gives the book a hodge podge feel.
Lastly, I don't think I understood the end. So, the MI6 felt that they couldn't hide the Mulberries. Therefore, they decided to tell the Germans about them with fraudulent leaks thru Jordan? But Catherine Blake was stealing actual information from Jordan at the beginning? Then why was Vicary useless? When he discovered this he fed the Germans false information thru Catherine Blake and managed to confuse them in the same way. Then, he exposed and killed the spies. How was he used for deception exactly? Isn't it true that if they escaped the Nazis would find out the truth and be ready for the invasion? Therefore, wasn't he the actual real hero?
The characters were developed well enough to identify and empathize with.
I learned a few lessons. It's very hard to quash our humanity even when it's detrimental to the mission. Both German agents died because of mistakes made due to their feelings and sentiments. This was in contrast to Vicary who didn't allow that to get in his way because of a greater mission. Therefore, he orders every one on the boat to be shot.
I have two issues. One: Even though the characters are well developed the author leaves their perspectives for long stretches during the story which gives the book a hodge podge feel.
Lastly, I don't think I understood the end. So, the MI6 felt that they couldn't hide the Mulberries. Therefore, they decided to tell the Germans about them with fraudulent leaks thru Jordan? But Catherine Blake was stealing actual information from Jordan at the beginning? Then why was Vicary useless? When he discovered this he fed the Germans false information thru Catherine Blake and managed to confuse them in the same way. Then, he exposed and killed the spies. How was he used for deception exactly? Isn't it true that if they escaped the Nazis would find out the truth and be ready for the invasion? Therefore, wasn't he the actual real hero?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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