Assassin's Silence

David Slaton #3

by Ward Larsen

USA Today bestselling author Ward Larsen's celebrated protagonist, assassin David Slaton, returns for another breathless adventure in Assassin's SilenceEvery so often, a great assassin novel comes Brad Meltzer's The Fifth Assassin, David Baldacci's The Hit, Daniel Silva's The Kill Artist. Now Ward Larsen brings us Assassin's Silence, featuring David Slaton, hero of Larsen's Assassin's Game and the award-winning The Perfect Assassin.When it comes to disappearing, David Slaton has few equals. Police in three countries have written off trying to find him. His old employer, Mossad, keeps no forwarding address. Even his wife and son are convinced he is dead. So when an assault team strikes, Slaton is taken by surprise. He kills one man and manages to escape.Half a world away, in the baleful heat of the Amazon, an obscure air cargo company purchases a derelict airliner. Teams of mechanics work feverishly to make the craft airworthy. On the first flight, the jet plunges toward the ocean.The CIA assesses the two a practiced killer leaving a trail of bodies across Europe, and a large airplane disappearing without a trace. The two affairs are increasingly seen to be intertwined. Langley realizes the killer is a man long thought to be dead, and the lost airliner has been highly modified into a tool of unimaginable terror.When their worst fears are realized, Langley must trust the one man who can save David Slaton, the perfect assassin.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Action, Suspense, Espionage, Mystery Thriller

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 3, 2016

About the author

Ward Larsen is the USA Today bestselling author of espionage thrillers. A seven-time winner of the Florida Book Award, his first novel, The Perfect Assassin, has been optioned for film by Amber Entertainment.
A former Air Force fighter pilot, he has also served as an airline captain, and is a trained aircraft accident investigator.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[ij · Rating 5 out of 5]

Assassin’s Silence is the third installment of the David Slaton series, written by Ward Larsen. David is a former Mossad kidon. For those that don’t know a kidon is an assassin. There is a lot going on in this story. So if you like a busy action story you should be well satisfied.

In Al Qutayfah, Syria, two boys were rummaging for scrap metal in a bombed out building and make a find that they don’t know what it is but it is heavy. They get a wheelbarrow and take it to their uncle. He did not know what it was either, but thought they should get a good sum for it for metal alone. Later, with the help of a sledge hammer and medal punch he was able to make an opening in what appeared to be a container. He dug in the container with a screwdriver and was able to remove what looked like glowing rice. He did not know what it was but was more interested in what he could get for the container. So, he took some of the glowing grains home to show to his wife. She rubbed them on some of her aches and felt some relief. She asked him for more to share with her friends. Apparently, him and his wife are drinking some 100 proof arak. Now, everyone in the community starts getting sick. Doctors are at a loss for a diagnosis. A health physicist, named Moses, visits the clinic to recalibrate and service a X-ray machine and gets curious and tracks down the source of this sickness.

Almost two years later, on the island of Malta, David is working as a stone mason. A kid he has befriended and that runs errands for him stops by as he finishes up for the day. They chat for a bit and the boy tells him that a man is “up the street” watching him. David asked if he was sure and he said yes, and that the same man was there when he brought David water. That was two hours ago. David spotted another man and with the kids help finds out that there are four men in total. All hell breaks loose and David is on the run. He knows first he has to escape, then find out who is after him and why. David gets away and three of the four men after him survived the assault attempt.

Meanwhile, in northern Brazil a man is working out the purchase of a MD-10 which is a retrofitted DC-10. The plane modified to carry 5,000 liquid gallons. The plane had been grounded for some time and would need substantial mechanical work. A deal was struck and a crew of aircraft mechanics were brought in to get the aircraft airworthy It takes a lot of effort to get the MD-10 airborne and shortly thereafter the pilots call in a mayday and disappears from the radar.

The CIA gets involved because they are investigating a ID forgery case and one of the men that obtained forged IDs was killed in Malta. NTSB has sent out a contractor to help with the crash investigation. He thinks something is fishy and does not believe the MD-10 crashed. In his investigation he finds out about the modification. He calls an acquaintance at the CIA and ends up going to Langley to help find out what is going on.

David fearing that his family could be in danger contacts someone to watch over them
Until everything is settled.

As I said there is a lot going on in the story, but it was a very enjoyable read. I recommend it to any reader who likes a lot of action. You will find out who and why someone is after David, what the MD-10 is being used for, and what the hell is going on with that glowing rice.

[Terence M [Quot libros, quam breve tempus!] · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars - "I really liked it!"
Audiobook - 15:48 Hours - Narrator: P J Ochlan.

Another example of Ward Larsen's great, involved, even complicated, yet eminently listenable, adventure stories! I listened to this pretty much in two sessions, so at almost 16:00 hours it was a fairly long story, but so enjoyable I didn't want to take off the headphones! David Slaton's character continues to be developed into a classic of the "high-tech, champion-assassin" genre.

Excellent, clearly narrated characterisations by P J Ochlan, contributed to the listening enjoyment of this action-filled novel.

I am forcing myself not to do a "binge job" and have deferred reading "Assassin's Run, David Slaton #5" (Assassin's Code, #4, was the first David Slaton book I listened to), until I have dealt with several other 'must hear now' books!

[Pierre Tassé (Enjoying Books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great adventure and great slant on an “assassin”…you need to read the first books to understand completely what is going on.

[Kathi Defranc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great adventure with a former Mossad kidon(assassin)

This is a wonderful book of non-stop action! The author has created a super assassin, a man with a wife and young son he has never met due to fear of putting his family in the way and made aware to several criminal factions. There are two books before this and if you enjoy thriller adventures in the style of Tom Clancy I urge you to read those also. Our kidon's life is quiet as he works as a Stonemason , drawing no attention to himself, until comes a day when unknown men surround him, and he must change his thinking immediately. This team of assassin's are out to cause mayhem, as David learns all that is involved the stakes are very high! This is a very good spy novel with great plots and characters. Encourage those who enjoy such books to read the series, you will not be disappointed.

[Skip · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Slaton is a former Mossad operative, forced to abandon his family, and living under the radar as a stonemason in Malta, with untold riches. When a team of mercenaries try to kill him, he is forced to determine who is trying to kill him and why. He traipses all over Europe, but the killers are somehow able to find him again and again, using various methods. Meanwhile, the U.S. intelligence community starts tying together the series of dead bodies David leaves behind him because all of the passports were issued together. Finally, materiel is being gathered, including an aging MD-10 aircraft, and David is the only one with a remote chance to stop the attack.

[Abibliofob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story although our hero is once again exposed. Assassin's Silence by Ward Larsen tells a story of a different kind of economical attack. We also get to meet Jammer Davies, maybe I need to read those books to since he sounds fun. This book is a wild ride through many countries and bodies. Will David Slaton unravel the mysterious group that has hijacked his secret bank accounts and threatens his widowed wife? Well, do like I did and read the book. I will not tell you. I only recommend it.

[Phillip III · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assassin's Silence is the third book in the David Slaton spy series. While I enjoyed it, the book was the least engaging of the three so far. Do not misunderstand. I still enjoyed the story. Very much. Just if I had to rank the books in order, the third comes in third. Not sure what was missing? It could be that Slaton and Christine were apart? The missing chemistry between the two of them was absent? I am not sure.

The plot was solid. The enemy is buying up old planes. Big, old planes. They plan on unleashing a terrorist attack that would have deadly consequences.

Someone found Slaton. He was in hiding. He left his wife and son, so they would be safe. He put himself somewhere half-a-world-away so no harm would come to the two people he loves most. He lived a humble life, working hard, keeping his head low --staying far, far below the radar ... and yet, an assassin picked up on his whereabouts.

Drawn into the conflict, Slaton must entrust his only friend to keep his wife and son safe while he attempts foiling the sinister terrorist attack plot.

Still gripping. Still filled with tension, fantastic dialogue, and global interest . . . Ward Larsen has an amazing series on his hands! I look forward to reading his latest release, Assassin's Code -- which is sitting on my end table, silently calling out to me!

Phillip Tomasso
Author of the Severed Empire Series,
and the Vaccination Trilogy
www.philliptomasso.com

[Gretchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Ward Larsen novel I've read and it was great. Of course, I had not read the previous David Slaton tales. Assasin's Silence was geographically all over the globe, the terrorists contemporary, and the excitement non-stop. I did not want to put it down. I now have to find the other books in the series.
A fellow goodreads reader passed this one on to me. It's so good, I'm passing it on.

[Tom Tischler · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to disappearing nobody is better than David Slaton. Police in three countries
are trying to find him his old employer Mossad keeps no address and his wife and son are
convinced that he is dead. So he is equally surprised when an assault team strikes. He kills
one man and manages to escape. Halfway around the world in the amazon an air cargo company
purchases a derelict airliner and sends a team of mechanics to make it airworthy. On it's
first flight it plunges toward the ocean. A killer leaves a trail of bodies across Europe and a
plane disappears. The CIA determines that they are intertwined and the killer is a man long
thought to be dead. The airliner had been modified into a tool of unimaginable terror. When
their worst fears are realized Langley must trust only one man David Slaton. This is book three
in the David Slaton series and it's every bit as good as the other 2. I gave it a 5 and fans of Larsen
book 4 is on the way. August of 2017- Assassin's Code.

[Tom Newhall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering that I found this book on the shelf at a dollar store it’s obvious I wasn’t expecting much. After reading this book I now will search out and read his other works. Tremendous plot told from multiple angles and all of them interesting from the start. I highly recommend this book to any one who is a fan of the genre because you will love the read. Mr. Larsen I honestly hope that I haven’t caused permanent damage by telling the world where I bought this.

[Michael L Wilkerson (Papa Gray Wolf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this third novel featuring the kidon, David Slaton (if you are unfamiliar with the term 'kidon' you need to read the book) we find David alone and trying to practice his stone masonry skills in peace and he's been successful at that for about a year. He feels that separating himself from his wife and the infant son he's never seen has made them safe, but all of that comes crashing down when he finds a team with the apparent intent to kill him. If he can be found then so can his family and if they can be found then they are anything but safe.

In the course of trying to arm himself with funds, weapons and most of all, knowledge, he first tries to insure the safety of his wife and child by enlisting the aid of a man he saved. After that, it seems his presence is toxic as first his banker and then the banker's secretary are assaulted by the same group that tried to do him in while he was in Malta.

But, you ask, what does all of this have to do with a rescued large jet airplane modified for. . . well read the book to see how it was modified, that on its first flight it plunged into the Atlantic.

How Slaton, the aircraft and the CIA become intertwined makes for a very good read. If you like intrigue and action this book will fit right into your library.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good story featuring former Mossad sniper David Slaton. Once again he's assumed dead, and once again he's outed.

An unknown group of ex-military come after Slaton when he's staying under the radar in Malta working as a bricklayer. This puts him on the run again and he leaves bodies spread over a few different countries.

A well written thriller and l look forward to future books in the series

[John of Canada · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the author tried too hard on this one. Way too many adjectives, profundities all over the place, strange anthropomorphisms. I had to work to get through this. Fortunately,the last third was pretty solid. There was one piece of dialogue that I really enjoyed.
¨Give me one day to get my ducks in a row.¨
¨Where are you going?¨
¨Oregon. They have lots of ducks out there.¨

[Sharon T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nearly had a heart attack toward the end!

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first attempt reading Ward Larsen book. It was amazing. Plot was good and engaging. Would recommed this book. It would best to read from the first series.

[Chadd Nolen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 A solid but not spectacular entry, including a memorable plane-to-plane shot.

The Mossad angle with David Slanton is unique, but more fun is to be had with Orphan X, Victor the Assassin, and the Gray Man. More time with Slanton and fewer quick cuts might flow better, although with a side effect of plot deceleration.

[Loy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I now want to read the ones before this one in the series. More for the tbr pile!

If you like spy and thrilling action, Mysteries, and twists and turns, with a surprise
ending. You will enjoy this one

[Nabarun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my straight 3rd book on the David Slaton series, and I must say, this has been the highlight of an otherwise lacklustre and depressing covid-panic-stricken year so far! This book is a tremendous edge of the seat thriller, not a dull moment, completely redefines the action thriller apy genre novels. This reminds me of Vince Flynn’s earlier Mitch Rapp novels, in the exact vein of Matthew Dunn’s all of the Will Cochrane novels, which are no longer coming out from those authors!

This book starts 9 months after the last novel, where Slaton fakes his death to keep his wife and son safe in Virginia, away from his past shadows of being an Israeli kidon, one of its kind! David, who now lives in Malta and works as a local stonemason is finishing up his day’s work where a team of crack mercenaries attack him and he narrowly escapes with his life, not before getting shot in his right thigh. He is upset with himself that he has let his guard down the second time in his life and keeps wondering why would someone attack him now out of the blue where he has meticulously distanced himself from all his previous life and profession.

As he tries to unravel the mystery, he makes his way out of Malta the way he always does and this is where the strength of Ward Larsen lies in weaving an intricate tale of his journey out of Malta and to Switzerland where he has a stash of money (1.4billion) invested with Walter Kruger’s wealth management company. But the reunion with his personal banker is extremely short lived as the mercenary team arrives shortly after he doesn’t and ends up killing Walter and taking hold of his investments which are divested by Walter in multiple accounts and portfolio. He manages to save Astrid, Walter’s assistant from the killers and they start diving deep into his accounts to understand the motivation of his killers. That’s where he discovers that the lead member of the gang, Ben-Meir is an ex Israeli operative and he has taken control of his funds and he is heavily diverting his funds from Walter investment strategy to crude oil and gold bullion.

With that information, he starts chasing a Lebanese physicist who received the last of the payment from Grossman (David’s benefactor for the inheritance). Here again, Larsen shines brightly in setting up the plot of Slaton’s entering into the volatile Lebanon and how he tracks down Dr. Nasoor, the physicist who captured 55 cylinders of radioactive cesium from a remote village in Syria which was purchased by Ben Meir.

With that information in place, David starts piece the zigsaw puzzle together and that leads to an absolute cracker of a climax on how he kills all the operatives and also the pilots of the MD-10 plane which is loaded with the radioactive material, which was targeting to drop the load on the oil rich field of Saudi Arabia. The CIA and their counter terrorism unit comes to his ally and together they take care of the enormous debacle of an economic terrorism act which would have otherwise plunged the world in years of economic crisis.

In the end, Slaton is finally united with his wife, Christine and their son and he relocated back to US to be together with them. David reveals in the end that they would not have to work again, given the money they recovered from the gold stash they discovered while killing Yaniv Stein, the mastermind of the whole plot of this book, who David had saved in the last book from the deserts of Iran after a mission gone bad. David also mentions that he would secretly continue to be approachable by both the US and Israeli governments in future for special missions where his experience and expertise would be invaluable, with the caveat that he and Christine would reserve the right of choosing which assignments he would want to accept. In the end, Christine accepts the melee as she understands that the world needs someone like Slaton to keep it safe.

And absolutely stonker of a novel, never thought Larsen would be able to improve on his first book in the series (the perfect assassin) but with this book, I have to agree that he has done just that and more! Now eagerly waiting for the time to get my hands on the 4th book of this series!

[SteVen Hendricks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review – Assassin’s Silence – Ward Larsen
Every so often, a fantastic assassin novel comes along and this time, author Ward Larsen brings us “Assassin's Silence”, book three in the series featuring David Slaton, protagonist of Larsen's award-winning “The Perfect Assassin”, the first book in the sequence. When the CIA must trust the one man who can save them from many of their secrets, David Slaton, is the ideal assassin that they turn to. Assassin’s Silence is a very interesting and different tale that keeps that reader totally engaged from beginning to end and is filled with technically perfect descriptions of aircrafts, their capabilities, and their functionalities. A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Larsen’s experience, knowledge, and research shines brightly in this suspense thriller. He wrote a very complex story with many roots that was brought together at the end in an appealing and unique manner. Larsen chose to let the reader in on the characters thinking and problem-solving skill set, and for me, this was huge! This story is loaded with ‘intuitive’ insights that many authors never include. It’s a very cleverly written espionage thriller. I have now read books one and three of the David Slaton series and plan to read others. Larson draws the reader into the story with good, likable characters, strong development and.an interesting storyline with unexpected twists. An enjoyable book that is well worth the read. A very good assassin saga.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assassin's Silence, the 3rd David Slaton novel, is a fascinating thriller. Slaton is a former Mossad kidon (assassin) who had given up that life by being resettled in Virginia with his doctor wife, Christine and baby son. In Assassin's Game, the 2nd Slaton novel, he was called back into service; and, at the end, was assumed dead by many, including his wife and child. Now he is being hunted by a group of 7 or 8 people for reasons not explained until well into the story. This fast-hitting adventure travels from country to country, as David attempts to eliminate each of these folks. In the meantime, unbeknown to his wife, he has a former Mossad agent look after his wife in VA, concerned that she is a target as well as himself. The action also centers around a mysterious plane piloted by possible terrorists and the possibility that it contains deadly radioactive agents that may or may not be dropped on some country. The CIA is on the hunt and so is David Slaton.
Once again Ward Larsen has created interesting, real-life characters torn between what they do and what they think they should be doing.
Ward Larsen knows how to write a compelling thriller.

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was top notch effort by Larsen, the best of the series yet. It has reached the level of Thor, Coes and Greaney for this genre. In this one, the former Israeli assassin, Slaton, has gone undercover in Malta after his work to save Israel in the last book. This was necessary to protect his wife and new son from those who would be out to hurt him in revenge his heroic efforts. However, despite his best efforts he is ultimately found by his enemies and has to reenter the black ops world in an effort to save himself and his family from a new operation that is meant to use him as a fall guy.

Slaton once again proves he is an exceptional operator and over comes a well designed plan that the bad guys have in place to use him as the fall guy for a plot that will look like a terrorist strike, but would end up allowing them to enrich themselves and leave Slaton looking like the mastermind behind the plot.

This is the first time I've given five stars to one of the books in the series...I hope its not the last.

[Mojo Shivers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve really been liking this series. Not only is it more naturalistic—no overarching secret organization, no overt corruption at the highest levels of government, &c…—but it also presents a plausible scenario for a former Mossad assassin getting out of the business of killing for the most part.

Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy the escapist fantasy that most action thrillers present. But this series presents a different kind of escapism, where one guy who just happens to be good at killing, really does get his chance at retiring and settling down.

Of course the plot of this book makes you think otherwise. Yet by the end of multinational and multi-agency plot, everything is right again with the Slaton family for the most part. Slaton gets to come back to his wife, meet his son for the first time, and only has to promise to come out of retirement on a trial basis with Christine being given the one and only veto vote. All in all, it’s a very favorable turn of events that leads into the rest of the series I’m assuming.

[Paul McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like reading an old Dirk Pitt book by Clive Cussler, or Jack Ryan book by Tom Clancy, Assassin's silence, is a non stop action book written for now. This was very enjoyable.
A team of assassin's is out to kill and cause mayhem, on a massive scale, but they need participation from a top level former Mossad assassin- David Slaton, who's is retired from the game.
I won't give any more details, because it might spoil many of the surprises, this is a great beach read. This was the third book in the series, I did not read the previous two books, but just enough is revealed, from the previous books, that the reader doesn't feel they are missing important information.The next book comes out in august, I can't wait.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over all, a good entry into the series, bringing Slaton (and his family) full circle and setting up the future of the characters.

Plenty of solid action, espionage, terrorist plots and spy games. Since it starts the book off, it won't be spoiling anything to say that a hit squad locates Slaton in the life that he has assumed. The only aspect of the book that is weak is that it's not explained how they found him---unless it was something that I missed while reading it.

A quality control note would be that I came to a section in which a previous page was repeated and the scene jumped a little, clearly proving that a page was missing from the story.

[San Diego Book Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ward Larsen has created a super assassin the likes of Jason Bourne. In “Assassin’s Silence”, David Slaton is a former Mossad operative who has gone dark and has been living under the radar as a stonemason in Malta. His life is quiet and serene until a team of mercenaries blow his cover in a gun battle on the streets of Malta, throwing Slaton back in the assassin game as he tries to work out who is trying to kill him and why. (read more...)You can read this entire review at San Diego Book Review

[Ben Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What’s up my dudes? Assassain’s Silence is an awesome addition to the David Slaton series. Ward keeps the action going with a high stakes game of hide and go seek searching for a massive Jet holding a deadly secret in its belly. David as usual is on point trying to stop the threat while also dealing with a fox in the hen house as he tries to protect his family who believes him to be dead, from across the world. A+ ward. An absolute great read. Dudes, if you haven’t read this series and you love the thriller Genre, pick it up. Mkay?

[Paul Lima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent spy thriller, like the other two David Slaton books I've read. Writing could be a bit stronger but there are enough twists and turns to keep you engaged. Takes a while for two plot lines to come together, but worth the wait... Dunno what else to say, as I don't want to spoil anything. Just know that we follow a 'retired' Mossad assassin who is sucked back into business... If you read Slaton novels, read them in order as #3 definitely builds on aspects of #2.

[Raberta Beckwith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read !

I love this series ! I just finished “ Assassin’s Games” before this one,and saw that it’s been made into a movie- I’ll have to watch and compare... I was surprised,and happy with the way Christine and David worked things out- and Very surprised with Stein!! It made sense at the end working a deal with both the U.S./ Israel....The many airplane moves - wonderful...so much we don’t realize goes on - I love ❤️ this author!

[Miren del Olmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging. Abeit a bit unrealistic. Also annoying geopolitical errors

I like the genre and read books from various writers about assassins.
It is very readable.
However, was annoyed by errors such as "Turkey is a full member of the EU" and thus....
Well Turkey is not a member, not even half a member. It is like saying Mexico is part of the USA therefore border crossing is a piece of cake. Hopefully, the next books will be better researched.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

So several of my Goodreads friends like this series. I love the Grey Man and Victor the Assassin series and was hoping this would be similar. I could not get my hands on book one or two in the series, so I picked up #3. It was easy enough to follow along. But instead of being like those other series, it came off more like the live child of Daniel Silva and Brad Thor. That’s not a ringing endorsement. Overlong by a third, devoid of action, and just not very original. Oh well, I tried.