Set across Europe and in Israel, A Death in Vienna is a spy tale intent on righting some of the wrongs of The Holocaust. Part-time spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna by The Office (think CIA, but deadlier) to investigate a bombing at the Wartime Claims and Inquiries office. Following clues to the identity of a Nazi officer, Gabriel travels the globe with an assassin hot on his tail. Gabriel Allon is an Israeli Secret Service agent who poses as Mario Delvecchio, a very well-known and highly respected art restorer.The Vienna office of the Wartime Claims and Inquiries is blown up, killing two female workers and leaving Eli Lavon in a coma. Gabriel Allon, who ostensibly is an art restorer in Venice, is sent by Israeli intelligence to investigate. He meets Max Klein, who was made to play the violin at Birkenau, and had recently recognized a cruel SS officer from there in a cafe in Vienna. Gabriel talks with Max just before he is murdered, and begins to chase down the story of Erich Radek, now called Ludvig Vogel. Radek was the inventor of the Nazi cremetoriums used to get rid of the Jewish bodies. Gabriel investigates in Rome, Jerusalem, Argentina and Virginia; along the way, someone tries to kill him a few times, and he discovers the man also interacted with Gabriel's mother and that is is Vogel's son who is about to be elected Chancellor of Austria. The first part, finding whodunnit, takes most of the book. Gabriel discovers the identity of the man behind the bomb, but who is he really? He suspects the man is a former SS agent, but getting the truth is not easy, especially since post-war Vienna is not interested in reliving their Nazi past, and soon, someone is trying to kill him. Bring in the Vatican, a Swiss banker, and the CIA, and things get pretty complicated.
GizmosReviews
Set across Europe and in Israel, A Death in Vienna is a spy tale intent on righting some of the wrongs of The Holocaust. Part-time spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna by The Office (think CIA, but deadlier) to investigate a bombing at the Wartime Claims and Inquiries office. Following clues to the identity of a Nazi officer, Gabriel travels the globe with an assassin hot on his tail. Gabriel Allon is an Israeli Secret Service agent who poses as Mario Delvecchio, a very well-known and highly respected art restorer.The Vienna office of the Wartime Claims and Inquiries is blown up, killing two female workers and leaving Eli Lavon in a coma. Gabriel Allon, who ostensibly is an art restorer in Venice, is sent by Israeli intelligence to investigate. He meets Max Klein, who was made to play the violin at Birkenau, and had recently recognized a cruel SS officer from there in a cafe in Vienna. Gabriel talks with Max just before he is murdered, and begins to chase down the story of Erich Radek, now called Ludvig Vogel. Radek was the inventor of the Nazi cremetoriums used to get rid of the Jewish bodies. Gabriel investigates in Rome, Jerusalem, Argentina and Virginia; along the way, someone tries to kill him a few times, and he discovers the man also interacted with Gabriel's mother and that is is Vogel's son who is about to be elected Chancellor of Austria. The first part, finding whodunnit, takes most of the book. Gabriel discovers the identity of the man behind the bomb, but who is he really? He suspects the man is a former SS agent, but getting the truth is not easy, especially since post-war Vienna is not interested in reliving their Nazi past, and soon, someone is trying to kill him. Bring in the Vatican, a Swiss banker, and the CIA, and things get pretty complicated.
