This is the first in a very long series of spy thrillers featuring Gabriel Allon, who is trying to put his past in Israeli intelligence behind him to return to his real passion: art and art restoration. That doesn't quite work out, as he is drawn back into service after the Israeli ambassador to France is assassinated. The killing is the work of the same terrorist who killed Allon's son and caused permanent mental damage to Allon's wife, so Allon's return to spy work is part professional experience with the terrorist and a chance at revenge.
I'd been thinking about starting this series for a while, unsure if I wanted to start a new series. In the end it turned out to be a perfectly serviceable example of the genre, firmly in the airport read zone if a little better than what I think of as the average book of that type. I think the involvement of the art world gave it just that small difference to separate it from standard spy fare. I'll probably keep reading these, they move pretty quickly and do scratch that genre itch.
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