Finished: Daniel Silva's 'The Defector'

The Defector is the ninth of 15 books in Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series. Allon is a Mossad agent and art restorer.

Silva's strength lies in his ability to describe scenes without going all Dan Brown or Harper Lee on you. The plot in this one though is relatively generic: introspective spy with hot wife tracks Russian oligarch to forest hideaway to rescue friend and wife, bullets fly, love is made. Basically, it reads like my autobiography.

There were several clever lines I wanted to remember, but was too lazy to get off the couch to find a pen. Basically, a more accurate autobiography of me.

Amazonian's give it a 4.5 out of 5. Goodreaders are a little less generous at 4.26.

I thought this one slipped from Silva's usually high standards. Still good, but not great. A 6-plus on the 10-point Haugenometer.