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The Unlikely Spy Paperback – July 15, 1999

by Daniel Silva (Author)

4.4 10,136 ratings

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A tale of spies and betrayal in the Second World War from the bestselling author of THE COLLECTOR

''A wartime thriller in the mould of Robert Harris''s ENIGMA ... and every bit as good'' THE TIMES

Germany, 1944.

The Allied invasion is not far away, and the high command desperately need to know where it will take place. It is time to activate one of Hitler''s last spies in Britain - Catherine Blake, a sleeper planted before the war and awaiting orders . . .

British intelligence also has its orders, and academic Alfred Vicary has been recruited by Churchill himself to carry them out. It is his job to find Catherine and stop her before it is too late.

But whose side are his own people on?

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Lt; Reprint edition (July 15, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 576 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0752826905
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0752826905
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.46 x 5.51 x 1.14 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #340,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13,297 in Horror Literature & Fiction

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4.4 10,136 ratings

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Daniel Silva

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Daniel Silva is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Unlikely Spy, The Mark of the Assassin, The Marching Season, The Kill Artist, The English Assassin, The Confessor, A Death in Vienna, Prince of Fire, The Messenger, The Secret Servant, Moscow Rules, The Defector, The Rembrandt Affair, Portrait of a Spy, The Fallen Angel, The English Girl, The Heist, and The English Spy. His books are published in more than thirty countries and are bestsellers around the world. He serves on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and lives in Florida with his wife, CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel, and their two children, Lily and Nicholas.

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Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They find the story compelling and exciting, with a complex plot that keeps them guessing. The characters are well-developed and believable, remaining true to their personalities. Readers appreciate the writing quality and the fast-paced narrative flow. The book provides an interesting insight into British intelligence preparation for the Allied invasion of Europe.

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Suspenseful Readability Character development Writing quality Pacing Intelligence value Attention retention Difficulty to follow

556 customers mention "Suspenseful"496 positive60 negative

Customers enjoy the book's suspenseful story. They find it compelling and intriguing, with a complex plot that keeps them guessing. The story has many twists and turns that keep readers hooked and turning pages until the end. While some readers mention it's a relief to read a thriller in an uncomplicated atmosphere, others appreciate the intricate details and multiple plots within the story.

"...Many of the details and historical figures are accurately depicted, and realistically fleshed-out by Mr. Silva...." Read more

"...The real-life historical figures, Eisenhower, Churchill and all the usual German demons (like Canaris, Himmler, and Hitler) play big to small roles,..." Read more

"...This book is a standalone novel about WW2 and how the Nazi and German spies infiltrated England before the beginning of the war and the stories..." Read more

"...helped Hitler to choose the wrong invasion point - this is a brilliant fictional story of how this happened...." Read more

542 customers mention "Readability"536 positive6 negative

Customers enjoy the book's readability. They find the story intriguing and a solid page-turner that keeps them engaged. Readers praise the writing as improved from book to book, describing it as the best spy novel since Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle.

"...This is a real page turner. Until the novel's conclusion, the reader is never sure who is the enemy, the secret agent - who is working for whom?..." Read more

"...These two German spies are clever, well-trained and effective in what they do, and even when they are humanly inconsistent, they are convincing and..." Read more

"...Great read!..." Read more

"...This is a wonderful debut novel written in 1996 by an author who has gone on to become a world-renowned best-selling author with his Gavriel Allon..." Read more

217 customers mention "Character development"194 positive23 negative

Customers find the characters well-developed and believable. They appreciate the historical descriptions and vibrant characters that stay true to their personalities, training, and missions. The book has interesting characters like Gabriel Alon and ruthless villains with humanity. Readers praise the author as a gifted mystery writer and researcher.

"...His fast paced narrative flows, and his characters are very well developed. I have read most of his books, and this is one of the best," Read more

"...The characters, for the most part, remain true to their personality, training and mission...." Read more

"...we live and was able to get a free book and found Mr. Silva a very interesting man during his talk to the crowd at a community center auditorium...." Read more

"...Silva writes a masterly plot with fascinating characters on both sides of the action-packed battle...." Read more

178 customers mention "Writing quality"151 positive27 negative

Customers find the writing quality good. They appreciate the gripping plot, painterly prose, and great historical detail. The writing is described as well-researched and masterfully crafted. Readers praise the author's talent for research and storytelling.

"...He is a brilliant professor and a noted historian, who was befriended by Churchill in 1935...." Read more

"...The plot is complicated (but not too complex), and it is filled with engaging, distinctive characters...." Read more

"...I was not disappointed in anyway since I love his writing style...." Read more

"...The Unlikely Spy is meticulously researched. Many of the characters are, of course, fiction...." Read more

141 customers mention "Pacing"113 positive28 negative

Customers find the book's pacing fast and engaging. They describe it as an intricately plotted page-turner that settles into an understandable rhythm. The historical WWII ambiance is believable, and the author paints a vivid landscape with words.

"...Silva is an excellent writer. His fast paced narrative flows, and his characters are very well developed...." Read more

"...It's brutal, realistic, and a fun romp in 1944 England and Germany, great for vicarious re-living (or first-living) of that marvelous time in our..." Read more

"...Many of the characters are, of course, fiction. But there are realistic and compelling portraits of historical figures we know much about..." Read more

"...Considering Sliva is an American writer, he has captured the mood, atmosphere and characteristics of the British at war very well...." Read more

53 customers mention "Intelligence value"41 positive12 negative

Customers find the book provides an insightful look into intelligence services and World War II preparations. They appreciate the well-researched and educational content, especially for those who experienced the war. The characters are well-developed with believable motivations. Readers praise the author's attention to detail and writing style.

"...She is beautiful, intelligent and a sociopath...." Read more

"...These two German spies are clever, well-trained and effective in what they do, and even when they are humanly inconsistent, they are convincing and..." Read more

"...Each of the many characters is well drawn, with motivations that make sense... enough so that I found myself rooting for the "bad guys"..." Read more

"...This book can be very confusing with its tales of spies, military intelligence, and counter-intelligence...." Read more

56 customers mention "Attention retention"38 positive18 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's attention retention. Some found it engaging and exciting, keeping them reading until the end. Others felt it was boring and disappointing, with convoluted scenes without any purpose.

"The story and Silva's skill will grab your attention in the beginning pages and continue to the end. It was impossible to put it down!..." Read more

"...Silver's stories are well thought out and keep your interest throughout the book." Read more

"Started out slow and somewhat boring - I thought it was good that this was not my Silva book or I might not have read all of his others...." Read more

"A really good read. Keeps you involved the whole read. Gives clues to some of the characters...." Read more

53 customers mention "Difficulty to follow"20 positive33 negative

Customers have different views on the book's difficulty to follow. Some find it engaging with well-developed characters and a simple storyline. Others find the plot convoluted and challenging, with unnecessary details and an uncomfortable ending.

"...The end of the book is tedious, and gives us an uncomfortable ending. But the novel is a foretaste of the great Gabriel Allon spy series...." Read more

"Not a bad book at all. Draws one in. Has believable characters. Easy to follow along as the basic story is well known to all...." Read more

"...At times the dialogues and the descriptions can be a little slow. However if you stay with it , the story comes together and the reward is worth it." Read more

"...That said, I did enjoy this book. But found it difficult to follow at times. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and slot going on...." Read more

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Jana L.Perskie
A Fascinating World War II EspionageThriller!
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2003
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Daniel Silva's "The Unlikely Spy" has more twists and turns than a corkscrew. This spine-tingling, historical espionage thriller is set in London, Germany and the US during World War II. The plot, and complex subplots, go back and forth in time and place, from the mid-1930s to the period before the invasion of Europe. Thus the scenario is set, and the novel's various characters are brought to life. These are the people who are involved in the Allies' invasion plans, and the Germans who plot to discover the top-secret information, and thwart the invasion. Many of the details and historical figures are accurately depicted, and realistically fleshed-out by Mr. Silva. Churchill, Hitler, Schellenberg, Himmler, Canaris and Eisenhower all have important roles in this action packed adventure - and their personas are fascinating.
Alfred Vicary is a primary character, and much of the story revolves around him. He is a brilliant professor and a noted historian, who was befriended by Churchill in 1935. At that time Churchill was warning Britain and Europe of the Nazi threat, but to no avail. The predominant political pundits of the day believed that Hitler, and Nazi Germany, were a good counterbalance to Stalin and the Soviet Union. Vicary wrote to Churchill, after hearing him lecture, to tell him that he agreed with his assessments. Churchill invited Vicary to his home, Chartwell, and they became close political confidants. In 1939 England's Prime Minister summoned Professor Vicary to his home, once again, to ask him to take a job in Military Intelligence for the duration of the war. Churchill tells the professor, "I need someone I can trust inside that department. It's time to put the 'intelligence' back in Military Intelligence."
Catherine Blake, the novel's other primary figure, is half English and half German. Since her mother's death, when she was a child, Catherine was raised by her father in Germany. She is beautiful, intelligent and a sociopath. She was targeted early by German Intelligence, five years before the war, to be trained as a special secret agent - a sleeper. Her German controller knew everything about her, including traumatic events of her adolescence, and was a genius at manipulating her. He threatened her with her father's possible imprisonment, torture and death if she did not succeed in her mission. And her mission was to secretly enter Britain, adopt an English identity, live in London, and wait until she would be activated. She was expected to discover and transmit the key information of the Normandy invasion to her German masters.
This is a real page turner. Until the novel's conclusion, the reader is never sure who is the enemy, the secret agent - who is working for whom? Silva is an excellent writer. His fast paced narrative flows, and his characters are very well developed. I have read most of his books, and this is one of the best,

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David Island
A D-Day Nazi-Allied Forces Espionage Thriller
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2009
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"The Unlikely Spy" is a very good WWII espionage spy thriller. It's long - 725 pages, but rarely does it drag, and most of the time the story is interesting, intriguing, well-crafted, and often compelling. There are only a few instances of a solution to a dilemma faced by one of the characters that is too pat or too contrived (a problem often found in novels such as this). The characters, for the most part, remain true to their personality, training and mission.

Only the two main German spies (Horst and Anna) fall out of their roles glaringly one or two times: one such moment is the unfortunate "street" fight with a local Brit that Horst gets himself into; the other is when Anna begins to doubt herself, her mission, herself, and begins to gain a conscience. These two German spies are clever, well-trained and effective in what they do, and even when they are humanly inconsistent, they are convincing and exceptional. One does not root for them, but one does rather admire them. Anna, in particular, is complex and complicated, a beautiful woman with a somewhat tortured past. But she has been trained to kill and kill she does.

The one American (Peter) is true to his character almost unfailingly, as are the British main characters, especially the very well-drawn likeable Vicary and the more mysterious cad Boothby.

The real-life historical figures, Eisenhower, Churchill and all the usual German demons (like Canaris, Himmler, and Hitler) play big to small roles, as is appropriate for the story, except for the main German background player, Major Vogel who runs Anna, whom he placed in Britain in 1938, 6 years before she was needed by the 3rd Reich to unravel allied plans for D-Day in early 1944.

It's all about D-Day, and this story proved a timely read here in June 2009 during the days leading up to and after the recent 65th anniversary ceremony celebrating the costly but successful Allied invasion of France in 1944. This story revolves around German and Allied hand-wringing over where and when the Allied invasion would occur. Would the Germans discover that it would occur at Normandy --- or as the Allies wanted them to believe - at Calais? That is the entire nexus of the story.

In the end, I liked this book better than (though it is greatly different from) Michael Dobbs' books about Churchill in the same time period (see "Never Surrender"). Silva apparently doesn't have the pressure to try to teach history, except as it is incidentally important to his story. Then he gets it right. But make no mistake: this is fiction - as are all of Dobbs' works.

The plot is complicated (but not too complex), and it is filled with engaging, distinctive characters. I was amazed to find myself on page 500-something, absorbed and engaged in the story. Silva does a reasonably good job writing women, though his forte is men.

I was struck with how this story is an excellent mix of plain old police detective work and subtle ruthless intelligence work. Silva mixes the two very, very well.

I think it is probably about 150 pages too long. What makes it long is Silva's penchant for a great amount of background detail - all interesting, mind you, but nonetheless perhaps not so much is needed to move the story forward. It is also surprisingly "neutral" as to which side holds the cards, brains and skill - with plenty of blunders on both sides.

In the last ½ of the book there is a plenitude of bloody, appalling and mindless killings and murders, as the 2 German spies fight to escape MI-5 and the entire Allied intelligence apparatus bearing down on them after their cover is blown. Once you get over Silva's occasional invented and too-pat circumstantial events that actually help the Brits run down these spies, the story picks up momentum and becomes a page turner. Both sides make countless errors and missteps. Just because you want the Brits to win out, does not imbue them with infallibility.

The book's major flaw, I think, is the somewhat pedestrian and not-very-creative finale or ultimate resolution. I would have hoped that the last 125 pages would live up to the first 600 pages in creativity and cleverness, but they did not. While not exactly disappointing, the conclusion left me wanting something a little better. It is for this reason that I do not give this book a 5 rating.

All-in-all, if you like WWII espionage historical fiction, this book is a great read. It's brutal, realistic, and a fun romp in 1944 England and Germany, great for vicarious re-living (or first-living) of that marvelous time in our history. This is a great book to read on a holiday, on an airplane, or when you are free to indulge 2 or 3 days to escape into the greatest era of old-fashioned espionage -- World War II. This is not the economical, terse beauty that Alan Furst might write (see his "Spies of Warsaw"), but nonetheless it is very, very good. I give it a 4+.

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RWM
This story kept me intrigued all the way to the end.
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2023
Verified Purchase
After reading all 22 books of the Gabriel Allon series and when done with #22 I was having a bit of withdrawals and for me have to say the Allon books just got better and better when reading them all in chronological order. Then I learned Daniel Silva's had written his 1st book 5 years before the 1st Allon book and thought good another Silva book to read. I was not disappointed in anyway since I love his writing style. This book is a standalone novel about WW2 and how the Nazi and German spies infiltrated England before the beginning of the war and the stories goes from there. Lots of interesting characters both British and German involved and for me it was a page turner especially towards the end. Great read! My sister went to a meet and greet for Silva's #23 book "The Collector" close to where we live and was able to get a free book and found Mr. Silva a very interesting man during his talk to the crowd at a community center auditorium. A couple of hundred people showed up and it was SRO. Lucky me now I get to read his latest Allon book since finishing "The Unlikely Spy." It has gotten many very good reviews on Amazon. Really look forward to reading it.

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Plessi
Spannend und interessant
Reviewed in Germany on November 24, 2024
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Danke, es waren spannende, lehrreiche und interessante Stunden mit dem Buch! Ich werde noch ein Buch lesen von Daniel Silva.

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Susheela Das
Good book
Reviewed in India on January 28, 2022
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Good book as expected of Daniel Silva🤗

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Helena Markus
Daniel Silva - the best spy novel writer.
Reviewed in Italy on November 14, 2019
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He has it all! Whatever Daniel Silva writes is always utterly absorbing, with his careful description of the characters and the historical period you get so absorbed you feel that you are shadowing the characters.
I have finished all his books, always thought that the Gabriel Allon series was unbeatable but this "stand-alone" novel is simply amazing no matter how many of that sort you had already read. Get on with writing Gabriel Silva!

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Thomas McGrail
I enjoyed this book very much
Reviewed in Canada on September 17, 2017
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I enjoyed this book very much. It was well written with well developed characters and a captivating story line. It was certainly better than many books that sell for six times the price I paid.

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Dave
Unlikely Spy
Reviewed in Australia on December 31, 2024
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Very first Daniel Silva book! It is great. You must read this !!

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating World War II EspionageThriller!

4.0 out of 5 stars A D-Day Nazi-Allied Forces Espionage Thriller

5.0 out of 5 stars This story kept me intrigued all the way to the end.

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Spannend und interessant

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book

5.0 out of 5 stars Daniel Silva - the best spy novel writer.

5.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed this book very much

5.0 out of 5 stars Unlikely Spy

A Fascinating World War II EspionageThriller!

A D-Day Nazi-Allied Forces Espionage Thriller

This story kept me intrigued all the way to the end.

Spannend und interessant

Good book

Daniel Silva - the best spy novel writer.

I enjoyed this book very much

Unlikely Spy