The Art Restorer Who Came in From the Cold: Daniel Silva on Gabriel Allon, the Truest Fake Spy

**Andrew Keen** (0:00)
Hello, my name is Andrew Keen. Welcome to Keen On America, the daily interview show about the United States.
Hello, everybody, it is Tuesday, July the 14th, 2026, almost four years ago to the day, on July the 11th, 2022, I had the best-selling spy writer, Daniel Silva, on the show, who talked about writing a best-selling literary spy novel every year, wasn't an empty boast. That year, he had his portrait of an unknown woman out, best-seller, of course, and every year, it seems since 1997, he's been writing a best-selling book. And then two years ago, almost exactly to the day, on July the 11th, 2024, he came on the show to explain why the criminal rich can collect the masterpieces of Van Gogh, Vermeer, and Picasso. He was celebrating the launch of another best-selling book, A Death in Cornwall. Since then, he came out last year with a book called An Inside Job. And now he's launching a new book today. It's called Ransom. And it is Book 26 in the series of the Gabriel Allon series. He is joining us. Busy man from Washington, DC. Daniel, congratulations on the new book.

**Daniel Silva** (1:57)
Thank you. I was just shocked to see how much I'd aged in two years there.
Writing a book a year, I'll do that to you, I guess. But it's good to be back. I love our conversations. I get a lot out of them and I learn a lot from you.

**Andrew Keen** (2:11)
Is Gabriel Allon aged, Daniel?

**Daniel Silva** (2:15)
No, he's aging in reverse, actually, and quite intentionally on my part. You know, you showed a book, I Shall Grab a Copy Here, Portrait of an Unknown Woman. This book marked the beginning of where, in many respects, I always wanted the series to be and where I definitely wanted Gabriel's landing to be. And so he he retires formally from his, his his job at Israeli Intelligence. And he settles in, excuse me, in Venice, so sorry, and take and comes out into the open for years and years and years. He's been his cover job was that he's an art restorer. He's a very good art restorer. And with this book, he emerged out into the open. And it's sort of a fulcrum in the series. He, you know, but prior to this, he was a intelligence operative who was cover job was that he was an art restorer. Now he's an art restorer who used to be a spy.
And it's a small but not insignificant difference in my approach to the books.
And this book definitely fits that bold.

**Andrew Keen** (3:40)
Daniel, when did you, what year did you invent Gabriel Allon? Although maybe he invented you, who knows?
Who is real and who isn't?

**Daniel Silva** (3:55)
He appears for the first time, I guess the pub date for that was 2001, I think.

**Andrew Keen** (4:08)
July 2001, of course.

**Daniel Silva** (4:10)
Yeah, and so it's-

**Andrew Keen** (4:11)
Or September the 11th.

**Daniel Silva** (4:14)
And it was really inspired by President Clinton's attempt to finally realize the promise of the Oslo Accords and convene the parties at Camp David and try to get that agreement.
And of course, there were hardline Palestinian factions who were completely opposed to peace with Israel and were trying to torpedo the process. And I wanted to write a novel about it.
And I created Gabriel for that. It's interesting, he was really supposed to be almost a second tier character in that novel. And once I once I created him though, and decided what his cover job was going to be, and I started researching art restoration and spending time in the London art world, it just took over. He took over that book. I went to England on a research trip in the summer of 1999, as spending time in the art world. I rented a cottage out and way, at the very end of Cornwall out in the west, near Land's End, there you go, holed up in a cottage, and I just started writing like a demon. And I knew at that time that I had created a very special character, but he was really, he was not supposed to be a continuing character. My plan was to write just one book with him and move on. And my publisher at the time said that was a terrible idea. Do you have to keep writing him?

**Andrew Keen** (5:58)
I thought, I thought...

**Daniel Silva** (6:00)
Yeah.

**Andrew Keen** (6:01)
Of course, he is a fictional character, although I'm sure he is.

**Daniel Silva** (6:04)
He is.

**Andrew Keen** (6:04)
On many people you know.
You suggest that he was once an agent in Mossad, the Israeli secret intelligence. Since 2000, when you invented him, or 2001, the summer of 2001, Daniel, obviously the world's opinion and relationship with Israel has changed quite dramatically. Does that make it more challenging to deal with a character like Allon, who is Israeli in literature?