The Cellist

I just finished reading The Cellist, Daniel Silva's latest Gabrial Allon spy novel. This series, along with Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch police procedurals, are my favorite crime/spy stories. This time, a Russian billionaire, who has evidence about the laundering of billions of dollars from Russia to the West by Kremlin leaders, is poisoned, and Gabriel, head of Israeli Intelligence, gets involved in finding the killer, and also seizing the cash. He is assisted by an employee of the Rhinelander Bank (a pseudonym for Deutsche Bank), who has been leaking information to the reporter who gave those files to the poisoned billionaire. This bank employee is also a cellist, which becomes an essential part of the story. I enjoyed this book very much. It was a real page turner, and I strongly recommend it. One thing I was very surprised to learn, in the author's notes at the end of the book, was that Deutsche Bank financed the building of the extermination camps at Auschwitz. And they are still in business, and the main lender for Donald Trump. My mind just boggles at that. In any case, be sure to pick up a copy of The Cellist at your local library today!