Moscow Rules, by Daniel Silva

Daniel Silva’s upcoming novel Moscow Rules (due out July 22) is his eighth novel to feature art restorer and sometime Israeli secret agent Gabriel Allon. As this installment opens, Allon’s honeymoon with his new wife ends abruptly when a Russian journalist is murdered. The fallout from the journalist’s death takes Allon to Moscow, where a former KBG agent has built a global investment empire—an empire that serves as a front for some very lucrative and deadly arms deals.

Moscow Rules feels like a novel from an earlier era. It pits an brave, determined hero—who, despite being middle-aged and broody, is hopelessly alluring to the lovely young ladies he works with—against a ruthless, vodka-swilling villain. (Spoiler: the good guys win!) Silva makes up for his cartoonish characters and simplistic storytelling by painting a vivid picture of post-Communism Russia, and the breathless action scenes and exotic locales featured in Moscow Rules are sure to appeal to people who can't wait for the next James Bond movie to come out.

Note: Silva doesn’t address any of the complexities inherent in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in Moscow Rules, although he may have discussed this in earlier books.