<p>Art restorer and former spy Gabriel Allon, who recently completed a rather disquieting assignment in Cornwall, is back. He is chilling in Venice when he spots a body bobbing in the lagoon, and then it all unravels before you can say da Vinci! </p><p>An Inside Job is Daniel Silva’s latest caper in which everyone, in fact, keeps uttering (err...muttering) da Vinci throughout its nearly 400 pages. </p><p>Turns out the body is that of a former Vatican apprentice who has stumbled upon, yes, a previously undiscovered portrait by da Vinci. As you can well imagine, this ensures that our favourite, seriously good-looking art restorer (this reviewer cannot help but imagine George Clooney acing such a role) takes off on a globe-trotting mission to hunt for the missing portrait. Along the way, we meet conniving priests, laidback members of the Carabinieri, sleek criminals and bungling bankers, among others. </p>.<p>Gabriel is as charismatic as ever and increasingly world-weary. And yet, his morality does not allow him to sit tight ever. That said, this is not one of Silva’s greatest outings. </p><p>There have been better ones: A Death in Cornwall, for instance, where he is searching for a stolen Picasso, has a much tighter plot and better twists. An Inside Job often gets stuck in a loop of Vatican details — there’s only so much priestly skullduggery one can take!</p>
<p>Art restorer and former spy Gabriel Allon, who recently completed a rather disquieting assignment in Cornwall, is back. He is chilling in Venice when he spots a body bobbing in the lagoon, and then it all unravels before you can say da Vinci! </p><p>An Inside Job is Daniel Silva’s latest caper in which everyone, in fact, keeps uttering (err...muttering) da Vinci throughout its nearly 400 pages. </p><p>Turns out the body is that of a former Vatican apprentice who has stumbled upon, yes, a previously undiscovered portrait by da Vinci. As you can well imagine, this ensures that our favourite, seriously good-looking art restorer (this reviewer cannot help but imagine George Clooney acing such a role) takes off on a globe-trotting mission to hunt for the missing portrait. Along the way, we meet conniving priests, laidback members of the Carabinieri, sleek criminals and bungling bankers, among others. </p>.<p>Gabriel is as charismatic as ever and increasingly world-weary. And yet, his morality does not allow him to sit tight ever. That said, this is not one of Silva’s greatest outings. </p><p>There have been better ones: A Death in Cornwall, for instance, where he is searching for a stolen Picasso, has a much tighter plot and better twists. An Inside Job often gets stuck in a loop of Vatican details — there’s only so much priestly skullduggery one can take!</p>