Lyle Manchik

Like so many others who've submitted reviews of "The Cellist," I've read every one of Daniel Silva's books in the Gabriel Allon series. This, however, will unequivocally be my last. Mr. Silva's flagrant display of hubris as he went out of his way to insert juvenile examples of his TDS and DNC talking points into the narrative not only prompted, in me at least, a lack of respect for the author, but a profound loss of credibility to the story line. When coupled with the reverence he bestowed upon the Biden character - the one who's repeated mantra for years has been "Leave no one behind," (This review is being written following Biden's Afghanistan debacle, perhaps the greatest U.S. military and foreign policy disaster since Vietnam, possibly longer, it's too early to tell.) - I found it repulsive. And I'm an independent. In the past I couldn't wait to finish Mr. Silva's fiction. This one, as it approached the status of a political polemic, I couldn't finish. It's fascinating to watch liberal "intellectuals" like Mr. Silva voluntarily damage their careers knowing full well the political affiliation of a significant percentage of those attracted to this genre must be those who'd be most offended by his gratuitous unfounded characterizations. How brave and courageous of Mr. Silva and his publisher "to speak truth to power," in this case the power being the fans who've bought his books in the past. It'll be interesting to see how the sales of "The Cellist" and his subsequent releases compare to his earlier works.