In a spellbinding new masterpiece by #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva Gabriel
Allon undertakes a high-stakes search for the greatest art forger who ever lived Legendary spy
and art restorer Gabriel Allon has at long last severed ties with Israeli intelligence and
settled quietly in Venice the only place where he has ever truly known peace. His beautiful
wife Chiara has taken over the day-to-day management of the Tiepolo Restoration Company and
their two young children are discreetly enrolled in a neighborhood scuola elementare. For his
part Gabriel spends his days wandering the streets and canals of the watery city bidding
farewell to the demons of his tragic violent past. But when the eccentric London art dealer
Julian Isherwood asks Gabriel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the rediscovery and
lucrative sale of a centuries-old painting he is drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse
where nothing is as it seems. Gabriel soon discovers that the work in question a portrait of
an unidentified woman attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck is almost certainly a fiendishly
clever fake. To find the mysterious figure who painted it?and uncover a multibillion-dollar
fraud at the pinnacle of the art world?Gabriel conceives one of the most elaborate deceptions
of his career. If it is to succeed he must become the very mirror image of the man he seeks:
the greatest art forger the world has ever known. Stylish sophisticated and ingeniously
plotted Portrait of an Unknown Woman is a wildly entertaining journey through the dark side of
the art world?a place where unscrupulous dealers routinely deceive their customers and
deep-pocketed investors treat great paintings as though they were just another asset class to
be bought and sold at a profit. From its elegant opening to the shocking twists of its climax
the novel is a tour de force of storytelling and one of the finest pieces of heist fiction ever
written. And it is still more proof that when it comes to international intrigue and suspense
Daniel Silva has no equal.
