Daniel Silva: "There is evil in the world. We have a cynical, barbaric enemy who loves death."

Several weeks ago now, I attended a book signing by Daniel Silva. He was touring to promote his latest book The Messenger.

It was a fascinating discussion to attend as I was previously unfamiliar with his work and knew only that his novel had quickly shot up the bestseller list (though it also disappeared pretty quickly). I purchased the book at the store that day and settled in to listen to his lecture.

From my previous research into him, I knew that he had been a television journalist, achieving fairly lofty statuses as a foreign correspondent for CNN and political correspondent for UPI. He later wrote news for many of the major CNN news and talk shows. At the signing he talked about how that experience laid the foundation for novel writing and in particular espionage writing.

It was also a fascinating introduction to a character and a world that gave me a wonderful background before I sat down and read The Messenger. It even made me a little more forgiving of a choice he makes about his wife as it was one that fans of the series were very supportive of and encouraging him to do. It made me willing to suspend disbelief that perhaps it wasn't as callous as it seemed at first read.

If you'd like to read more about what Daniel Silva had to say about his writing, his characters, and his books, you can read my write-up of the book signing here.

I was fascinated enough that I not only quickly read The Messenger, but also picked up a couple more of books from earlier in the series.

posted by Book Help Web Editorial Team at 8:25 PM |