The English Spy

Author: Daniel Silva
518 pages
Book Description: She is an iconic member of the British Royal Family, beloved for her beauty and charitable works, resented by her former husband and his mother, the Queen of England. But when a bomb explodes aboard her holiday yacht, British intelligence turns to one man to track down her killer: legendary spy and assassin Gabriel Allon. Gabriel's target is Eamon Quinn, a master bomb maker and mercenary of death who sells his services to the highest bidder. Fortunately, Gabriel does not pursue him alone, at his side is Christopher Keller, a British comando turned professional assassin who knows Quinn's murderous handwork all too well. And although Gabriel does not realize it, he is stalking an old enemy- a cabal of evil that wants nothing more than see him dead. Gabriel will find it necessary to oblige them, for when a man is out for vengeance, death has its distinct advantages...

Note 1: I did not read the description at all, I simply started this book because it was a gift and I always like to read books other people recommend to me. It does sound so much more interesting than what I first imagined when it was given to me!
Note 2: After I was done with it I realized/found out that it is the #15 in a series of books, so yeah the references made throughout the book and the remembering bits, you're supposed to know what the hell they're talking about. But it can still be read out of order I assume because I was able to get the whole story nice and pretty from beginning to end no problem. 

Points to consider

1. Characters 10.0
1. The main characters are very well developed, their lives and their families are complex and very realistic. Well as realistic as a bunch of people who have multiple double lives can be. 
2. Even the bad guys have their fair share of back story. 
3. There was a point where it feels that there is a lot of people and its hard to keep track of them all, but I believe it was not the book but the situation in which I was reading the story. To consider: When I a reading slump do not pick a complicated book, please. Also when you're trying to recover from any ailment pick a nice quick read with not too complex content. 
2. Plot 8.5
1. Again the story starts very fast paced, but then it stills a lot while the plans and the fishing out for information is happening, it gives a lot of drama and set backs, which is normal but bad for my peace of mind. It moves a bit slower.
2. All the characters in there make it hard to keep track of them all. A lot of them had had history together, now I know it's because of 14 previous books. 
3. The twists are not as predictable as I expected, sometimes I got my theories all wrong, but I'm not complaining too much. I definitely do not have much experience reading this type of spy books and lack the imagination to see what they're going to do.
3. Logic 8.5
1. The storyline does make sense kind of, there were several parts where I got lost trying to follow their logic.
2. The parts about the bombs, the logical places to find them... The effects of people close to them(the bombs). Only in a very few specific events, I question the events described and the consequences as I would have expected them to be...If you are jsut that close to a bomb well you expect the worst, right? But not bad I guess some people could be just that lucky.
3. The fact that setting up traps and their enemies not falling for them and them already having a way to catch the bad people even after their plan going off the rail and you know the lucky breaks every team of protagonist always seem to have, that was a bit too much luck, but again I only saw it maybe on two occasions in the whole book so it was not too bad.
4. Intrigue 8.0
1. It took me a while to get into the story to tell you the truth it took me half a month to read the first half of the book, I simply was not interested in picking it up so bad, but when you get to like a third of the book it starts to get really good. The last half of the book I devoured in two days. So yeah you just have to get through the introductory first few pages then by the setting up, soon you won't be able to put it down. (Personal opinion really).
5. Writing Style 7.0
1. Can't complain about anything in particular. But it did take me a while to get into the story, it might be the story taking a bit to catch my interest or the moment of my trying to read it. I definitely need to pick up another book by the same author to be able to judge.
6. Interest 8.0
1. I was not all that intrigued by the book but had I read the book description it might have made me more eager to read it. 
2. Though in the description when they mention the murder of the princes, it gives the idea that she has had a major role but in reality, it was an almost passing thing. 
7. Enjoyment 7.0
1. Again I like the spy and planning behind the scenes movies but now I need to gain more experience in the book area I order to up my enjoyment level as well.

Final score: 57.0

Average: 8.14

Star rating: 4.0